Conrad Black's Tour de Force
Today Conrad Black has an outstanding take-down of the WSJ's foolish anti-Trump editorial (on Friday). The WSJ editorial is titled "The GOP's Trump Problem"--see, Trump is the problem. Black responds with some heavy artillery of his own:
At some point, the former Republican establishment will have to familiarize itself with the consequences of being defeated by Donald Trump within its own party .
Black covers a lot of ground. I'll try to summarize the main points, while urging readers to follow the link--you won't regret it. Black talks turkey, explains the facts of political life in lucid terms.
Black's basic thesis is that the WSJ has things exactly backwards. Trump is not the problem for the GOP. Rather, the Never Trumps are the problem. Trump had a remarkably successful term, especially in light of the constant betrayals and the concerted Dem and Deep State assault on our constitutional order. The reality, contrary to the WSJ's view, is that Republicans want more of the Trump agenda--whether led by Trump himself or by a Trump approved proxy. In fact, the disastrous start and likely deepening national crisis we are experiencing under the Zhou Baiden regime (whoever or what cabal actually is pulling the strings) favor this solution for the GOP, in Black's view:
The present conditions are in fact quite conducive to that result. ... the shared mutual interests of all Republicans—and a growing number of Democrats and independents—to revive Republican congressional majorities and assure a strong challenge to the reelection of this administration.
In reaching that conclusion Black reviews some of the electoral betrayals. Naturally, he places special emphasis on Georgia, but we all know that those betrayals extend across numerous states. Just today, for example, the Nevada GOP has censured the Republican Secretary of State for her role in allowing massive fraud. Black emphasizes that none of the Trump lawsuits were ever actually adjudicated, and we know that many continue to go forward--in AZ, WI, MI and other states. It may be worth quoting his view of the judiciary's role:
The fact that the former Republican establishment fell in with the Democratic narrative and refused to accept the possibility of this, in the most tainted election in American history (except perhaps 1876), is a disgrace and a dishonor to them. ...
The Trump campaign launched 28 lawsuits ... None of these cases was adjudicated—judges invoked technical reasons to avoid addressing the merits.The Supreme Courtpresumably ducked the Texas case because of the extreme controversy that would have arisen had it reversed the election result, and also to reduce in advance the prospect of a court-packing bill and to preserve the integrity of the court for possible challenges to the Democrats’ planned assault on the entire system of free elections in H.R. 1.
Whatever their reasons, the judiciary abdicated.
Given the questionable results, President Trump had absolutely no reason to abandon his legitimate claims. ...
It is not for Trump to bury his grievances, to be a good loser ... The real question is how and to what extent are Trump and his enemies within the Republican Party to be reconciled.
What really stands in the way of the reconciliation that Republicans across the country clearly desire is what Black terms the "indecent haste" with which " anti-Trump Republicans stormed out of the closet." Prime among them, in Black's book, is Mitch McConnell. Reading Black, one gets the distinct impression that Black agrees--while not quite saying so--with Trump's assessment of McConnell as a "dumb SOB." Black cites chapter and verse of the indictment against McConnell's political malpractice in the wake of the election hoax.
Black's conclusion is direct and to the point:
Reconciling With Political Reality
It is now almost inconceivable that the 2024 Republican presidential nominee will not be either President Trump or a candidate favored by him. ... both the correlation of political forces and the normal political etiquette require McConnell and the others to abandon their open hostility to Trump and for all of them to align around a common program to defeat the Democrats.
For the Wall Street Journal to expect the former president to forget that he and the majority of his fellow Republicans were betrayed ... is preposterous. ...
At some point, the former Republican establishment will need to familiarize itself with the consequences of ... having been deliberately or negligently complicit in his unjust (if perhaps only temporary) departure from the nation’s highest office. ...