In a previous post, I wrote briefly about William F. Buckley’s role in putting together a unified and rather successful American conservative movement out of very disparate elements. He was certainly not the only person involved — Robert Taft, Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, and others played vital parts — but he illustrates the important service that a public intellectual can play. (The great Milton Friedman also played a crucial part.)
Donald Trump has done a very great deal to destroy that coalition. Or, perhaps better, he has contributed mightily to exposing and exacerbating the fissures within it.
Historically, Mr. Trump has not been a pillar of the Republican Party. Not remotely. He registered as a Republican in 1987. In 1999, he changed his affiliation to the Independence Party of New York. In August 2001, he became a Democrat. In September 2009, he registered again as a Republican. In December 2011, he became an independent. In April 2012, he registered again as a Republican. In a July 2015 interview, he explained that he has a broad range of political positions and said that “I identify with some things as a Democrat.”
He has never been involved with the American conservative movement, neither (to point out the obvious) as one of its intellectual leaders nor as a leader or foot soldier. Curiously, though, certain factions within what I once thought was the conservative movement now appear to see absolute loyalty to the person of Mr. Donald J. Trump as the sine qua non, the one indispensable requirement, in order to be a True Conservative.
“Falwell, Jeffress Ask Trump If They Can Sit At His Right And Left Hands When He Goes Into Glory”
If you’ve been following the impeachment news out of Washington DC — I’ve been trying not to do so, but it’s almost inescapable — you’ll know that Senator Mitt Romney of Utah was one of two Senate Republicans to vote in favor of calling witnesses in the Senate portion of the process:
I myself fully expect, and have always expected, that the Senate will acquit Mr. Trump. And I’m not sure — although I heartily wish that he would just go away, and although I believe that he very much deserves censure — that he should be convicted. On the matter of Senate witnesses, I believe that good and reasonable people can differ. So does Senator Mike Lee of Utah, who voted against calling them, while Senator Romney voted for calling them. In a tweet following the vote, Senator Lee praised Senator Romney for taking a stand on the question of witnesses, even though it differed from his own:
“We have disagreed about a lot in this trial. But he has my respect for the thoughtfulness, integrity, and guts he has shown throughout this process. Utah and the Senate are lucky to have him.”
But Senator Romney is now being punished for his stance:
“CPAC uninvites Mitt Romney after his impeachment witness vote”
In this context, I think of the way that John Bolton has recently been criticized: Mr. Bolton has long been a respected figure on the political right. No more, though:
“Rand Paul calls on President Trump to remove John Bolton’s security clearance”
While Trump-loyalists like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity ride high, long-time conservative thought-leaders like William Kristol, George Will, and the late Charles Krauthammer are vilified because of their lack of fealty to the Dear Leader:
“Trump: George Will Is an ‘Overrated Fool’”
“Donald Trump unloads on ‘loser’ Bill Kristol amid reports of possible third-party candidacy”
“Bill Kristol on ‘renegade Jew’ label: ‘That’s something new'”
“Donald Trump Goes After ‘Overrated Clown’ Charles Krauthammer”
Beyond the obvious fact that Donald Trump is an abusive person who values loyalty to himself higher than almost anything else, I can’t help but see this as reflecting a split between populism and real, principled conservatism. It may not be coincidental — and I know that this will sound damnably elitist when I say it — that, while Kristol, Krauthammer, and Will have Ivy League doctorates (from Harvard, Harvard, and Princeton, respectively), neither Hannity nor Limbaugh (both of whom are mass media performing stars, in somewhat the same way that Mr. Trump was) has a college degree.
But the class and educational differences are of, at most, tertiary significance to me. I care very, very much, however, about the fact that major intellectual leaders of the conservative movement, people who have been dedicated advocates and explicators of conservative thought over decades, are being demonized and marginalized in the service of a morally challenged man whose commitments to constitutionalism, limited government, free markets, and the rule of law are, if they’re genuine at all, of only recent vintage.
“Poll: 62% of Trump supporters say nothing he could do would change opinion”
This reminds me all too much of the Nazi Führerprinzip. In religious terms, it seems to me flatly idolatrous. It is servile. It is fundamentally unconservative and radically un-American, unworthy of the free citizens of a republic.
To be continued.
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