Random thoughts about Lincoln Project and GOP'ers turned Anti-Trumpers.

[JHB]

17. Yes, once we've done all the heavy lifting, they will go back to what they were doing...

...before Trump: pushing conservative pet projects and using their brushed-back base of Ahabs to do it, because they'll point out that "you may not like us, but do you really want those Democrat socialist radicals -- who hate this country and everything you love -- running things?"

These are people who pretend Trump was some sort of black swan event that suddenly overtook the Republicans, completely leaving out the decades-long project to addict Republican voters to anger and outrage so that they'll stampede on command. Every NeverTrumper with media access was part of this effort -- political consultants, radio show hosts, columnists, etc. -- to create a voter base that was the perfect feeding ground for someone like Trump.

When they opine about what happened, they usually leave out the bomb-throwers like Rush, Newt, FOX, and their imitators. They get very pissy if you bring up what they did in their past careers, such as




or Charlie Sykes wondering how someone like Sen. Ron Johnson could be elected when Sykes, as Wisconsin's state-level Rush Limbaugh, was instrumental in getting a host of nutbars, including Johnson, elected.

The entire concept of Never-Trump, from its very beginning before the 2016 election, was about positioning themselves as the go-to people and Republican kingmakers once Trump was out of the picture. The ones who needed to retain their conservative audiences, like the National Review or Glenn Beck, knuckled under and went back into the fold. Those that had friends in the mainstream media and could ensconce themselves in places like MSNBC -- people like the members of The Lincoln Project or The Bulwark -- got liberals to pay their bills. All the while trashing liberals and Democrats when they talk amongst themselves. Never underestimate how much of their identity as conservatives revolves around their boundless contempt for people like us.

And the main danger from what was allowed to happen -- their prominence in the "liberal" media -- means that they get to set the parameters of debate. They have a public platform to brush aside and dismiss without any consideration liberal proposals that would interfere with the pet projects they want to get back to, like ending Social Security, more deregulation, more conservative judges, and more tax cuts.