Intentional Conservative

Let me give you an example here of what is meant by “retroactive explanations.” We have a realtor coming Friday to take pictures of our house for a listing. (We may end up not putting it up for sale after all, but that’s not germane to this story.) The house is in pretty good shape except for the basement, which tends to become a repository of items that don’t have a home elsewhere. So some serious cleaning up needs to happen down there, and it needs to take place tomorrow.

Okay. We’ll say that this afternoon I went out to get the mail and, due to my congenital klutziness, I fell down the porch stairs and broke a bone in my foot. (I actually did this back in Virginia and ended up in a cast and on crutches, so this example is entirely within the realm of possibility.) It’s all completely accidental, but guess what? It gets me out of helping to clean up the basement.

So you come along and say, “Hey, Debi, pretty smart move! Brilliant, as a matter of fact! Look at all the work you avoided!” Well, as a matter of fact, I didn’t do it deliberately. I just wasn’t paying attention.​You can see where all this is going, can’t you? I give you yet another peerless article from Jennifer Rubin of, as I never tire of pointing out, the Right Turn blog, right as in conservative:

“Retroactive Explanations for Trump’s Actions Don’t Make Sense”

Excellent article posted below by Michael Gerson, a conservative columnist and former George W. Bush speechwriter. Although I can’t speak with certainty about whether or not he is a Christian, he certainly gives every indication of a Christian mindset. He is gravely concerned about the state of conservatism now and gives an eloquent defense of what that ideology actually is. Then he says:

“This is not the political force that has recently taken over the Republican Party — with a plurality in the presidential primaries and a narrow victory in November. That has been the result of extreme polarization, not a turn toward enduring values. The movement is authoritarian in theory, apocalyptic in mood, prone to conspiracy theories and personal abuse, and dismissive of ethical standards. The president-elect seems to offer equal chances of constitutional crisis and utter, debilitating incompetence.”

Whew! His article is well worth thoughtful, careful reading. As we head into the actual Trump administration we will be well advised to keep these ideas in mind. We’re stuck with him! There is no longer any point in talking about what might have been. There is no last-ditch effort that will now rescue us. But if Gerson is correct, and there’s no doubt in my mind that he is, then after four years of a Trump administration the conservative movement will have been well and truly sidelined, if indeed that hasn’t already happened. Here’s the article:

“The Republican Party Is at its Peak, but Conservatism Has Hit Rock Bottom”

I’m just a-goin’ to keep on a-bangin’ this drum, because this cozying up to Putin is the biggest worry many people have about the new Trump administration. I’m not making this up! Watch this space later this week for a review about a book that will freeze your blood but, I hope, stiffen your spine. In the meantime, read the article below. We need to be on guard more than ever. To sink back into complacency because your candidate won is a step farther down the wrong road.

This is the exact opposite of what Ronald Reagan did, folks, so please stop saying that Trump is going to be “an even greater President than Ronald Reagan.” Of all the nauseating things I’ve heard about Trump that one is the most sickening.

Here’s the article:

​“Will the GOP Be the Pro-Putin Party”