Trump did not effect this by himself. He only had the wit to understand what issues roil white America. The Great State of Catatonia that Boehner and McConnell entered after the 2014 elections was the last straw for many people, I suspect. It certainly was for me. As George Wallace correctly observed years ago, there's not a dime's worth of difference between the Democrats and the Republicans and substituting "conservatives" for "Republicans" doesn't change the truth of that one bit.
Conservatives see that Trump has exposed them for the useless group that they are. The desperate attacks on him reveal the volume of the alarms that are spreading through their comfortable think tanks and media redoubts. For decades they've done exactly nothing about feminist, racial, constitutional, fiscal, manufacturing, and immigration madness and, now that the toothpaste has come out of the tube, they're vainly trying to get it back in:
The key to comprehending American conservatives is to grasp that they think they are in charge, that they are winning, and that, in some vague way, their strategy is working. The Victory Narrative of the movement—that there was nothing, Buckley arrived, purged the “crazies,” and set the stage for Reagan and eternal glory—remains largely unquestioned. The key premise is that America remains a “center right” country that can be won with a cheery messenger about policies that apply equally to all people. As Matt Lewis declared—as he beat back those “vile goddamn racists”—“be optimistic about America” and “embrace our pluralistic society.”And:Rather than the supreme function of statesmanship constituting the prevention of preventable evils, the American conservative intellectual refuses to consider the possibility that such evils could ever occur. Thus, champions of a philosophy at least nominally defined by respect for tradition and caution about radical and unneeded change are now stating the wholesale replacement of the European-American ethnic core will have no ill effects. More than that, trying to reverse this unprecedented demographic transformation should get you fired, because real conservatives are “optimists.”
Mark Steyn writes in the “Two Party, One Party State”:And:When the left wins, they’re in power; when the right wins, they’re in office, and that’s all. A substantial portion of the base gets that, and is sick of it. They feel like they’re losing their country, and they want more than a party that promises merely to lose it a little more slowly.
In response to the great crises of the day, Conservatism Inc. has no answers. For its own supporters it has only contempt. And it remains relevant only because it continues to get in our way.All quotes from "Protective Stupidity." By Gregory Hood, Radix, 8/18/15.
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