Remember, You Asked For This

Five ways to think about the Trump indictment.

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Supporters of former President Donald Trump protest near Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 31, 2023. (Photo by Giorgio Viera / AFP/Getty Images)

Whenever America endures some new episode of Trump-related degradation, I return to Kevin Williamson’s post at National Review the day Trump clinched the Republican nomination in 2016: “Remember, You Asked for This.”

Given how many occasions I’ve had to revisit it, you would think I’d have it memorized.

“Americans and Republicans, remember: You asked for this,” Kevin wrote. “Given the choice between a dozen solid conservatives and one Clinton-supporting con artist and game-show host, you chose the con artist. You chose him freely. Nobody made you do it.”

Part of me wants to end this newsletter right there, as that should suffice as a reaction to yesterday’s news.

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Comments (348)
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  1. Mh80807

    So, you'd vote Democrat because ... they're better on national security? or because they're better defenders of our rights to freedom of speech or of religion or of the Second Amendment? or because they're working so hard to ensure that women have the opportunity to compete against other *women* in athletics?

    I like much of what you write, but the idea that you'd vote for Biden or Newsome or Harris over DeSantis is not a testament to good judgment.

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  2. Vance Schuemann

    This really didn’t explain or enlighten anything for us

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    1. Jah.Jacobsen

      Knowing the identity of "us" is decidedly relevant to anyone grasping your point here . . .

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    Chrisztopher Smith

    I'd prefer Tim Scott, Nikki Haley or Pence but I think Desantis has the only real shot at beating Trump.

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  4. Randall Briggs

    "I regret to inform you that you will have asked for that too by nominating someone in 2016 who palpably cared nothing about the success of the Republican Party or the right-wing agenda if he wasn’t anointed as its figurehead."

    I've been a conservative (in the sense of conserving the liberal order established in our founding) all my 50 years of adulthood. But I've never considered myself a right-winger.

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    Ajax81613

    Democrats would prefer Trump to be the nominee since he’d be the easiest for Biden to beat (presumably). So wouldn’t they do everything they could do to make him the nominee, like trying to make him a martyr to the MAGAns? This would be consistent with their strategy of actively campaigning on behalf of Trump-endorsed candidates to ensure their general election defeats. Best case, Trump is the nominee. Worst case, Trump is in jail and ruined. Win/win.

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      Normb1442

      Go back and read what Nick just wrote. YOU ASKED FOR THIS. Now you're trying -- yet again -- to find a way to blame Democrats for it, this time by indicting him.

      The only thing the Democrats HAVE done is to get him the hell out of the White House in 2020. And they did it because enough of the country wised up to his con game.

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    Brian Ruff

    Nick, I didn't read much of your Hot Air blogging, but I'm very glad you're at the Dispatch. Your commentary has been as insightful as it is prolific.

    I do take exception in one area, and it's more of a guess than it is grounded in any evidence. Should he secure the nomination, I suspect that DeSantis will make an enormous tack to the center in a general election to peel off independents and anyone fearful of reelecting an octogenarian - my thumbs pointing squarely at me. Not sure who else feels this way, but I can say I will never vote for Trump or Biden for the exact same reason - both are over 75. If Chinese missiles start raining down on Taiwan, I don't trust anyone elderly to have the mental reflexes needed to make Commander-In-Chief decisions. And it's a decent bet the next president will deal with exactly that situation. I may not like Ron DeSantis (I don't), but I see him as a better wartime option than anyone else at this point.

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      Normb1442

      Right, because Biden has ben all wishy-washy on defending Taiwan and Ukraine. Oh wait!! It's DeSantis who said Russia was in a territorial dispute and then had to walk it back. If I'm China, what conclusion would I draw as to who I want in the White House when the pedal hits the metal -- the old guy who was there for Ukraine in spades and the young guy who had to wait for the polls for tell him what to think?

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  7. Hendrixst2000

    I'll concede that The Dispatch is not quite as far to the right of center as say National Review. But declaring Ron DeSantis unfit for the presidency while withholding that same judgment for Joe Biden or Kamala Harris is a position better suited for The Bulwark.

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    1. Randall Briggs

      This is just my take, certainly not the official stance of The Dispatch. Right now, curing what has gone wrong with "the right" is at least as important as criticizing the left. As long as the GOP is led by Donald Trump, or Trump-wannabes like Ron DeSantis, it can offer no responsible alternative to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

      It's just not the case that every criticism of a Republican has to be balanced by a criticism of this, that, or the other Democrat. When Republican voters gain some sanity and start nominated responsible adults capable of governing instead of showboating, then we can turn our rhetorical fire back on the Democrats.

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      LBernard

      Well, Biden hasn't blatantly violated the Constitution, while Trump and now DeSantis have. I think that's a pretty clear red line.

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      1. Hendrixst2000

        DeSantis's comment about not assisting Trump's extradition was ill considered but he didn't (and won't) act on it.
        Several of Biden's actions are, at the least, arguably unconstitutional. Failure to enforce immigration law. Student loan forgiveness without congressional authorization. Using the CDC to extend the moratoriums on evictions

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        1. Hendrixst2000

          and OSHA to try to impose a national Covid vaccine. Just to name a few.

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      Ronnie B

      Nick hasn’t gone Full Bulwark yet, though he has been linking to those quisling’s articles an awful lot lately.

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      1. Randall Briggs

        Are you saying that anyone to the left of you is a traitor?

        That sort of thinking is part of what got us to this terrible point in our history.

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          Ronnie B

          I am saying that guys like Jonathan Last and Charlie Sykes are no different than guys like Glenn Beck and Ben Shapiro. As those of us who were paying attention in 2016 during the Republican primary know, guys like Beck and Shapiro, and that fraud Mollie Hemingway, were fervently NeverTrump, they knew he was morally unfit to be POTUS of this great country, and they said so, numerous times. It was only when they saw their READERS were unhappy with what they were saying that they did a complete 180 and became full throated Trump supporters or at least anti-anti-Trump, because they were afraid of losing the clicks and money from their readers.

          Guys like Last and Sykes over at Bulwark have pretty much done the same thing, in the opposite political direction. The subscribers of the Bulwark became overwhelmingly liberal Democrat, because of Sykes daily visits to MSNBC, so to accommodate their liberal subscribers both of them made dramatic ideological changes and moved from NeverTrump to AlwaysDemocrat. It is now a grift over at Bulwark, guys who have moved 180 degrees on culture and social issues from what the preached just a few years ago, because they want to keep their subscribers happy.

          I hate frauds that write what their readers want, rather then what they truly believe, whether they be anti-anti-Trumpers like Beck of Shapiro, or new AlwaysDemocrats like Last or Sykes.

          It seems the only place left that has writers that don’t sell out to keep the clicks coming is here, with Nick, and Jonah, and Kevin.

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          1. Randall Briggs

            My objection to your previous post was your use of the word "quisling." That has a specific meaning--one who sells out his country so that he can rule it as a puppet of the greater power.

            I disagree with your assessment of the Bulwark crew. In general, they are too liberal for my taste. But they don't have a uniform opinion there. And I believe that they are sincere in their opinions. (You obviously differ.) They are conservatives or former conservatives (mostly of the northern variety) who don't see any room for constitutional conservatives in the Trump-Publican Party. They see right-wing Trump-loving (or at least Trump-tolerating) populists running the show. So they find ways to support reasonable Democrats.

            As for Sykes and MSNBC, where can he go on TV other than on a "liberal" network? He's not welcome on Fox, the supposed conservative news network.

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      2. Hendrixst2000

        Yes he has.

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  8. Paul in NC

    Many fellow Never-Trumper's hang on to this irrational hope that Republican voters will finally see the err of their ways and pull back from all of the Trump madness. Nobody wants to walk away from the political party that defined most, if not all, of the views they've held their adult lives. I was holding onto this kind of hope until 2020, when Trump took that fascistic image of himself brandishing the Bible in front of St. John's Church and all of his followers swooned. Not sure why it was that moment, but that was the moment when I knew the GOP was finished. Nothing left but the details of the demise.

    This Republican Party is not worth saving. Better to just let the phony-patriots have it all, lose it all spectacularly (which they will), then rebuild.

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  9. Brook

    Powerful. Thanks, Nick. Your condemnation of DeSantis is justified. I keep hoping vs hope for a viable third party.

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    Linda Beggs

    Thanks for including the link to Kevin's Corner post. I good reminder that, as Jonah says, "This was destined to end in tears."

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