A Smug And Haughty Anti-Trumper Who Is Actually Doing The Right Thing! (Yes, That Pig Is Flying)

Daniel Pipes is a man with an opinion about everything, and sometimes he is even correct. But about Trump he was spectacularly wrong, in spite of clear indications that the President's policies were overwhelmingly pro-Western and pro-Israeli. His elitist credentials simply would not allow him to accept Trump, for no substantive reason (his mea culpa is self-serving), but based on classist prejudice.

A Reluctant but Unhesitating Vote for Donald Trump

If I don't say so myself, my #NeverTrump bona fides are pretty impressive.

I watched in dismay as I helped the Ted Cruz presidential campaign, seeing Republican primary voters select Donald Trump out of a field of 16 viable candidates and make him president-elect. I signed an open letter committing to "working energetically to prevent the election of someone so utterly unfitted" to the presidency and wrote many articles lambasting Trump. I left the Republican party on his nomination and voted for Libertarian Gary Johnson in the general election. After the election, I hoped for Trump's impeachment and President Mike Pence.

But, to my unending surprise, he has governed as a resolute conservative. His policies in the areas of education, taxes, deregulation, and the environment have been bolder than Ronald Reagan's. His judicial appointments are the best of the past century (thank you, Leonard Leo). His unprecedented assault on the administrative state proceeds apace, ignoring predictable howls from the Washington establishment. Even his foreign policy has been conservative: demanding that allies contribute their fair share, confronting China and Iran, and singularly supporting Israel. Ironically, as David Harsanyi notes, a potential character flaw actually works to our advantage: "Trump's obstinacy seems to have made him less susceptible to the pressures that traditionally induce GOP presidents to capitulate."

Pipes is a particularly obnoxious example of the snobbery inherent in the NeverTrumper movement, and an object lesson in some basic human nature.

Mr. Pipes...try to pay attention to what people do, rather than what they say. Sort of like the lesson you have been teaching for 20 years about the Arab world!

The fact that he has examined the facts and come to the (at least to me) inescapable conclusion that President Trump is the only rational choice in 2020 is gratifying. I guess even Harvard grads can learn!

posted by CBD at 12:00 PM

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