There seems to be a new sense of urgency among many Conservatives against Trump's takeovers in wake of the Bolton raid

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Last edited Tue Aug 26, 2025, 07:58 PM - Edit history (3)

...I could be wrong, but I think the right wing got a taste of fear this week in the wake of the Bolton home and business search and seizure - a raid by the Trump DOJ which enlightened their mostly academic observations of Democratic cities being taken over by armed military deployed by Donald's federal government, into a frightening awakening and realization that Trump's promise of retribution isn't going to only be actualized against Democrats.

It appeared to heighten a little after Trump attacked Chris Christie, who, himself, had seemed to find a new voice against the overreaches and abuses of the president and his administration to defend John Bolton.

Watching some of republican journos in exile, anti-Trumpers grow increasingly nervous and in earnest to communicate their newly-amped concern, it occurred to me how much the laws and the norms most of us follow give their defenders stature and relevance when they are in place, being actively defended by the courts and strictly adhered to by the government which is in charge of executing those; and how tenuous the thread is that gives us all the stature as citizens to hold authority over ourselves without the paternalism of the government we pay for policing us.

All of the folks we now recognize as authorities lose much of their credential in a collapsed society where government has the majority of control over the message, and these temper tantrums by Trump against his critics are more than individual retribution. They are an attempt to chill others from their own resistance and authority over their own intellectual domain; and to stifle the influence of all other than the central government's.

It's a dubious scheme which would be much less believable if it wasn't unfolding right in front of us with the government using the heavy hand of OUR government to intimidate and blackmail schools, corporations, institutes, museums, and other outlets of independent thought.

I guess that remains to be seen to what extent and duration these bursts of opposition from erstwhile republicans and reluctant republicans become actual active resistance. I could be wrong, but there's a new sense of urgency in the air among Conservatives toward the Trump takeovers - call it ownership of opposition - which increased after the Bolton raid and heightened a little more after the attack on Christie who was spurred by the searches to weigh in on Trump's overreaches for basically the first time.

When it was just Democrats, migrants, or black people in cities we saw a mostly abstract debate about immigration or crime, but we may be seeing a meeting of interests and concerns between political opposites as a result of Trump's zeal to punish his critics; losing his own thread of attack against just the Dems and libs and eating his party's own.

[Biophilic]

1. Didn't these very fine white men retain anything from their history classes?

Seriously, any prominent person is going to have to either get chewed up or do the chewing. There isn't really an opt out clause for the pushers of fascism.

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7. they need to bone up on German history

...right after Hitler was released from prison.

I'd guess that would be one of Stephen Miller's guides to history, as well.

[struggle4progress]

2. The snake

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9. 'tender hearted'

...republicans went with Trump because he was their ticket to power.


But they were ultimately Trump's step stool to ultimate power.

Funny how he gave republicans the recipe for bringing in the rubes, and maga legislators have yet to realize that they're actually his rubes.

[progressoid]

3. Sorry, I disagree.

Perhaps that's true of a handful of never-trumpers. But the vast majority of right wingers love Trump's DOJ for this. They have been brain washed to think that this all started with Biden. They think it was Biden and House Dems who started the "weaponization" of the FBI and DOJ (e.g. the "raid" of Merde-a-lardo for the classified documents or what Sean Hannity calls the Russia hoax).

As for right wing elected officials, they saw what happened to Cheney and Kinsinger, so they aren't going to make waves.

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4. fear is insidious

....this danger doesn't recognize anything but obedience.

You might be surprised at how people react to the sense that they're being dominated; that the layers of protection they may have believed allowed them to speak even their conservative minds is being threatened.

There will come a point where they recognize conservatives are losing even their own ability to debate and organize coalitions to advance their own ideals through a political system where their influence has been blocked, usurped, or eviscerated by a central government oblivious and even hostile to their interests and concerns.

There's no care for even his own party in what Trump is doing. It's just naked consolidation of power with no regard to anything but his own megalomania and avarice, and we're seeing this realization in reactions to the financial destruction and supplication to Putin, Kim Jong, and other dictators conservatives have long held up as evils which threaten America and the world.

I don't think we gain anything by being cynical about this fear infecting more than just the present targets of Trump's authoritarianism, or just those who dare to make their opposition to Trump visible to the public, as it is pretty much inevitable, if not already in process that every American will eventually know this terror intimately which immigrants and other targets have already been subjected to by this administration, based on their own experiences as victims of this now-institutionalized American fascism.

[electric_blue68]

5. TY especially OP paras 4 - 6, and your reply...

It might be a small amount for now of certain Conservatives. They may be more talking amongst themselves, but ?slowly reaching out to other carefully considered possible amenable individuals.

Sometimes changed minds in just the place added to the objecting Democrats, and some Independents might make a difference.

Adding sand grains upon sand grains, and a bunch of the whole heap might start sliding down.

No time for cynicism. Keep hope alive!
Even the tiniest spark can ignite under the right conditions.

[Metaphorical]

6. Perhaps

I think those who thought that Trump would simply be better for business are now having major second thoughts, though at the same time they keep telling themselves that this is all part of a master plan and his consolidation is intended to make the federal government more powerful and streamlined to do that. I have noticed that those who were fairly intelligent bust supported Trump earlier for his busines support have become much more circumspect in what they say, at least in my circle.

On the other hand, those who were hardcore MAGA have become even more outspoken and nasty, as if Trump has let them unleash their inner assh*le to the fullest degree. They are completely behind him at this point, as are the dominionist evangelicals. Most of the tech community despises Trump, but the VC side (the Tech Bros who are more finance-people than engineers) LOVE him.

In most nascent dictatorships, there are plenty of people who recognize what is happening, but there are also both people who simply are not paying attention to anything but their own loves, those who think that they are special and will have more power in a dictatorship, and those who frankly just want to cause violence and mayhem.

Once dictators come to power, they have no intention of leaving. They will do everything they can to subvert the system so that they cannot be removed from power. This takes a while to sink in. Trump has no intentions of holding fair elections in 2026 or ever again for that matter. Neither do the people around him, who I think are the ones directing Trump.

Fortunately, I think there IS opposition building. People are standing up to him, especially as he becomes more egregious in his power grab.

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11. the panic in David Frum's voice today

"You need to understand the sick psychological dynamic of what President Trump is up to with these prosecutions and not to see just the John Bolton prosecution. It's a larger revenge drama that is consuming person after person in Washington. We need to understand this as it is and not to try to make this seem more normal or like other administrations of the past.

This is unlike anything we've ever seen before."

--David Frum on President Trump's "revenge drama"

-former speechwriter for George W. Bush, Neoconservative

- youtube

...these fricks have been up all night with their thesauruses, unable to sleep.

[tavernier]

8. The only bitching I've heard is how the price of groceries keep going up.

Despite his promises.

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10. oh, lookee here

5 areas Trump’s big moves are frustrating conservatives
by Jonathan Easley - 08/26/25

https://thehill.com/newsletters/evening-report/5471489-trump-gop-conflict-government-overreach/

August 20, 2025
Conservatives Fear Anxiety-Ridden Youth Could Defect from Trump
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/20/conservatives-fear-anxiety-ridden-youth-could-defect-from-trump/

Alex Bolton @alexanderbolton
Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who drafted the foundation of the CHIPS and Science Act says it wasn’t intended to allow the federal government take a sizable stake in Intel or any other company.

“For those of us who voted for the legislation, I don’t know of anyone who thought this was allowed under the law,” he said when asked about Trump’s deal to take a 10% stake in Intel.

...out of the woodwork.