Although the “Never Trump” movement was not successful in
preventing Donald J. Trump from being inaugurated President of the United States of America ,
it was successful in some respects and remains at the vanguard of liberty and
representative government. Already
having been vindicated before Trump is even sworn into office, it is now well-positioned
to lead the resistance to authoritarianism and to promote good government.
The Never
Trump efforts afforded an opportunity for principled constitutional
conservatives to preserve their honor and integrity by taking a public stand
against Trump and to force those who favored him to make a public stand in
support of him, as well as to allow many on the center-right who opposed Trump
to vote for a principled conservative without having to violate their
consciences. Moreover, the Never Trump
movement accomplished two more significant political goals.
The first
goal the Never Trump movement was successful in achieving was in drawing a
clear distinction between Trumpism (i.e. populism, protectionism, nativism/white
nationalism, isolationism, authoritarianism) and conservatism. Related to making this ideological
distinction was maintaining consistency between conservative beliefs and
practices through adherence to the conservative belief that public servants
must be of good character by opposing a candidate who was morally unfit.
The second
political achievement of the Never Trump efforts was to deny Trump a popular
mandate. Most Republicans in the GOP
primaries and caucuses did not vote for him, there were an unusually-high
number of votes from Convention Delegates for other candidates, a large
majority of votes in the General Election were not for the Republican and
Trump-Pence Electors and even some of those Electors who were elected either
resigned to avoid voting for him or did not vote for him. This lack of popular support continues to be
observable in public opinion polls.
Although poll responses are not nearly as significant as votes, they are
important to Trump, a narcissist who craves public adulation, as well as to
Republican members of Congress, as Trump’s unpopularity may encourage them to
check and balance the Chief Executive to resist autocracy and harmful policies.
The efforts
of Never Trump conservatives did not undermine the legitimacy of the
presidential election, which does not require majority support. It was instead the deception, intimidation
and foreign interference that made Trump’s election illegitimate. The efforts of those on the center-right and
others to oppose Trump were partly a reaction against Trump’s personal and
political fraud, but would have been justifiable even his election had been
legitimate. The illegitimacy of his
presidency only provides validation for the resistance to him, in addition to
his lack of qualifications and heterodox policies.
It is
prudent to pray for Trump, to encourage him to make good decisions, to
discourage him from making bad ones and to oppose harmful policies. However, it is necessary to avoid normalizing
or legitimizing his illegitimate presidency or his aberrant behaviors and undemocratic
policies. The arguments being made by
some conservative and Republicans that everyone should “give him the benefit of
the doubt,” “wait and see,” and “give him a chance” sound like the arguments of
liberal Democrats who were defending Bill Clinton, but the risks to the
Republic are too great. It is always
prudent to oppose bad government and to be vigilant for liberty and
representative government, but it is especially necessary under Trump to be
vigilant against authoritarianism and its evil daughter, kleptocracy, because the
warning signs for both have been abundant. Furthermore, it is vital to thwart the
Russian-fostered coup d’etat that has resulted in the election and inauguration
as President of the United
States of the Communist Russian Federation’s
preferred candidate by denying the Russians the fruit of this unprecedented
interference in the election. It is better
to be too vigilant than not to be vigilant enough. If the Republic is saved, it will have been
through deterrence by the resistance to Trump.
Conservatives
should not let down their guard because they may favor some of Trump’s
policies. Indeed, it is easy to overlook
authoritarianism while one agrees with the policies of the authoritarian. It would be wise for conservatives to
consider that demagogues do popular things, or at least things that are popular
among the targeted audience of their demagogy, and to remember that even
tyrants do some good things like making the trains run on time. Demagogues and tyrants must do these things
to maintain popular support, but these things cannot legitimize their autocracy. Even liberal Democratic Presidents do some
good things, either because of sharing universal principles, agreeing with
conservatives on particular issues or especially because of being forced to
compromise with a conservative Republican-led Legislative Branch.
Conservatives should also consider
that whatever good Trump does could have been accomplished by nominating one of
the other leading Republican presidential candidates, who would likely have
defeated the liberal Democratic nominee—without having to rely upon deception,
intimidation and foreign interference to be elected President. And conservative policies could have been
implemented without authoritarianism. There
is a risk that whatever conservative things an authoritarian Trump does, even
if achieved democratically, would later be associated with fascism by the Left
and be undone by liberals if they return to power immediately after him. Therefore, only principled support for any
conservative policy from the center-right opposition to him could spare such
policies from being thrown out by liberals, along with his usurpations. Such support from the conservative opposition
to Trump would likely be essential for those particular proposals to be
approved by Congress.
As Trump and his supporters dismiss
the arguments of the Left, only the principled center-right opposition to Trump
can effectively lead the American resistance to authoritarianism. Support for or opposition to Republican
members of Congress from the conservative opposition to Trump would be more
effective in encouraging the Legislative Branch, in which they are the
majority, to check and balance him, than would opposition from liberal
Democrats alone. It is also imperative
that the center-right not concede the resistance to Trump to the Left, lest conservatives
be left out of any post-authoritarian governance.
Conservatives can and must save the
Republic by defending liberty and representative government through resistance
to Trump’s authoritarian proclivities and by defending American independence through
opposition to pro-Russian Federation policies.
In an upcoming post, I shall advise how effectively to resist
authoritarianism and kleptocracy.
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