Republican Split

I listen to all of these foolish (stupid!) people, often living in a bygone era, like the weak and frail RINO, Peggy Noonan, who did much less for Ronald Reagan than she claims, and who actually said bad things about him and his ability to speak, or Rich Lowry, who has destroyed the once wonderful and influential National Review, the pride and joy of the legendary William F. Buckley, or George Will, whose mind is decaying with hatred and envy before our very eyes, or Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes, two people who are finally out of the conversation and of no relevance whatsoever.

Donald Trump

This is sad but also true.  I followed each of these people for years, agreeing with them on most topics.  Now, they prefer the Democrats to the current Republican party.

I first read Peggy Noonan in the mid-90s when I was subscribed to the Wall Street Journal.  She is one of the best writers I have ever read.  I don't know how she does it, but there is a quality to her writing that imbues her words with great importance and significance.  There is a reason she was a great speechwriter and remains an excellent columnist.  Her opposition to Trump was more about personality than policy.  She even called for his censure in the wake of the Mueller Report.  It is now widely-accepted that the whole Russian Collusion story was nothing but a Democratic dirty trick with no basis in reality.

I was a huge fan of George Will from the early 1990s (when I was a regular watcher of This Week with David Brinkley) until the Trump Presidency.  If I didn't know what to think on a topic, George was usually a key source for me.  I never cared for his columns on Baseball, but he was otherwise the conservative's conservative.  When Trump became president, Will absolutely hated the man.  Trump was implementing more conservative policies than anyone since Reagan and Will was still furious.  Originalist judges?  Check.  Tax cuts?  Check.  Strong defense?  Check.  Muscular foreign policy?  Check.  Rollback of regulations?  Check.  Economic growth?  Check.  Fiscal responsibility?  No.  So much of what Trump accomplished was exactly what I had been reading from George Will for a quarter of a century and yet he hated the man so much as to leave the Republican party.  I still don't get it.

Jonah Goldberg was my favorite stand-in for Charles Krauthammer on Special Report.  He and I are about the same age, and it was nice to follow a pundit from my generation.  As with Will, he wrote and spoke about conservative policies while dismantling the Democrat plans.  As with Will, I almost always agreed with Jonah.  After Trump was elected, suddenly I find Jonah to be a constant scold to all things Trump and I'm often at odds with him.

Hayes and Lowry never really appealed to me though I've read a lot from each or seen them on Fox shows.  I had been a National Review subscriber and used to read online articles at NRO.  That the two of them also became anti-Trump was less of a disappointment than the three above.  Mostly, Will and Goldberg were the big letdowns.

During the Trump Presidency, I was often baffled what it was that I wasn't seeing.  How can these pundits who I have followed for years suddenly be on the opposite side from me when we were in concert for so long?  What am I missing?  With Noonan and Will, it seemed to be Trump's style rather than his policy.  He was inarguably a jerk, a loudmouth, an arrogant blusterer who was prone to hyperbole.  Indeed, I often had trouble watching one of his speeches.  However, his policies were closer to the conservative ideal than anyone since Reagan.  Was it really about personality?  That seems so shallow.

The other theory is that he was an outsider while all five of them are longtime insiders.  That would mean that the pundit class is just kabuki theater meant to keep the rubes in flyover country lulled by the idea that there is a give and take in the capitol, rather than a constant increase in insider wellbeing at the expense of outsider wellbeing.  That's kind of dystopian.