And That Is Why I Support Trump With All His Flaws
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Not on board with the writer. McCain had a starboard voting record. An irritated Arizona Republican maintained to me that he turned left when Goldwater died (and the American Conservative Union scores do record a phase change at that point, though not a radical one) and would swing right in election years (not much indication of that). It is true that in the latter part of his career in Congress he was to the left of the median within the Republican caucus, but his voting record did not resemble that of a liberal Republican or a temporizer. He had some disagreeable signatures: (1) a tendency to throw a spanner into the works at just the wrong moment, (2) a bad temper which damaged his relationships with other members of Congress, (3) a strange hostility to enforcing the immigration laws, (4) an indifference to his constituents in favor of donors (a tendency he shared with Republican senators in general); and (5) a surprising tendency to trust out and out grifters (Nicolle Wallace, Steven Schmidt). As for McCain as a human being, he was a mixed bag with very prominent high points and low points.
Romney is a very capable man and his mundane life is impeccable. Like Richard Nixon, the whole package is tarnished by his time in political office. His problems are two fold, one of them manifest in 2012, one not yet. (1) issues are fungible to him and (2) spite is a motivator.
Note, only an odd minority of Republican voters read National Review. Here’s an alternative thesis: Romney and McCain were able to score the nomination because a large bloc of the Republican voting public (about 1/3, I think) has the same candidate every year: The-Guy-Whose-Turn-It-Is. I don’t think this segment of the Republican electorate is above the median in terms of their inclination to consumer political literature. One feature of The-Guy-Whose-Turn-It-Is is that he shows little evidence of adhering to any position that tests badly in polls. An astringent character like Pat Buchanan or Rick Santorum will never be The-Guy-Whose-Turn-It-Is. It was during the period running from 1956 to 1968 that a critical mass of Republican voters developed this habit: (1) the Republican nomination in 1960 was handed to the incumbent vice president wrapped in a bow, something that had almost no precedent in American presidential politics, and handed to him even though Gen. Eisenhower had serious misgivings about him; (2) the Republican electorate returned to him in 1968 after an experiment in nominating someone with a distinct and specific perspective, granting him the nomination with only modest opposition. After 1968, the Republican electorate nominated the incumbent president (1972, 1976, 1984, 1992, 2004), nominated the runner up from the most recent competitive contest (1980, 1988, 2008, 2012), nominated the runner up from the penultimate competitive contest (1996), and nominated the son of the most recent Republican president (2000). The Republican electorate came quite close to bouncing Gerald Ford in 1976. Over a period of nearly 50 years, that’s the only time something off-script came close to fruition.
Why do I support Trump?
Easy.
One word – RESULTS.
He achieved more national positives than any other POTUS in living memory; not least he actually did something about national baby murdering which the long list of RINOs only scammed us to get our votes.
Flaws.
Now, do the garbage people and garbage policies now, 24/7 wrecking America.
did not resemble that of a liberal Republican or a temporizer.
When he was at death’s door Art, and had nothing to fear from the voters, he zestfully voted down the effort to repeal Obamacare. He was a conservative when it didn’t matter and an anti-conservative when it did. His instructions that Palin not be invited to his funeral revealed the man in all his pettiness and venom.
Romney is a very capable man
I could care less Art that he was successful outside of politics. As a Presidential standard bearer he was an utter disaster, especially at the end when he sat on a non-existent lead.
His instructions that Palin not be invited to his funeral revealed the man in all his pettiness and venom.
I would wager the insult to Gov. Palin was his wife’s doing, as was some of the commentary on his Twitter feed in his last months. My Arizona Republican correspondent pointed out something else: he’s buried in a naval cemetery on the east coast. Cindy cannot be buried with him. Carol McCain and her son live on the Virginia tidewater. Much shorter commute for them to visit his grave.
The median score from the American Conservative Union for his last 8 years in Congress was 88%. It is an implausible thesis to me that the other 12% were a compendium of votes that actually mattered.
Critics of Mitch McConnell maintain that it does not matter how many Republican senators there are, there will always be just enough unreliable members in the caucus to prevent any reforms from being enacted. The failed Obamacare repeal is a piece of evidence toward that thesis, as is the failure of the Republican caucus to produce a finished piece of replacement legislation, even though they had seven years to do this. (Four of the seven Republican legislators who sabotaged the repeal have been routinely unreliable. The fifth was Rob Portman, the living embodiment of the blueblood careerist in Republican politics).
I could care less Art that he was successful outside of politics.
I care that he knows how to run things. I don’t care about Romney as a campaigner. The problem with the man is that (1) he’s a windsock and (2) he’s elected to make a pissant nuisance of himself. Who wants to do that in their old age?
I care that he knows how to run things.
It doesn’t necessarily work that way Art. Lincoln had never run more than his law office, and successfully conducted the Civil War with a handful of clerks. Carter had both business and government executive experience prior to being elected, and was a disaster as President.
I now practice psychiatry without a license.
Willard is only one of the poster children for all that is wrong in the GOP.
Re: McCain: de mortuis nil nisi bonum. Ergo I got nothing.
I was not for President Trump just because the other guys were so bad, but because i saw him as a positive good.
At first i saw him really as an unknown quality but as time and the Lord have revealed more and more the machinations of the devil, i see President Trump as important to our religious freedom and our general welfare.
It doesn’t necessarily work that way Art.
I’m willing to play the averages.
I loved seeing Trump smash the fake Democratic media complex.
But now we’re at a stage where things are manifest and we need a conservative that 1. Tells it like it is (as Trump did) but not with the reflex tweets, and 2. works to bring the country together (as Trump has not, he plays only to his base)
When I saw Romney not respond at all to Crowley’s lie, I knew we lost too. I was flabbergasted and frustrated.
It’s going to be Trump in 2024, so lead, follow or get the hell out of the way.
I’m willing to play the averages.
Grant ran the entire Union Army-failed President.
Reagan-Only executive experience was terms as the President of the Screen Actors Guild-Great President
Herbert Hoover-huge success in running businesses and in running vast relief operations in war time-Failed President.
Harry Truman-Bankrupt haberdasher-machine politician-Great success as President.
George H.W. Bush-Huge amounts of experience as an executive in both business and government-Mediocre President.
Donald Trump-More executive business experience than any other President-ran a chaotic administration and never gained control of the major agencies in the Executive Branch.
Reagan was also governor of California. That’s a bit more executive experience than being president of the SAG.
In part due to Trump, the judicial legislation of Roe v. Wade has been nullified. 1000s of lives now being saved weekly. Name me the GOP power people who have done are who are doing this. Talk about everything else, every policy, every political peccadillo, the color of his hair, no other republican has saved lives at this level. On this lives vs death calculus, no one compares to Trump. Guy, Texas
True Greg.
Harry Truman-Bankrupt haberdasher-machine politician-Great success as President.
County executive for eight years.
George H.W. Bush-Huge amounts of experience as an executive in both business and government-Mediocre President.
In business. In the public sector, he had one year as a federal bureau chief. He held two diplomatic posts which would have included a two digit staff. He also spent a year as Republican National Chairman. I seem to recall at the time that his tenure was considered an example of what not to do. George Bush the Elder had the same problem as Romney – highly competitive windsock. The one issue he cared about was the capital gains tax.
The Screen Actors Guild is not a penny ante union. It has a six digit membership and Reagan was in charge when the cultural significance of the cinema was far larger than it is today. The import of his SAG period was remarked on by Meg Greenfield ca. 1984: the rhythms of the negotiations between Reagan and Congress were like those of a labor dispute. Reagan was the most experienced negotiator of any postwar president.
It’s going to be Trump in 2024, so lead, follow or get the hell out of the way.
Yep. Not time to “play averages”.
In part due to Trump, the judicial legislation of Roe v. Wade has been nullified.
Trump is God’s baseball bat
Comment of the week Pauli! Take ‘er away Sam!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXeIxtI–uc&t=29s
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/decision-2022/9-pa-republicans-are-endorsing-democrat-shapiro-for-governor/3292019/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/more-republicans-line-up-behind-democrat-josh-shapiro-for-governor-here-s-who-they-are/ar-AA11gxMs
Meanwhile, business Republicans in Pennsylvania working to shiv the Republican gubernatorial candidate.
In his 2008 presidential Campaign McCain ran on a commercial to “complete the dang fence.”
By 2013 he had changed to “comprehensive border reform” though he no longer supported building an actual fence, and he said that using armed forces to secure the border and deporting illegal immigrants violated our “Judeo-Christian principles.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna50874570
In 2018 McCain proposed legislation which would allow for expansion of amnesty, but no border wall funding.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2018/02/05/john-mccain-offers-daca-fix-no-money-trump-border-wall/306412002/
There’s more that you can dig into, but the fact is that McCain never moved at all to create a border wall after his failed presidential bid, and frequently attacked President Trump over his plan for a wall.
The most charitable interpretation, since McCain still talked up a game of “border security” (though he really only took action on amnesty), is that he always meant a system of surveillance, guards, changes to immigration policy when he said “fence” but used that term because he thought that the voters were rubes who were too dumb to understand such things. The more likely option is that he just lied when he thought it could win him the election.
Not the only matter where he was probably just lying, but it was one of the most prominent due to his “complete the dang fence” promise being a key piece of his advertising.
In 2015 he said that talk of building a wall was “firing up the crazies” and when asked about border security he responded that to get elected support from the majority of Hispanics would be required.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2015/11/09/john-mccain-blasts-donald-trumps-border-wall-ndf/
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