Donald Trump: Conservatives Should Not Support Him
Jonah Golbderg defends his critique of Trump against critics who claim he’s a RINO.
In last Friday’s Goldberg File I offered a lament or a screed or a diatribe or a thoughtful essay — opinions vary widely — on how and why I think Donald Trump is damaging conservatism.
There’s no way I could — or should — respond to all of the criticisms or attacks. So I’ll just focus on a couple themes. The biggest criticism — in terms of quantity, not quality — is that I am a RINO squish faker fraud no-goodnik lib sucking at the teat of the establishment blah blah and blah.
These usually take the form of angry tweets and e-mails. So I’ll fold my response to this silliness into my responses to the longer-form stuff. One of the most popular rejoinders comes from the Conservative Treehouse, a site I’ve liked in the past. But if it weren’t for the fact that Rush Limbaugh enthusiastically plugged it on air, I’m not sure it would merit much of a response.
A 2,000-word “Open Letter to Jonah Goldberg,” written by someone named “Sundance,” it devotes barely a sentence to responding to anything I actually wrote. Nor does the author really defend Donald Trump — or his supporters — from my criticisms.
Instead it is a long and somewhat splenetic indictment of the “establishment.” Sundance writes: “The challenging aspect to your expressed opinion, and perhaps why there is a chasm between us, is you appear to stand in defense of a Washington DC conservatism that no longer exists.” He then proceeds to conflate the GOP’s record with “Washington conservatism” as if they are synonymous.
This strikes me as projection and deflection and nothing more. The whole thing is a non sequitur masquerading as a rejoinder. He lays down a tediously long list of questions, including:
- Did the GOP secure the border with control of the White House and Congress? NO.
- Who gave us the TSA? The GOP
- Who gave us the Patriot Act? The GOP
- Who expanded Medicare to include prescription drug coverage? The GOP
- Who refused to support Ken Cuccinnelli in Virginia? The GOP
- Who supported Charlie Crist? The GOP
- Who supported Arlen Spector? The GOP
- Who worked against Marco Rubio?
- The GOP Who worked against Rand Paul? The GOP
- Who worked against Ted Cruz?
- The GOP Who worked against Mike Lee? The GOP
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Source: Donald Trump: Conservatives Should Not Support Him | National Review Online
