{"id":76203,"date":"2019-07-19T01:28:27","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T07:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=76203"},"modified":"2019-07-22T12:03:19","modified_gmt":"2019-07-22T18:03:19","slug":"once-more-on-sending-her-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/07\/once-more-on-sending-her-back.html","title":{"rendered":"Once more on “sending her back”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"WFB<\/a>
William F. Buckley Jr. and President Ronald Reagan in the White House living quarters during a private 75th birthday party for the President, in 1986. That was more than thirty years ago, and, today, I\u2019m painfully aware that things have dramatically changed. \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This will be my fourth blog entry about the presidential \u201cGo back\u201d tweet and the subsequent \u201cSend her back!\u201d rally in North Carolina. \u00a0Here are the previous three:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the Trump Tweet (1)\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the Trump Tweet (2)\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSend her back!\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Is Mr. Trump\u2019s tweet and a North Carolina crowd\u2019s reprise of it the most important or most pressing issue of our time? \u00a0No. \u00a0It\u2019s not. \u00a0Not on the surface, anyway. \u00a0But it seems to me an extraordinarily clear one, an unambiguous test question.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

President Trump now says that he was displeased<\/a> by the chant of \u201cSend her back!\u201d that broke out\u00a0when he began his denunciation of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) at his recent North Carolina rally. \u00a0So much so that, he says,\u00a0he \u201cstarted speaking very quickly\u201d in an effort to put an end to the chanting.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Actually, just for the record, he was silent for about fifteen seconds.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a public speech, that\u2019s a fairly long time. \u00a0A tiny eternity.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Really, it is. \u00a0Go ahead. \u00a0Use the stopwatch on your iPhone and see how long it takes to count down fifteen seconds. \u00a0Maybe hold your breath while you\u2019re waiting.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t stop anything,\u201d observes the very anti-Trump comedian Trevor Noah. \u201cHe was\u00a0basking<\/em>\u00a0in that moment like an iguana soaking up racist sun. He let that chant go on for so long, Usain Bolt could have won a gold medal in that time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Please contrast Mr. Trump\u2019s inaction in North Carolina with this justly famous moment of grace from one of Republican presidential candidate John McCain\u2019s 2008 townhall meetings, and with Barack Obama\u2019s reaction to it:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn McCain remembered: defending Obama from racist questions \u2013 video\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I strongly opposed Senator Obama in that election. \u00a0I voted, with mixed feelings, for Senator McCain. \u00a0I\u2019m not pining for a bygone utopia that never was. \u00a0But it seems plain to me that, in certain very important ways, we\u2019ve changed quite a bit since then \u2014 and not for the better \u2014 both on the left and on the . . . whatever it is that Mr. Trump represents.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here is the conservative commentator Jim Geraghty, writing for the venerable conservative magazine National Review<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cStop Chanting \u2018Send Her Back.\u2019 Citizenship Isn\u2019t Conditional.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I also like what Rod Dreher, another prominent conservative writer, has to say:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump Summons Demons\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And a writer for the American Conservative<\/em> responds to both Donald Trump and Rod Dreher:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump\u2019s Hateful Lies About Ilhan Omar\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And here is the perspective of a Texas-born Sikh scholar:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it feels like to be told \u2018Go back where you came from\u2019\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some have responded to me that, in effect, this is a total war between Republicans who want to save America and Democrats who want to destroy it. \u00a0I\u2019ve suggested that I probably won\u2019t vote for Donald Trump in 2020. \u00a0(I didn\u2019t vote for him in 2016.) \u00a0To fail to vote Republican is, they say, practically speaking to vote Democrat, and a Democrat vote is a vote for Evil.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I think that\u2019s quite a bit too simplistic, and I regret the mutual demonization and the fragmentation that are occurring in our politics. \u00a0Still, to the best of my recollection I\u2019ve never cast a Democratic ballot in a partisan race, and I have no intention of going over to the Democrats now, either.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But I recall another episode from an earlier \u2014 though not really far distant \u2014 time:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe Lieberman and the Buckley Connection\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, incredible but true, some will probably tell me that William F. Buckley Jr. wasn\u2019t a real conservative. \u00a0And, sadly, some probably won\u2019t even recognize his name.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Mr. Buckley\u2019s story here makes my point: \u00a0I am a libertarian-leaning conservative and federalist to my core. \u00a0I was a Republican because the Republican Party seemed the best vehicle for effecting conservative, federalist, free-market, limited-government reforms. \u00a0It still may be that, but, with Mr. Trump at its head, it has turned its back to a surprising degree on elements of conservatism that I cherish. \u00a0I resigned from the party on the night that Mr. Trump accepted its nomination. \u00a0I hope, someday, to be able to return.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m nostalgic for the sort of positive conservative message represented by President Ronald Reagan\u2019s famous 1984 \u201cMorning in America\u201d re-election ad:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRonald Reagan: \u2018Morning in America\u2019| Campaign 1984\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like Ronald Reagan in one respect, anyway, President Trump has a good economic story to tell about his first-term tenure in the White House. \u00a0There is no need, as we approach 2020, for him to sow division and to appeal to atavistic anxieties and dishonorable subterranean hostilities. \u00a0But if doing so is<\/em> the price required for victory, I\u2019m not sure that victory is worth that price.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 This will be my fourth blog entry about the presidential \u201cGo back\u201d tweet and the subsequent \u201cSend her back!\u201d rally in North Carolina. \u00a0Here are the previous three: \u00a0 \u201cOn the Trump Tweet (1)\u201d \u00a0 \u201cOn the Trump Tweet (2)\u201d \u00a0 \u201cSend her back!\u201d \u00a0 Is Mr. Trump\u2019s tweet and a North Carolina […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":35311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOnce more on "sending her back"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    This will be my fourth blog entry about the presidential "Go back" tweet and the subsequent "Send her back!" rally in North Carolina. \u00a0Here\" \/>\n<meta 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