Kevin D. Williamson:
What’s generally misunderstood on the Left is that the tea-party movement did not arise as an alternative to the Obama-Reid-Pelosi Democrats but as an alternative to the Bush-McConnell-Hastert Republicans, who were judged to have spent too much, warred too recklessly, and — most significant — to have been too ready to make themselves complicit in the bailouts.
What began as a bracing revolt quickly congealed into pasty dogma.
I’ve spent the past few days at FreedomFest in Las Vegas, Mark Skousen’s annual gathering of liberty-minded activists — think of it as CPAC for people who like weed and gold coins and who are maybe interested in hearing a pitch about taking up domicile in Belize. Far from a doctrinaire libertarian (or even Libertarian) affair, it draws a large number of self-described constitutional conservatives and limited-government types of all persuasions, including Republican activists and candidates.
It is also WHINO central.
You know the RINO — Republican In Name Only — but you may be less familiar with the WHINO. The WHINO is a captive of the populist Right’s master narrative, which is the tragic tale of the holy, holy base, the victory of which would be entirely assured if not for the machinations of the perfidious Establishment. Never mind the Democrats, economic realities, Putin, ISIS, the geographical facts of the U.S.-Mexico border — all would be well and all manner of things would be well if not for the behind-the-scenes plotting of Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, and their enablers, who apparently can be bribed with small numbers of cocktail weenies. The WHINO is a Republican conspiracy theorist, in whose fervid imaginings all the players — victims, villains — are Republicans.
Barack Obama? Pshaw. The real enemy is Jeb Bush.
That this is a deeply stupid view of the world should go without saying, but if you need evidence, consider that the WHINO vote has settled for the moment upon Donald Trump, a Hillary Rodham Clinton donor who supports Canadian-style single-payer health care and amnesty for as many illegal immigrants as he imagines to exist, who has 0.00 percent chance of winning a general election and who is, as if more were needed, a ridiculous buffoon.
Ask the WHINO to explain that and you will get the characteristic WHINO whine: “But what about the baaaaaaaaase!?!”
Which is to say, the WHINO loves Trump not because Trump confounds the Democrats or because he constitutes a serious threat to a Democratic victory in 2016, but because he confounds the Republicans and constitutes a serious threat to a Republican victory in 2016.
The worst part of the WHINO approach is the campaign strategery. At FreedomFest, I did an interview with Matthew Boyle of Breitbart Radio, a nice enough guy but a pretty good example of the WHINO style in American politics. What about Romney? Boyle demanded. Romney, he said with absolute assurance, lost to Barack Obama because millions of conservatives stayed home, finding him insufficiently committed to their cause.
The first aspect of what is wrong with this analysis is obvious: It assumes that a “real conservative” who couldn’t beat Mitt Romney in a Republican primary dominated by “real conservatives” would have defeated Barack Obama in a national election not dominated by conservatives at all, i.e. that Romney was the weakest candidate except for all the guys who couldn’t beat him.
But the defects in this analysis do not stop there. I am not sure that the psephology actually says what the WHINOs think it does, but even if it were so, the further problem with this line of thinking is obvious: If you are a conservative, and if you believe that the way to reform American public policy is to elect conservatives, and you arrived at Election Day believing that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were, from the conservative point of view, interchangeable commodities, then you are either a fanatic or extraordinarily ill-informed. In either case, you owe it to yourself and to your country to be a better citizen, and maybe read a book. There are all sorts of good reasons to abstain from voting, but the preposterous notion that there isn’t much difference between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney isn’t one of them.
This article is countered by this one:
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/07/12/williamson-aims-at-trumps-whinos-and-misses-the-mark/
But I think both men K. Williamson and Joel Pollock (who is editor in chief of Breitbart) miss a point.
A great many Republicans would rather not break the 11th Commandment (a la Ronald Reagan.)
Throwing stones at other Republicans OUGHT to be the job of the liberal media and the Dems.
I’m not wild about the Donald, but he is serving a wonderful purpose (like Perot did) of forcing a conversation of certain issues that, otherwise, might have been glossed over.
Having a favorite at this early date is just asking for disappointment.
Beware Liberals trying to force you into a commitment this early.
I think the reason why Trump is doing so well is because the base has been too often been betrayed by the establishment RINOS. Whom, (it has become clear,) flat out lied to the base to win election, then completely rolled over, to not just compromise with Democrats, but sold out the voters to do the will of their deep-pocketed, Chamber of Commerce crony capitalist-progressive elites, and it is even now conspiring to give Obama even more unchecked power. The betrayals since the last election are festering, cancerous and have left Republicans with no confidence in their GOP leaders
The truth is, the GOP base, (with justification,) can no longer trust the candidates the party puts forward. Even Walker, Cruz, Carson and Perry has on occasion supported the establishment’s side at various times on issues the working-class Republican / conservative base are opposed to, which leaves these voters to feel that they have no one running who fully represents them. Trump, (who is a much more intelligent man than many give credit,) has recognized this and is taking advantage of the disenfranchised, discounted, demoralized and discarded base, (whom the Republican leadership has kicked to the curb, now that they have won their elections). Trump is being described as not a true Republican or conservative but as an “outsider”. This too works in Trump’s favor, because the base is increasingly experiencing the party leaders acting as outsiders to the base’s positions on issues.
The MSM is still trying with their dishonest polling tactics to fabricate a belief that Jeb Bush is in the lead and the one to beat (while admitting that Trump is running even). Knowing the deviousness of the MSM pollsters and how little support among the base Bush holds, we can read between the lines to recognize that Trump must in actuality be in a much stronger position than the MSM wants to admit. Why else have they pulled out all the stops in going after Trump? Trump has the RINO establishment shivering in their patent-leather shoes, because they too realize just how much the Republican base and TEA Party support has been swayed by what Trump has been saying. (Which is what these voters have been wanting to hear from their GOP leaders).
The Republican Leadership has for too long kicked and whipped it’s conservatives and the Republican base while expecting their loyal support. When you continue to abuse and beat your dogs and only feed them an occasional scrap, even the most loyal among them can be made to turn on you. The Republican party is doomed unless it kicks out it’s idiot “Carl Rove” consultants and actively (and without deception) works hard to reconcile with conservatives, TEA Party supporters, and US working class folk.