Post-Election Reflections: Insights from a Reaganite Conservative
At some point I am going to get sick of doing post-election commentary, probably in a day or two. In the meantime, five quick things came to mind this morning:
It strikes me as incredibly understandable that a conservative (like me) and a Christian (like me) would celebrate the loss of Kamala Harris, for whom I find SUPPORT to be incomprehensible (the key word there is those who actually supported her). But this is quite different than those circulating memes that Donald Trump is our King David, or that Trump is sure to be our savior, protector of liberty, and guarantor of economic prosperity. Everyone ought to take a beat on that.
A lot of what we can realistically expect from his next term in office will come down to personnel, and a lot of those personnel decisions are going on right now in real time. If you have any ability to understand how incredibly susceptible Trump is to the influence of others, pray for the right people in the right positions. In his first term, the best things were all attributable to some great people around him that he hired, but the worst things were often attributable to some terrible people that he hired - and the batting average was not .800 here - it was at best 50/50. Personnel is policy, and if you are so into the Trump kool-aid that you think all these decisions will be a slam dunk, I promise you that you are wrong. There is work to be done here.
The hysteria from most on the far left that Trump is Hitler, or that no one is safe now with him around, or that women or minorities or some other group face persecution, are all coping mechanisms that would cost more elections in the future if allowed to last. A sober and judicious assessment of why they lost to this guy will take place, and to my friends on the right celebrating some of the unhinged response, I will tell you that I very much expect the left to sober up and get realistic. They don't call Bush Jr. Hitler anymore. Hell, they just campaigned with Dick Cheney. Mitt Romney was once some form of right wing fascism, too. It is a playbook they've used longer than I have been alive. Trump is a narcissist, but he is not Hitler. He often is terribly ineffective and distracted, but he is not a misogynist. One would think the left would be happy he has those traits and it would be those on the right concerned, but we have lived in bizarro world for nine years now.
I wrote yesterday how the celebrity theme of Kamala’s campaign hurt her. I cannot emphasize enough how much the lawfare approach guaranteed the re-election of Donald Trump. I very seriously doubt he would have been nominated were it not for Alvin Bragg, and I am certain he would not have been elected were it not for the entire picture of legal escapades brought against Donald Trump. I was as frustrated with the Republican Party as a lifetime Reaganite conservative can be in 2018, and it was the Brett Kavanaugh hearings that animated me back into a needed posture. The sheer injustice of what they tried to do to that man and the glaring transparency of what levels these people would go to appalled me in a way that still infuriates me to this day. I cannot tell you how many friends of mine and people I have spoken with over the last two years were basically in the same camp I am about Trump, but became emphatically pro-Trump as a result of the legal assaults against him. No objective and reasonable person on the left who loathes Trump can possibly justify those absurd civil suits against Trump’s companies around their financial statements with banks. It is as egregious and abusive as any civil action ever taken in American history. No objective and reasonable person can believe that the Alvin Bragg legal gymnastics are an acceptable use of the criminal courts in American politics. The myriad of Jack Smith cases on top of these other transparent weaponizations against Trump turned him into a martyr, and became for many what the Kavanaugh moment in 2018 was for me.
We live in a time where many believe bad behavior is justifiable because “they do it too.” It is not. That is not consistent with any decent understanding of ethics. So when I say what I am about to say, I do not say it to justify Trump’s frequent lies. I wish my friends would stop defending him when he lies, because it is indefensible (and yes, I do distinguish between political hyperbole and even Queens exaggerations and actual lies, but plenty fall in that third camp with Trump, too). But if you believe Trump is bad for norms, bad for institutions, and bad for the integrity of our society, than you should be piping hot mad at what the left has been doing in spades. They KNEW Joe Biden was not well, and you know that they knew. They KNEW that you could not necessarily keep your doctor with ObamaCare. They KNEW that Hunter Biden’s laptop was real. They KNEW that Trump did not collude with Russia (and didn’t have the know-how to do so if he wanted to). They KNEW that Brett Kavanaugh did not organize high school rape parties. They KNEW that Trump did not say there were good white supremacists and nazis in Charlottesville. I know that they did not steal the election in 2020, and I have said so non-stop for four years (after having vigilantly explored the matter myself) – and I believe his lies on that front were unforgivable. But the idea that one side lies and undermines norms and the other side protects truth and democracy is pure fiction.
My prayer is for a more united country, even in the midst of severe disagreement. I am not a naïve rube. It is not going to happen any time soon, in the country, or even on people’s social media feeds. But a Reaganite conservative Christian can pray. And pray I will. Not just for more unity and civility, but for President-elect Trump to appoint good people, and to do good things. One thing I do know for sure, in a democracy the people get what they deserve. As it should be.