Party Last

What Trump and Liz Cheney have in common.

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Donald Trump. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images.)

Last week the leader of the Republican Party did what leaders are sometimes called to do. He reprimanded a member for not acting in the party’s best interests.

Trump being Trump, he did so publicly rather than privately. And because his target, Mitt Romney, is one of the few remaining Republicans who’s unbeholden to him, his reprimand was destined to fail pitifully. Still, the effort was there.

We should pause here for a moment to reflect on the fact that the table of contents for the archives at the future Donald J. Trump Presidential Library and Casino will contain multiple entries for the word “McMuffin.”

Anyway.

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  1. Nemmerle924

    There's one more pole - the Remnant of the Remnant, as Jonah would call us...

    People like me who were and ARE Never-Trump, but will nonetheless support a variety of GOP candidates in SPITE of their 2020 election denialism (much of which I believe is political posturing and amounts to nothing more than saying what they need to say to avoid drawing lightning) because (a) their policy preferences are somewhat preferable to the insanity preferred by Democrats and (b) 2 more years of consolidated Democratic Control of Congress/Presidency is a FAR more serious threat the US than any speeches about the last Presidential Election.

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  2. Robert.Zoch

    Just got around to reading this. My God, this is so perfect. Precisely accurate. I like this writer.

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    1. Nemmerle924

      Allahpundit has earned his chops.

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    Marvel2014.ab

    You seem to present the only two options as being voting for one of the two major party candidates--that is, the article reads as if, once you've made the case that a certain Republican should not be supported, you've therefore made the case that their Democrat opponent should be supported. I may be misinterpreting your argument, but if so, the discussion of Never Trump Republicans supporting Democrats seems to come out of nowhere.

    But of course, there is another option--to vote for neither. To either vote third party or not vote at all. For example, if you believe that election denialism and "Stop the Steal" efforts are an existential threat to American democracy--as I do--then you cannot support most Republicans. At the same time, if you believe that abortion is murder and one of the greatest atrocities of modern times--as I do--then you cannot support most Democrats. More than one thing can disqualify a candidate from receiving your vote.

    Now, I'm not all that well-versed on your views on particular issues, having only started reading you once you came to the Dispatch, so I don't know if you're anti-abortion or not. But regardless, you have to recognize most conservatives are, and so it is unfair to dismiss opposition to voting for Democrats as concerns about the marginal income tax.

    More importantly, most of the Republicans who are endorsing Democrats are anti-abortion. I've defended Liz Cheney for the past two years, and so I was tremendously disappointed when she said she would campaign for Democrats. No amount of pointing to the bad things Republicans have done makes this justifiable, any more than pointing out the bad things Democrats have done makes voting for someone like Doug Mastriano justifiable.

    All of this is to say, if you want to make the case that a certain candidate should be supported, you need to do more than make the case that another candidate should not be supported.

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  4. Eliason.Mark

    Don't overthink Mike Lee's intellectual credentials. He went from the law school where his father served as founding dean, to clerk for Alito in '98 as a circuit court judge, after Alito had worked early in his career for... Mike Lee's dad, Rex Lee. Only when Alito was elevated to the Supreme Court did Mike Lee go back to clerk for Alito. I'm sure he did a good enough job, as he was called back, but it's hard to ignore all the ways in which his father paved the way to his success.

    Mike Lee has had thoughtful moments and has some good policy ideas. But as Mr. Catoggio argued, he has shown a stunning lack of judgment in times that mattered.

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  5. Scianti7

    I appreciate this article.

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    TexasPete

    If anyone uses Discord, we have a Discord server/group (unaffiliated with The Dispatch) where members discuss the articles and podcasts. Link: https://discord.com/invite/XhVK2W6zQq

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  7. Wsampson

    best writer on the Dispatch by far

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    Marion Coatsworth-Hay

    I hope we can eventually get our poop together again.

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    Dustin Anglin

    I, too, think of Trump as Captain Moron.

    ...I'll see myself out...

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  10. Russell J

    I’m still shocked by Lee’s post election acts. I would be interested in speculation on his thinking. In my state (AL), being meh towards MAGA can get someone thrown out but Utah strikes me as much more reasonable and Lee had already kissed the ring. Is it the long shot at a Supreme Court seat? He was also expecting everything to be private.

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