UPDATE: I'm dubbing this the "war elephant theory" of Never Trumpism.
The ongoing ballot shenanigans in Florida, Georgia and Arizona are all too familiar. What is new is the endorsement of this practice by people who nominally consider themselves conservatives.
These are the ones who keep chanting “rule of law” like a magic incantation, but they seem curiously aloof when Democrats blatantly steal elections.
I am referring of course to the Quisling Never Trumpers.
Long-time readers have seen me address these vile beings at length, but something occurred to me today that makes me think I had their motivation somewhat wrong. To be sure, they are motivated in large part by grift, but upon reflection, they are also motivated by conviction, it’s just not the conviction they speak of openly.
That conviction is that the masses are superstitious, violent, bigoted and in need of constant control and supervision. Essentially, they think the same thing about conservatives that progressives do, but instead of seeking the outright defeat or elimination of the GOP base, they see themselves as keepers of the beast.
Many of them are atheists, though they have kept this quiet until recently. Moreover, they are the kind of atheist who feels utter contempt on those who take religion seriously. This is why so many of them hector evangelical voters as being hypocrites for voting for Trump. The vitriol comes from a place of hatred, not a desire to educate or persuade. George Will is in this camp, as is the dolt still calling himself Allahpundit.
The religious wing actually shares the same loathing, but for different reasons. They consider themselves more pure than the louts who soil the pews around them, and they believe that by constantly turning the other cheek (and thereby losing every political battle) they are demonstrating their superior piety and virtue.
The Protestants can point to their prominence and prosperity as evidence that they are in the Elect, while the Catholic and Orthodox liken themselves the martyrs of old. This is why Ed Morrissey is all about selfless surrender on every issue. Rod Dreher is even more extreme, pitching his ludicrous “Benedict Option” of simply ceding the world to leftist extremists and hiding out in the hills until someone else gets the moral strength to stop them.
One could write an entire essay on the Jewish faction, but David Horowitz pretty much nailed it when he described William Kristol as a “renegade Jew.” Many of these ‘neocons’ are legacy members of the conservative establishment and never experienced the personal revelation that turned their fathers from the left. Having been born on third base, they harbor a brooding contempt for those stuck on first.
All of these groups actually agree that “red America” is populated with hot-heads, who at any moment could launch themselves into violence on a regional scale. This is why George W. Bush was so insistent on not mentioning militant Islam as an enemy. He truly feared the overnight appearance of Klan militias.
It is also why these people were always lukewarm of the right to life. In fact, they are closer to Margaret Sanger than they’d like to admit. Kevin Williamson gave the game away when he went on his infamous rant about rural white communities needing to die.
Ironically, Williamson has stridently defended the right to life, which cost him his gig at The Atlantic, but he clearly doesn’t like the people he’s supposed to be defending. He’s also done nothing constructive for the cause he claims to hold dear.
Their deep dislike of the rural whites who make up their following is why they are so infatuated with immigration. They long for the day that they, too can have a “diverse” following. Even though it may be a permanent political minority, at least they won’t have to pretend to like NASCAR and guns.
Speaking of guns, there are few establishment conservatives who actually own them, let alone think anyone else should have them. The Never Trumpers are almost uniformly in favor of sharp restrictions on gun ownership, precisely because they think their base is mentally unstable and could snap at a moment’s notice.
Some years ago when “The Walking Dead” was a new thing, a robust debate took place on National Review’s blog and a number of military members pointed out how a zombie outbreak would likely be contained quickly once the military got involved.
Combat Lawyer David French strongly disagreed, and his argument revealed he had nothing but contempt for the people he served with, regarding them as undisciplined, selfish and brutal.
All of these people see conservatives as essentially a monster to be tamed and controlled. The propensity of conservatives to have religious faith, to own firearms and even to serve in the military are all reasons they need to be constantly policed and watched.
To do that, they often affect a laid-back, devil-may care persona, such as the one crafted by Jonah Goldberg in the 1990s. We should relate to him because he likes Star Wars and makes Simpsons jokes. He likes to play the everyman who plays with his dog, savors spiced meats and drinks beer while watching movies. He’s a true mench.
Except that he isn’t, and he’s always known that. His job was to throw just enough snark at the left to keep his charges under control, and when they stopped listening to him in 2016, the mask fell away. His true personality – insecure, status-conscious, arrogant – has come out at last. The guy who wrote self-deprecating columns about sitting on a semi-sentient couch now wants everyone to know he’s a serious scholar and holds an endowed chair.
Ask yourself: what happens when an animal disobeys its trainer? Does the trainer use reason and persuasion, or does it impose sharp discipline and reassert dominance?
The Never Trumpers thought of the base as a pack of dogs for so long, they don’t understand why smacking us with newspapers and ordering us to heel isn’t working.
It’s also why their arguments are so devoid of any kind of persuasion. After all, why waste logic on an animal?
The core belief in the propensity of conservatives toward mindless violence unless controlled explains a lot of the neocon obsession with starting wars abroad, doesn’t it? Max Boot is probably convinced that absent some desert to fight and die in, the rednecks who make up the bulk of the Army may well turn on him. Better to keep them busy chasing around the Hindu Kush. Permanent war is a necessary safety valve to keep America’s Cossacks from descending on the Jews.
And yes, they do believe their base is both racist and anti-Semitic and when we stopped responding to the crack of their whip, they came out and said so.
In light of all this, it makes sense that these tools would parrot liberal talking points that voter fraud is a myth. As part of their worldview, they believe that it’s more important that the masses be deluded and restrained than that system actually work.
Because once people stop believing that the elections are accurate, they might take matters into their own hands. Again, the beast has to be kept sedated. They can’t understand how their arguments are actually making rebellion more likely since the left is now so blatant in its cheating no serious-minded person can doubt that it’s going on.
Thus we come to the final step of their play, which is an overt, actual alliance with the left. The monster they thought they controlled has slipped its chain and they will work with anyone they can find to bring about its destruction.
And so, like a trainer who was watched their beast rampage into the circus crowd, they are willing to shed a tear as they try to put down the beast, but they have no doubt in their heart that the beast must die.
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