Forgive me if I reject the Kumbayah spirit of the NeverTrump crowd. Of course they want it easy — they did nothing while the Trump people won the battle, and now they want back in the tent. It is not as though the war is over. This is just a battle, and if we allow this sort of conduct, we will lose the war. You do not sit back and enjoy winning a battle — you capitalize on victories and turn them into tangible advantages. This is still very much a fight between the Belmont elites who despise us in Fishtown, and we who actually do the fighting.
Rush says Reince Priebus was onboard the whole time. That’s nice. Even if I take Rush at face value (he would say this in any case, no?), that means that Reince and the RNC have found a 2/3 Fishtown conservative to champion him and his guys. Well, that’s a minimum of what it should take to be let into the tent, because this is not a banquet, not a “cocktail party”, but a planning meeting for the next battle.
There is a vast difference between being wrong and being on the wrong side. These are two unrelated things that the NeverTrump crowd are now desperately trying to conflate. Of course — they get a free pass if they can cover treachery with a simple “I was wrong”. As Stephen Pinker points out, there are strong evolutionary justifications for holding a grudge and for punishing traitors more harshly than enemies. Despite modern participation-trophy approaches to solving problems, those who lived long enough to produce us also passed on a suite of super-intelligent emotions, which are the unconscious sum of all knowledge acquired by the tree of life. Being angry and being honest about it are not bad for you — they are good for you. Calling a bastard a bastard is good for one’s own longevity. Those who forgive treachery do not live long — the natural deterrent to betray you is absent.
Belmont who calls us Nazis and brutes does not deserve to simply waltz back in and start calling the shots. And yet a great many conservatives will find themselves once again in a Lucy and the football situation.
I have ended my affiliation with the website over there. They may say they did it, but if you read the two threads, it’s clear. I will not be called a Nazi. By anyone. Anywhere. And I will not be lectured on civility by those who call me an anti-semite. These are damnable slurs, these are how Belmont balkanizes and subjugates conservatives, and I will punch a brothertrucker if given the chance.
The NeverTrump are unworthy of your forgiveness. For one, they have not asked for it. Notice that? For two, they do not repent. “Mistakes were made” does not address the issue. No, they declare that they are now willing to give Trump a chance. Too late for that. You don’t get to bet on a race that’s finished, and you don’t get to give a chance to the guy who beat you.
CAVEAT: There are people (Nanda and Al Kennedy come to mind) who have stated well-founded positions which dictate that they did not vote for Trump. Not all non-votes are the same. Just as a Chaplain does not fire at the enemy, yet is still unquestionably on the right side, some people earn their keep in other ways. When I say NeverTrump, I mean the termites of conservatism who damn near blew it for us, and could not have been more nasty in their bomb-tossing within the ranks. This caveat applies to any mention I ever make of NeverTrump.
I can’t believe you’re gone! Is it permanent? The Rabble Alliance is angry.
Ricochet is not the same site I joined back in October 2010. And I have bloody little respect for the powers that be these days.
I feel like a minority for expressing fiscally responsible policies based solely on common sense AND historical precedent.
Gone forever. They have deactivated my account and “it will not be re-activated”. No refund, none sought. Well, Rabble can always come here.
I said this to SHE once it was clear she had been sent to whack me: “Go ahead and pull the trigger. It will hurt me more than it will hurt you.” I meant it.
The whole Kumbayah trash they are pulling is not friendly, it’s a coup. What you are seeing is not unification, but co-option by the professional NeverTrumpers. Of course they want to get rid of the label — they were on the wrong side.
Challenge them and you’re a Nazi. They’ve been doing it to us since the primaries, and they’re not about to stop now. Learn the lesson. It’s not going to get better over there. They are of course gracious — they are very politely allowing the victors to surrender.
I’m not taking that deal.
Maybe, as well, a faculty-lounge, bi-coastal need to be thought “kewl”? Witness the invitation to Dana Gould, as a guest contributor…Can you really have your cake and eat it, too? They seem to be trying awfully hard…Tis ever thus.
Geez, BDB, why don’t you get more specific? Just kidding, although this is no kidding matter. Fred pulled my chain, although of course he knows not who I am, so I responded with truth. One does not get to waltz onto the smoking battlefield, just like Commodus in Gladiator, and expect understanding and plaudits. Screw the Nevers! Sunshine soldiers, ad nauseum. Glad to be here and looking forward to the day when I’ll be a contributor. Too bad that Ricochet chose to devalue original thought and the challenging attitude that you presented. Too bad that the Rabble is not a full-fledged editing location, but maybe that would be the end of the main feed, eh? Sorry to ramble so, but glad to be here and looking forward to the positive slope of our nation’s accomplishments and stature after the monumental inflection point established Tuesday. Cheers, all.
I hear this. I dug my own grave at R when I posted the outrage I felt looking at a group of Sharia-clad women in my Florida beach coast community.
I was accused of burning crosses and looking down my nose at people who don’t dress like me.
Very simply put, I was absolutely horrified that any group representing and/or dressing as Sharia followers had infiltrated my community.
There are pathologies I refuse to tolerate because I have worked so hard to achieve the privilege of living in a lovely and civilized community.
I was simply protecting my turf and would have responded the same to KKK or Nazi skinheads.
Hmphf.
I can see it. It will be awful there without you. I’ll just hang out here. Let’s get others over here too.
I made a notation, as you know RA, in the group.
Agree. I’ve already contacted Pseud.
Yes I saw that! Good.
Yes, excellent…Many of the Alliance folks are aware of here…But I hope we don’t get stuck in re-litigating, rather reforming, responding…I like Charles Murray’s workarounds in “We The People” (After Beloved Admin so helpfully cleared away the academic, handwringing blather for me recently.) We hafta start somewhere; not to mention holding the President-Elect accountable. (As I would do for any holder of higher office. I’ll sign up for that seminar right now…
Hi BDB. So you cut the cord. I shall recommend to the Rabble that they come here and sign up, not as an escape but a broadening of venues.
The Dana Gould thing really got to me. If they had a clue on members other than their own echo chamber they could have made that fun and productive. Yeti and Gabriel are not the sharpest knives in the drawer on customer service.
I’m not judging the Dana Gould thing quite as harshly as some but it does seem like a desperation move on the part of management. On the other hand, Zubrin seems to be gone. Probably sulking in his safe space.
Hopefully on bread and water.
What gets me is they know 50% of the members are not going to react well to a Mike Murphy , or a Zubrin and they act like we are some small minority.
If I owned it, they would be fired in a flash for annoying half their customer base on a regular basis.
Indeed. Just checking my profile TK.
Here’s my approach to the Nevertrumpers: (I put this on TKC’s “Time to Move Forward with a Caveat” (did he mean cravet?) Anyway:
I think it’s imperative to get these people out of the halls of power and off the lists for people in the Republican Party to go to for advice. Will these people stop with the advice and commenting on things they don’t understand and get wrong every single time? I really doubt it. But, let’s wait and see if they have self control. Let’s see if people stop listening to them — they have nothing to offer Trump and nothing to offer the Republican Party.
Stand down, Nevertrumpers. Please get off the stage and off the soap boxes and leave the country alone. Go back to the farm or wherever and get a new day job.
That’s essentially what I’m thinking. We need a new slate of leaders and also advisers and columnists who can help the conservative movement be successful.
The NTs just think they should continue because… they are still smarter than you and me.
If Trump can remove the self-identified foot-draggers on the conservative side of the aisle then that alone will be a huge step forward.
I’m surprised at how easy they think it is for us to just forget. They were HELPING HER. And some of them don’t even see that.
(Not you, Nanda! haha)
Thanks, Righty! I think the term needs to be retired completely…The battle is over. Those folks are an irrelevance. Yunz need to hold DJT – and his inner circle – whoever they end up being – accountable for results. He owes yunz, and the country, that much…We have work to do.
RA, they had to lie about helping her. Because their brains are wired for thinking in conservative modes they found the truth impossible to say.
They lie — they know that Hillary is glad of their help. Why is she glad? Because they are doing work for her — or work that she doesn’t have to pay for. Also, because they are (or were) on the right and criticizing her opponent they actually benefited her campaign with a huge multiplier effect.
Larry, the word “conservative” needs to be recovered from the ‘Phants…(Okay, I’ll go be quiet now.)
I hope all here noticed how quickly I got smacked and flagged on the Dana Gould post. Then you all know who Zanluke is and that’s the last I will say about that.
I agree, Larry. What happened, Zanluke?
RightAngles, see comment #3 on Majority Outreach. I was basically questioning why leftists were so easily granted ‘contributor’ status and post to the main feed while we had to have quality posts by member writers voted to the main feed. And as GGW pointed out, open that up and Ricochet will be swamped by the stuff we see on the leftist sites.
Aha, Zanluke. Good to see you
Good to see you here, as well. We have some top people here.
Which people?
Top. People.
“The Toppermost of the Poppermost” (an old Beatles self-description).
Way to go, Indiana.
Meh, they suck.
I understand why you left the other site. I may be stuck there because my wife likes the podcasts, but I share your disgust.
IDad, many of the podcasts are not “members-only”; check availability on iTunes, for instance.
Belated thanks, Nanda. I/we joined Ricochet in 2012 and the podcasts she likes include some members-only podcasts.
Perhaps in keeping with the original posting here, ?just what IS Fred Cole. He has been unabatedly bashing Trump in the Daily Shot for a long time – WAY worse than Hillary. He still is.
I decided a long time ago I was voting for Trump. Initially it was a SCOTUS issue, but the more I listened to the Left bash him, the more I became convinced he may not be nearly as bad as everyone was saying. And one thing was obvious – he was willing to fight. Like BDB I was looking for a fight.
Now I hope he will indict Hillary. The message to the democrats should be loud and clear that no one is above the law.
And I hope he gets us out of the Mideast completely, except for Israel. Those inbred savages don’t deserve any more American lives. We’ll see how he does with China et al.
Dev, didn’t he say on “60 Minutes” that he “doesn’t want to hurt her” [HRC]?
Nanda,
You are in charge of getting Simon back in the fold. :)
You give me way too much credit, Liz. :-D
I was an extremely reluctant Trump voter. I still see him as primarily a Democrat. Regardless he was better than Hillary, and there was no credible alternative. It was Trump or Hillary. I chose Trump.
Regardless of my going in position (and my low expectations for Trump), I am cautiously optimistic going forward, from what I have seen so far. I also hope he does well, and will be supporting him in so far as if we do not hang together we will hang separately.
As far as I am concerned, Trump has achieved a minimal victory just by keeping Hillary out of the White House, will get a tactical victory if he kills the Unaffordable Care Act and rolls back the regulatory state by cancelling Obama’s executive orders. If he achieves more than that (like cutting spending and the number of federal workers) that is a strategic victory in my book.
I really don’t expect much, which means my expectations can easily be exceeded.
Seawriter
Nice to see you here, Seawriter.
Your points are interesting. I only note that regardless of who he was, his performance over this election was brilliant. And the Left knows it. And they are both pissed and demoralized.
My hope is that Pence will have real influence in the administration. He’s a pretty straight guy.
“Your points are interesting. I only note that regardless of who he was, his performance over this election was brilliant. And the Left knows it. And they are both pissed and demoralized.”
I agree Trump was a brilliant campaigner, but being brilliant at running for office is different from running the office. Look at Obama. Great at getting elected, great at dividing, but lousy at running the country.
Trump is already doing better than Obama as Trump has avoided gratuitously angering those who did not vote for him by claiming “I won.” Instead Trump is appealing to be the President of the whole country, even those who did not vote for him. (Admittedly Trump does not need to gratuitously anger his opponents as they are good with angering themselves . . .)
I acknowledge Trump has done a lot of good simply by being elected, much more good that I realized he would. That is something many of #nevertrump folks still do not acknowledge. I want to give him a chance, and hope he does better than my expectations.
I have been wrong about politicians before. I never expected Reagan to do as well as he did. But I now believe him he greatest President of the 20th Century.
Seawriter
With you, Seawriter; write-in vote for McMullin. Beloved Admin has issued me a safe-conduct pass. :-) Good to see you!
Glad you are here, Seawriter. The first year of this administration will be crucial and in addition to trying to keep Trump on target with his promises, some of those republicans in Congress will need to be watched closely as well. Watch our they act on immigration and spending, particularly.
I know. It’s early. But signs seem to point in the right direction. Notice that he took on the mopes at Hamilton. The pundits call it “being Trump”. I would call it push-back. No more free shots; the Left has gotten away with that for too long.
Notice something. So far Trump seems to be picking people that would allow him to keep his campaign promises. I am ecstatic that Mattis is in the running for Sec of Defense. I believe Mattis would be exactly what the services want – someone who knows them, understands the pace and rhythm of combat, and would not be happy to just toss people at a problem.
He wasn’t known for his diplomacy when he was a colonel at MCAGCC. Just saying, Dev. Don’t chew me a new one.
Diplomacy is the realm of the Sec of State. War Dept is for when you need something sharper than words.