Townhall.com
Dennis Prager|Posted: May 30, 2017 12:01 AM


When people you know well, admire, and who share your values do something you strongly oppose, you have two options:

1) Cease admiring them or 2) try to understand them and change their minds.

In the case of my conservative friends who still snipe (or worse) at President Trump, I have rejected option one. The reason -- beside the fact that I simply like many of them -- is what I refer to as "moral bank accounts."

Every time we do good, we make a deposit into our moral bank account. And every time we do something bad, we make a withdrawal. These conservatives have made so many deposits into their moral bank accounts that, in my view, their accounts all remain firmly in the black.

That means my only choice is option two. But to try to change their minds, I must first try to understand their thinking.

I have concluded that there are a few reasons that explain conservatives who were Never-Trumpers during the election, and who remain anti-Trump today.

The first and, by far, the greatest reason is this: They do not believe that America is engaged in a civil war, with the survival of America as we know it at stake.

While they strongly differ with the left, they do not regard the left-right battle as an existential battle for preserving our nation. On the other hand, I, and other conservative Trump supporters, do.

That is why, after vigorously opposing Trump's candidacy during the Republican primaries, I vigorously supported him once he won the nomination. I believed then, as I do now, that America was doomed if a Democrat had been elected president. With the Supreme Court and hundreds of additional federal judgeships in the balance; with the Democrats' relentless push toward European-style socialism -- completely undoing the unique American value of limited government; the misuse of the government to suppress conservative speech; the continuing degradation of our universities and high schools; the weakening of the American military; and so much more, America, as envisioned by the Founders, would have been lost, perhaps irreversibly. The "fundamental transformation" that candidate Barack Obama promised in 2008 would have been completed by Hillary Clinton in 2016.

To my amazement, no anti-Trump conservative writer sees it that way. They all thought during the election, and still think, that while it would not have been a good thing if Hillary Clinton had won, it wouldn't have been a catastrophe either.

That's it, in a nutshell. Many conservatives, including me, believe that it would have been close to over for America as America if the Republican candidate, who happened to be a flawed man named Donald Trump, had not won. Moreover, I am certain that only Donald Trump would have defeated Hillary Clinton.

In other words, I believe that Donald Trump may have saved the country. And that, in my book, covers a lot of sins -- foolish tweets, included.

The Never-Trump conservative argument that Trump is not a conservative - one that I, too, made repeatedly during the Republican primaries - is not only no longer relevant, it is no longer true.

Had any Never-Trump conservative been told, say in the summer of 2015, that a Republican would win the 2016 election and, within his first few months in office, appoint a conservative to the Supreme Court; begin the process of replacing Obamacare; bomb Russia's ally, Assad, after he again used chemical weapons; appoint the most conservative cabinet in modern American history; begin undoing hysteria-based, economy-choking EPA regulations; label the Iranian regime "evil" in front of 50 Muslim heads of state; wear a yarmulke at the Western Wall; appoint a U.N. ambassador who regularly condemns the U.N. for its moral hypocrisy; restore the military budget; and work on lowering corporate tax rates, among other conservative achievements -- that Never-Trump conservative would have been jumping for joy.


So, why aren't anti-Trump conservatives jumping for joy?

I have come to believe that many conservatives possess what I once thought was a left-wing monopoly -- a utopian streak. Trump is too far from their ideal leader to be able to support him.

There is also a cultural divide. Anti-Trump conservatives are a very refined group of people. Trump doesn't talk like them. Moreover, the cultural milieu in which the vast majority of anti-Trump conservatives live and/or work means that to support Trump is to render oneself contemptible at all elite dinner parties.

In addition, anti-Trump conservatives see themselves as highly moral people (which they often are) who are duty-bound not to compromise themselves by strongly supporting Trump, whom they largely view as morally defective.

Finally, these people are only human: After investing so much energy in opposing Trump's election, and after predicting his nomination would lead to electoral disaster, it's hard to for them to admit they were wrong. To see him fulfill many of his conservative election promises, again in defiance of predictions, is a bitter pill. But if they hang on to their Never-Trumpism and the president falls on his face, they can say they were right all along.


That means that only if he fails can their reputations be redeemed. And they, of course, know that.

But there is another way.

They can join the fight. They can accept an imperfect reality and acknowledge that we are in a civil war, and that Trump, with all his flaws, is our general. If this general is going to win, he needs the best fighters. But too many of them, some of the best minds of the conservative movement, are AWOL.

I beg them: Please report for duty.

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I have come to believe that many conservatives possess what I once thought was a left-wing monopoly -- a utopian streak. Trump is too far from their ideal leader to be able to support him.

There is also a cultural divide. Anti-Trump conservatives are a very refined group of people. Trump doesn't talk like them. Moreover, the cultural milieu in which the vast majority of anti-Trump conservatives live and/or work means that to support Trump is to render oneself contemptible at all elite dinner parties.

George Will?

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That means that only if he fails can their reputations be redeemed. And they, of course, know that.

But there is another way.

They can join the fight. They can accept an imperfect reality and acknowledge that we are in a civil war, and that Trump, with all his flaws, is our general. If this general is going to win, he needs the best fighters. But too many of them, some of the best minds of the conservative movement, are AWOL.

I beg them: Please report for duty.

Some of them never will... , like George Will.
They simply have to be forgotten as we move on without them.

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In addition, anti-Trump conservatives see themselves as highly moral people (which they often are) who are duty-bound not to compromise themselves by strongly supporting Trump, whom they largely view as morally defective.

How true this statement...

Sometimes perfect is the enemy of good.

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Trump is too far from their ideal leader to be able to support him.

Yeah, well, their "ideal leader" (whoever he was) wouldn't have won, a necessity for getting any kind of agenda implemented.

Jalen,

Enjoyed reading your comments and this thread.

Look back to Obama. When he was running for president, he promised the world. He would fix everything. After, he shrugged his shoulders and said "I didn't make this mess"(as I recall).
Trump was elected, hiked his pants up, and said let's get to work.

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Originally posted by JALLEN:

Finally, these people are only human: After investing so much energy in opposing Trump's election, and after predicting his nomination would lead to electoral disaster, it's hard to for them to admit they were wrong. To see him fulfill many of his conservative election promises, again in defiance of predictions, is a bitter pill. But if they hang on to their Never-Trumpism and the president falls on his face, they can say they were right all along.

This is my interpretation. I also had some reservations about what Trump would do once in office, but that has become a non-issue for me now. Except for maybe his tweets. But I also think he enjoys trolling/distracting his foes by using his tweets.

Because they aren't really conservatives...

It is blatantly obvious.

Keep in mind that Trump is not particularly ideological. Some of his ideas find favor with conservatives, others not so much.

Purists always have a hard time when they find themselves in power, because conservatives tend to not agree among themselves. Part of the problem is that our government has gone well beyond traditional, strict conservative ideals long ago. Coolidge was a conservative. Few since him have been. Even the sainted Ronald Reagan tended to talk conservative but act less so, particularly where spending and expansion of government was concerned.

One reason is that conservatives have never, in my lifetime, had effective control of the different parts of government. Right now, fewer than 60 votes in the Senate prevents free rein to enact and enforce a conservative agenda, and the courts have posed some obstacles as we have seen.

Trump can't just order the various branches of government to dance his tune. Our system is designed to prevent that level of power unless the people are really, really behind it. So far, that has been elusive. Ya gotta start somewhere, though.

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Our system is designed to prevent that level of power unless the people are really, really behind it. So far, that has been elusive. Ya gotta start somewhere, though.

It's slow moving, more like a barge than a speed boat... it takes several miles to gradually change direction.

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Originally posted by chellim1:

It's slow moving, more like a barge than a speed boat... it takes several miles to gradually change direction.

....yes...and like that barge getting X-miles out to sea, eventually someone pulls the belly dump lever.....

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Originally posted by SIG4EVA:
Because they aren't really conservatives...

It is blatantly obvious.

This.

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Trump is too far from their ideal leader to be able to support him.

Correct. Their ideal leader was Hillary. Why? Countless possibilities for fundraising, i.e. "Vote for me so we can stop her!" and also with Hillary in office they wouldn't have to actually work for another four years.

No, Trump was nothing like their ideal leader. Their ideal leader would have served them instead of serving the people.

an anti-Trump conservative is just another hyphenated word for liberal democrat

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Many conservatives, including me, believe that it would have been close to over for America as America if the Republican candidate, who happened to be a flawed man named Donald Trump, had not won. Moreover, I am certain that only Donald Trump would have defeated Hillary Clinton.

In other words, I believe that Donald Trump may have saved the country. And that, in my book, covers a lot of sins -- foolish tweets, included.

In my experiences, this is the most common theme - a large disagreement regarding the threat we faced if Hillary were to have won, and the notion that Trump was the only one who could have beat her.

Above all - I was a Never-Hillary voter, and was/am certain Trump was our only shot.

Many disagree.

In the end, I don't much care about the President's Tweets, or his choice in VP which I would never, ever, otherwise support, or various other aspects of this Administration, because in the end - it's not Hillary and her ilk, and that is a YUGE win in and of itself.

I have Republican friends who voted for Gary Johnson because for various stupid reasons, couldn't stand to vote for Trump. They couldn't stand his speeches. They couldn't fathom that the guy was intelligent, he has no "experience", etc. etc. etc. They think Trump is a "jackass", and tend to believe the bullshit news. They also are hard-core Bush supporters, hell they actually still think Marco or Jeb could have beaten Hillary. But it is true, these friends didn't see a Hillary presidency as the end of the country or a catastrophe waiting to happen, they actually thought it would be an opportunity for Mittens or Jeb to come back in 2020.

I still love them as friends, but consider their politics as extremely naive and frankly, just plain idiotic. Pretty much equal to my liberal family members and friends.

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these friends didn't see a Hillary presidency as the end of the country or a catastrophe waiting to happen, they actually thought it would be an opportunity for Mittens or Jeb to come back in 2020.

I still love them as friends, but consider their politics as extremely naive and frankly, just plain idiotic. Pretty much equal to my liberal family members and friends.

I don't know if this describes your friends... but Mittens and Jeb aren't conservatives. They actually kind of look down on conservatives. They are members of the club. The Uniparty. The elite. We are not members of the insiders club.

Of course, they want our votes, but after that they have little use for conservatives.