#NeverTrump

Megan McArdle at the Bloomberg website has put together a valuable compendium of commentary by ordinary Republicans who are vehemently opposed to Donald Trump's candidacy. McArdle captures the passion of people denouncing what they see as an existential threat to the party to which they are loyal and to the country they love. None of them would ever consider voting for Trump and many of them plan to vote for the Democratic nominee, with some saying they would actually volunteer to work for or contribute money to the Democrat.
McArdle's subjects obliterate the left wing caricature of Republicans and conservatives as ignorant, uncaring, immoral racists and misogynists. Tragically, that caricature now seems justified because of Trump's candidacy.

Here are a few of the many, many quotes from McArdle's article --

"Voted in all levels of elections since 1995 in several starts.  Voted in EVERY SINGLE election. Even obscure ones. While deployed in Iraq, didn't matter. From city council, county commissioner, state representative, all the way up the chain, always voted straight Republican. Of the original 17 Republican candidates from July 2015, I'd vote for any of the other 16. Just #NEVERTRUMP."

"It’s not just that he’s vain, conceited and a braggart. Or that he’s prone to petty put downs, schoolyard taunts, cruel mockery and just plain rudeness. It is that he embodies virtually everything I strive to teach my young sons not to be and not to emulate.

That being wealthy makes one morally superior.
That material wealth is a measure of a man’s true worth.
That boasting about sexual conquests is something to be admired or cheered.
That every challenge to your ideas should be met not with a sound argument about the idea, but with smears, insults and put downs about the person uttering the disagreement.
That legitimate challenges to your ideas should be met with threats of financial ruin or lawsuits.
That the force of government should be wielded by the wealthy against the weak.
That your failures or lack of success must always be attributed not to your lack of intelligence or initiative, but to someone else getting something that’s rightfully yours."

“My grandfather and great-grandfather were white Republicans in Alabama in an era when that simple fact would get the Klan on your lawn. They despised George Wallace. I see more than a little of old Jumpin’ George (as we called him when I was in grade school), and his remarkable ability to pander to the lowest common denominator, in Trump.”

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-02-29/the-die-hard-republicans-who-say-nevertrump


Here's my list of disgraced CINOs (Conservatives in name only) who, by their support of Donald Trump, have shown themselves to be A) ideologically unprincipled and B) dreadfully poor judges of human character. Some of these people have stood behind Trump from the beginning. Others have only recently caved and converted. (e.g. - Roger Simon). This is obviously not a complete list. It will no doubt grow with time, especially if Trump's success continues.

Newt Gingrich, Chris Christie, Scott Brown, Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Jan Brewer, Mike Huckabee, Jeff Sessions, Roger Simon, Mark Steyn.

The only name on this list that truly disappoints is Mark Steyn. It's marginally understandable that a strong believer in the idea of "demography is destiny" would lend his support to someone who prioritizes the problems of illegal (and legal) immigration. It's inexcusable, however that Steyn cannot see the blatant con he's buying into and the disreputable seller he's buying it from.

Steyn remains an exceptional thinker and writer. Here he critiques America's traditional two party system, of which Trump's emergence may signal an end.

Ultimately, Trump's hostile takeover of the Republican Party has only been possible because of the rigid inflexibility of America's party system. The two-party one-party state, unchanged in 150 years, is unique in the western world, where parties are born and die according to whether there's a market for them. If a genuine market in parties were possible here, this season there would probably be a nationalist party, a conservative party, and a soft-right party - and, over on the other side, a corporatist party and a socialist party. In the British House of Commons, there are currently 11 parties represented, plus four independents. In the Canadian House of Commons, there are five parties. In New Zealand, seven. When The Washington Post's Michael Gerson warns that a Trump nomination would break apart the Republican Party, the implication is that the health of the Republic depends on maintaining the same two parties of the Civil War era for all eternity. Why?


The case for invading Iraq in 2003. Still the right decision after all these years. --

https://ricochet.com/invading-iraq-necessary/


Ben Sasse, the anti-Christie --

https://www.facebook.com/sassefornebraska/posts/561073597391141


Ed Morrissey announces his endorsement of Marco Rubio --

http://hotair.com/archives/2016/02/29/caucus-time-why-i-choose-marco-rubio/


The correct way to react to an endorsement from a bigot. Ronald Reagan (1984) --

"Those of us in public life can only resent the use of our names by those who seek political recognition for the repugnant doctrines of hate they espouse. The politics of racial hatred and religious bigotry practiced by the Klan and others have no place in this country, and are destructive of the values for which America has always stood."

And the wrong way. Donald Trump (2016) --

“I don’t know anything about David Duke okay… I don’t know anything about what you’re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. I don’t know, did he endorse me? Or what’s going on. Because I know nothing about David Duke. I know nothing about white supremacists.”

"Know Nothing." Trump should lead a new iteration of that pre-Civil War party known for its hateful, nativist ideology.

Blogger conservativecurmudgeon blasts Jeff Sessions' Trump endorsement --

We civilized Americans utterly, utterly reject ALL forms of racism in America– whether it comes from the foul mouth of the Black Lives Matter rent-a-mob, or the cuddly-soft humor in employee lunch-rooms. But, in the early dawn of the 21st century, we tend to think the veneer of this civilization is too broad and deep to be penetrated by the superficial news-cycle. But, it’s not.

...There are likely millions of black Americans that have personal stories about great-grandfathers that were brutalized by the Klan, or a great aunt that was terrorized, or some other now-distant relative that was lynched by this group of sub-human bacteria.

When I think about the horrific conditions of black men, women, their children and families in the Reconstruction-era south, I am certain I would vomit if I knew the complete history. And, I would be racked all the more when I considered this happened in a nation supposedly conceived in the cauldron of individual sanctity and sovereignty.

That we’ve made tremendous strides –more than any other western culture– to remove this cancer from the body politic is beside the point: Yes, we all make jokes about different ethnic groups –including our own– but we don’t make jokes about terrorist groups or their victims. And the Klan is the grandfather of all terrorist groups. And David Duke is America’s answer to Abd al-Rahman al-Nashiri– except we haven’t seen fit to water-board the sniveling bastard.

…and that Donald Trump doesn’t know who this nut-job is affronts the sensibilities of even the most reclusive shut-in whose TV remote stopped working in the early-aughts. Of course video evidence has surfaced showing that Donald Trump knows full well who David Duke is– there is video evidence of Donald Trump doing the exact opposite of everything he’s ever said, the guys been on TV my whole adult life, in one incarnation or another.
But Senator Sessions? The timing was perfect for your announcement, sir, in support of the most overtly foul major-party candidate since Huey Long. And it points to how little progress we’ve really made.

http://www.redstate.com/diary/conservativecurmudgeon/2016/02/29/hell-going-just-hell-going/


George Will on Trump --

The night before his promise to make America great again through censorship, Trump, during the Houston debate, said that his sister, a federal judge, signed “a certain bill” and that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito also “signed that bill.” So, the leading Republican candidate, the breadth of whose ignorance is the eighth wonder of the world, actually thinks that judges “sign bills.” Trump is a presidential aspirant who would flunk an eighth-grade civics exam.

...Unfortunately, Rubio recognized reality and found his voice 254 days after Trump’s scabrous announcement of his candidacy to rescue America from Mexican rapists. And 222 days after Trump disparaged John McCain’s war service (“I like people that weren’t captured”). And 95 days after Trump said that maybe a protester at his rally “should have been roughed up.” And 95 days after Trump re-tweeted that 81 percent of white murder victims are killed by blacks. (Eighty-two percent are killed by whites.) And 94 days after Trump said he supports torture “even if it doesn’t work.” And 79 days after Trump said he might have approved the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. And 72 days after Trump proved that he does not know the nuclear triad from the Nutcracker ballet. And 70 days after Trump, having been praised by Vladimir Putin, reciprocated by praising the Russian murderer and dictator.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/432062/donald-trump-republican-party-2016-chris-christie


Finally, a testament to Hillary Clinton's incompetence and woeful lack of judgement. A comprehensive, two part New York Times feature about the events leading to the current chaos in Libya.

Part One --  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/us/politics/hillary-clinton-libya.html?_r=0

Part Two -- http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/us/politics/libya-isis-hillary-clinton.html

It's notable that over the weekend, top DNC official and Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard resigned from her DNC position to openly back Bernie Sanders. She stated the reason for her endorsement on Meet The Press --

"I think it’s most important for us, as we look at our choices as to who our next commander in chief will be, is to recognize the necessity to have a commander in chief who has foresight, who exercises good judgment, who looks beyond the consequences, looks at the consequences of the actions they're looking to take, before they take those actions, so we don't continue to find ourselves in these failures that have resulted in chaos in the Middle East and so much loss of life."

Consider that. Hillary Clinton's foreign policy judgement was so bad that Bernie Sanders is a preferable choice as commander in chief. Bernie Sanders! who reacts to the term, "foreign policy" the same way Linda Blair reacts to holy water.


Added 3/1 - Bret Stephens' weekly column -- Trump's gutter "conservatism".

http://www.wsj.com/articles/staring-at-the-conservative-gutter-1456791777