The rise of Trump and the corresponding death of the conservative movement

WuWei · June 30, 2019, 9:12pm

Trump may well be the final nail in the coffin, but he is not the disease that killed the patient.

ohknow35 · June 30, 2019, 9:13pm

Okay. Make lists. Name names.

Then what happens?

Plasmaball · June 30, 2019, 9:17pm

Bush McCain and and black baby affair.
Kerry and swiftboats…while they were not conservative issues in nature…it was a warning sign of what was coming

tnt · June 30, 2019, 9:29pm

Conservatism being so closely linked to right wing media transformed it into a for profit ideology.

DOLOOP · June 30, 2019, 9:40pm

I’ve been pretty careful about not using the word “conservative” when referring to Trumpists or the modern Republican Party, though I’ve probably slipped a few times. One used to be able to use them fairly interchangeably with little risk. They are distinct things, now, for sure.

hindsight · June 30, 2019, 10:01pm

Why so defensive? Those that proudly wave the Trump flag should continue to do so and I hope will continue doing it long after he has left office.

Trump is cool.

Plasmaball · June 30, 2019, 10:08pm

They have always been for protfit

Ex-Pat · June 30, 2019, 10:09pm

Ironically the best chance for the conservative movement and maybe the Republican party in the long run would be for Trump to lose next year. In that case, they can blame liberalism for in failings down the road. If Trump wins reelection, it will be hard to blame anyone else for stagnant wages, which will surely still be there.

Ex-Pat · June 30, 2019, 10:11pm

Yes, but it’s gotten a lot worse in recent years. People like Candace Owens and Dave Rubin are prime examples. “Cash-servatives” as John Zeigler calls them.

WuWei · June 30, 2019, 10:12pm

CPT. Articulate and smells nice. Carrying our baggage. Superpredators.

WuWei · June 30, 2019, 10:13pm

Good point.

Plasmaball · June 30, 2019, 10:13pm

Eh… new faces same game.

There was a podcast about the rise of a right wing Facebook page who made tons of cash off right wing outrage till fb changed their rules…

WuWei · June 30, 2019, 10:14pm

madasheck · June 30, 2019, 10:18pm

Drs:

Snagglepuss:

As a fellow conservative, I would have to agree with what merickson said. The decline of conservatism in the Republican Party started, years…decades before Trump. Personally, I believe it truly started in full, ironically, with its marriage to the religious right. I use this term not as a pejorative against religious individuals on the right side of the political spectrum (a group in which I would consider myself a member), but as an identifier of an overall movement seeking to infuse religiosity into the Republican Party to use as a measuring stick to determine the worthiness of individual candidates to serve in the party, as well as a cudgel with which to beat those (metaphorically speaking) who do not fit the mold.

The conflation of conservatism with Christianity took the focus away from other conservative principles such as individual liberty and fiscal responsibility. Being a good Republican became more a matter of how well one openly draped his/herself (again, metaphorically) in the robes of Jesus and less about whether one actually embraced the other ideals. Politicians then did what politicians do…they pandered to the larger group, regardless of whether or not they actually held those same convictions. Little by little, the other guiding principles of conservatism were dropped by the wayside as they grew less and less important to the politicians’ chances of re-election.

This is not the only influencing factor in the demise of conservatism as a viable political position, but it is IMO a rather large one. Also, this is not a condemnation of people with strong religious values who are also aligned with the right side of the political spectrum (again, I am one of these people).

The death of conservativism was partly tied to the embrace of the religious right but what has harmed it more is the entertainment wing. Talk radio dumbed the people down and primed the people to vote for Trump.

I think more specifically reality TV. If we hadn’t had “The Apprentice,” we wouldn’t have gotten Trump.

WuWei · June 30, 2019, 10:19pm

Thanks for trying to contribute.

Konssurvative1 · June 30, 2019, 10:26pm

Snagglepuss said: Personally, I believe it truly started in full, ironically, with its marriage to the religious right. I use this term not as a pejorative against religious individuals on the right side of the political spectrum.

Goldwater swore this would be the death of conservatism and the downfall of the GOP. He was right.

Now you have Trump ideology taking us back to the days of Ward and June Clever.

Drs · June 30, 2019, 10:26pm

madasheck:

Drs:

Snagglepuss:

As a fellow conservative, I would have to agree with what merickson said. The decline of conservatism in the Republican Party started, years…decades before Trump. Personally, I believe it truly started in full, ironically, with its marriage to the religious right. I use this term not as a pejorative against religious individuals on the right side of the political spectrum (a group in which I would consider myself a member), but as an identifier of an overall movement seeking to infuse religiosity into the Republican Party to use as a measuring stick to determine the worthiness of individual candidates to serve in the party, as well as a cudgel with which to beat those (metaphorically speaking) who do not fit the mold.

The conflation of conservatism with Christianity took the focus away from other conservative principles such as individual liberty and fiscal responsibility. Being a good Republican became more a matter of how well one openly draped his/herself (again, metaphorically) in the robes of Jesus and less about whether one actually embraced the other ideals. Politicians then did what politicians do…they pandered to the larger group, regardless of whether or not they actually held those same convictions. Little by little, the other guiding principles of conservatism were dropped by the wayside as they grew less and less important to the politicians’ chances of re-election.

This is not the only influencing factor in the demise of conservatism as a viable political position, but it is IMO a rather large one. Also, this is not a condemnation of people with strong religious values who are also aligned with the right side of the political spectrum (again, I am one of these people).

The death of conservativism was partly tied to the embrace of the religious right but what has harmed it more is the entertainment wing. Talk radio dumbed the people down and primed the people to vote for Trump.

I think more specifically reality TV. If we hadn’t had “The Apprentice,” we wouldn’t have gotten Trump.

Reality TV made Trump popular. But talk radio completely eroded conservatism to nothing but name calling and hating Democrats. Hannity Limbaugh etal do not discuss policy or the implications of certain issues. I use to watch Limbaugh when he had a TV show I turned him off soon after Clinton got elected. All he did was whine and make false accusations.

WuWei · June 30, 2019, 10:28pm

I don’t care for any of them.

Jezcoe · June 30, 2019, 10:31pm

Drs:

madasheck:

Drs:

Snagglepuss:

As a fellow conservative, I would have to agree with what merickson said. The decline of conservatism in the Republican Party started, years…decades before Trump. Personally, I believe it truly started in full, ironically, with its marriage to the religious right. I use this term not as a pejorative against religious individuals on the right side of the political spectrum (a group in which I would consider myself a member), but as an identifier of an overall movement seeking to infuse religiosity into the Republican Party to use as a measuring stick to determine the worthiness of individual candidates to serve in the party, as well as a cudgel with which to beat those (metaphorically speaking) who do not fit the mold.

The conflation of conservatism with Christianity took the focus away from other conservative principles such as individual liberty and fiscal responsibility. Being a good Republican became more a matter of how well one openly draped his/herself (again, metaphorically) in the robes of Jesus and less about whether one actually embraced the other ideals. Politicians then did what politicians do…they pandered to the larger group, regardless of whether or not they actually held those same convictions. Little by little, the other guiding principles of conservatism were dropped by the wayside as they grew less and less important to the politicians’ chances of re-election.

This is not the only influencing factor in the demise of conservatism as a viable political position, but it is IMO a rather large one. Also, this is not a condemnation of people with strong religious values who are also aligned with the right side of the political spectrum (again, I am one of these people).

The death of conservativism was partly tied to the embrace of the religious right but what has harmed it more is the entertainment wing. Talk radio dumbed the people down and primed the people to vote for Trump.

I think more specifically reality TV. If we hadn’t had “The Apprentice,” we wouldn’t have gotten Trump.

Reality TV made Trump popular. But talk radio completely eroded conservatism to nothing but name calling and hating Democrats. Hannity Limbaugh etal do not discuss policy or the implications of certain issues. I use to watch Limbaugh when he had a TV show I turned him off soon after Clinton got elected. All he did was whine and make false accusations.

It was Limbaugh picking on Chelsea Clinton on his short lived TV show that for the first time made me take pause about what he was doing.

madasheck · June 30, 2019, 10:41pm

Drs:

madasheck:

Drs:

Snagglepuss:

As a fellow conservative, I would have to agree with what merickson said. The decline of conservatism in the Republican Party started, years…decades before Trump. Personally, I believe it truly started in full, ironically, with its marriage to the religious right. I use this term not as a pejorative against religious individuals on the right side of the political spectrum (a group in which I would consider myself a member), but as an identifier of an overall movement seeking to infuse religiosity into the Republican Party to use as a measuring stick to determine the worthiness of individual candidates to serve in the party, as well as a cudgel with which to beat those (metaphorically speaking) who do not fit the mold.

The conflation of conservatism with Christianity took the focus away from other conservative principles such as individual liberty and fiscal responsibility. Being a good Republican became more a matter of how well one openly draped his/herself (again, metaphorically) in the robes of Jesus and less about whether one actually embraced the other ideals. Politicians then did what politicians do…they pandered to the larger group, regardless of whether or not they actually held those same convictions. Little by little, the other guiding principles of conservatism were dropped by the wayside as they grew less and less important to the politicians’ chances of re-election.

This is not the only influencing factor in the demise of conservatism as a viable political position, but it is IMO a rather large one. Also, this is not a condemnation of people with strong religious values who are also aligned with the right side of the political spectrum (again, I am one of these people).

The death of conservativism was partly tied to the embrace of the religious right but what has harmed it more is the entertainment wing. Talk radio dumbed the people down and primed the people to vote for Trump.

I think more specifically reality TV. If we hadn’t had “The Apprentice,” we wouldn’t have gotten Trump.

Reality TV made Trump popular. But talk radio completely eroded conservatism to nothing but name calling and hating Democrats. Hannity Limbaugh etal do not discuss policy or the implications of certain issues. I use to watch Limbaugh when he had a TV show I turned him off soon after Clinton got elected. All he did was whine and make false accusations.

Not saying talk radio wasn’t a factor. But “The Apprentice” really put him in a spotlight he wouldn’t have had otherwise. I think that pushed him over the line.