In a sense, that’s an unfair question: plenty of conservative writers and intellectuals are still knocking Donald Trump. His deal with Carrier to keep a thousand or so jobs in the U.S. evoked particular scorn, as it was a deviation from the free-market orthodoxy still popular among professional thinkers on the right.
But it’s fair to say the criticisms of Trump coming from the right are more muted than they were during the campaign. The New Yorker’s Matt Feeney made this point earlier in the week, prompting a number of conservative writers to note on social media that they’re still criticizing Trump.
But Feeney was largely correct when he noted that magazines like National Review, which devoted an entire issue to castigating Trump during the primaries, has moved on to other, more enticing targets, such as all the despairing lefty protesters.
Really, who could blame conservatives, even those in the #NeverTrump camp, from feeling a bit of schadenfreude? The left is in chaos. Segments of the hated media are distraught. The GOP dominates the government in a way it hasn’t since the 1920s. Harry Reid and President Obama, the two most effective opponents of the conservative project in this century, are both leaving office.
To much of the right commentariat, Trump is still distasteful, and his economic agenda reeks to them of Keynesianism. Otherwise, these are happy days for conservatives, regardless of whom they backed in the primaries.
And this newfound happiness has taken many conservatives, naturally a rather pessimistic lot, by surprise. Before the election, Washington Republicans were all geared up for a civil war, a period of internecine bloodletting that would make their Obama-era disputes seem quaint.
This faction was readying for battle with that faction. Purges were planned, because there’s nothing conservatives love more than a purge in the ranks. The big question, come November 9th, was supposed to be how the GOP could possibly resurrect itself.
That’s because there was probably no one in America more convinced that Donald Trump would lose than Washington Republicans. He’d done everything wrong. He didn’t have a ground game. He seemed unstable and obnoxious. He never listened to them.
Plus, Republicans were just used to losing, having not won a national election in 12 years. A Democratic White House was just starting to feel like the natural order of things.
That was always a central conservative knock on Trump: the guy just can’t win. Yes, there were serious ideological reasons for conservatives and libertarians to oppose his candidacy, but much of that was subordinate to concerns over the train-wreck nature of his campaign.
Even if he won, the #NeverTrump crew said, he wouldn’t act like a conservative. He wouldn’t appoint conservative judges. He’d govern like the New York liberal he was all along.
Interesting that we’re not hearing much despair from conservatives about Trump’s judicial appointees anymore. And it’s safe to conclude this is, in part, due to how pleased conservatives have been with most of Trump’s cabinet appointments.
Could it be that Trump will govern like a normal Republican? Well, no – he’s too ideologically unmoored for that. But he might be willing to let conservatives achieve a lot of their most important policy goals.
Start with tax cuts, that central conservative policy plank. Trump is promising a big one, and with the Republicans in charge of Congress there’s really no reason to think he won’t deliver.
Then regulatory reform. The old saying is that personnel is policy. Assuming that’s still true, Trump’s proposed cabinet appointees, such as Pruitt, indicate that he’s going to be looking to cut a lot of red tape.
But the biggest upside of a Trump win for conservatives is, of course, the Supreme Court. Even if Trump replaces only Antonin Scalia, that could be enough to cripple the public sector unions that provide much of the Democratic Party’s core infrastructure.
Back in March, the Court deadlocked 4 to 4 in a case determining whether public sector unions could force workers to pay their union dues. The topic will inevitably come up again, and if Trump gets a right-winger on the bench, it’s easy to imagine the judiciary kneecapping unions – and, by extension, the progressive movement they exist at the heart of.
It’s unlikely conservative criticism of Trump will end anytime soon. In fact, it will likely continue for the duration of his presidency.
But it’s certainly dissipated since he won the presidency, for reasons that are pretty obvious. In large part thanks to Trump, conservatives appear to be on the cusp of substantial victories, whether they like him or not.
Commentary: What happened to the anti-Trump conservatives?
By Will Rahn
/ CBS News
Where are all those #NeverTrump conservatives now that the Park Avenue populist has won the presidency?
In a sense, that’s an unfair question: plenty of conservative writers and intellectuals are still knocking Donald Trump. His deal with Carrier to keep a thousand or so jobs in the U.S. evoked particular scorn, as it was a deviation from the free-market orthodoxy still popular among professional thinkers on the right.
But it’s fair to say the criticisms of Trump coming from the right are more muted than they were during the campaign. The New Yorker’s Matt Feeney made this point earlier in the week, prompting a number of conservative writers to note on social media that they’re still criticizing Trump.
But Feeney was largely correct when he noted that magazines like National Review, which devoted an entire issue to castigating Trump during the primaries, has moved on to other, more enticing targets, such as all the despairing lefty protesters.
Really, who could blame conservatives, even those in the #NeverTrump camp, from feeling a bit of schadenfreude? The left is in chaos. Segments of the hated media are distraught. The GOP dominates the government in a way it hasn’t since the 1920s. Harry Reid and President Obama, the two most effective opponents of the conservative project in this century, are both leaving office.
To much of the right commentariat, Trump is still distasteful, and his economic agenda reeks to them of Keynesianism. Otherwise, these are happy days for conservatives, regardless of whom they backed in the primaries.
And this newfound happiness has taken many conservatives, naturally a rather pessimistic lot, by surprise. Before the election, Washington Republicans were all geared up for a civil war, a period of internecine bloodletting that would make their Obama-era disputes seem quaint.
This faction was readying for battle with that faction. Purges were planned, because there’s nothing conservatives love more than a purge in the ranks. The big question, come November 9th, was supposed to be how the GOP could possibly resurrect itself.
That’s because there was probably no one in America more convinced that Donald Trump would lose than Washington Republicans. He’d done everything wrong. He didn’t have a ground game. He seemed unstable and obnoxious. He never listened to them.
Plus, Republicans were just used to losing, having not won a national election in 12 years. A Democratic White House was just starting to feel like the natural order of things.
That was always a central conservative knock on Trump: the guy just can’t win. Yes, there were serious ideological reasons for conservatives and libertarians to oppose his candidacy, but much of that was subordinate to concerns over the train-wreck nature of his campaign.
Even if he won, the #NeverTrump crew said, he wouldn’t act like a conservative. He wouldn’t appoint conservative judges. He’d govern like the New York liberal he was all along.
Interesting that we’re not hearing much despair from conservatives about Trump’s judicial appointees anymore. And it’s safe to conclude this is, in part, due to how pleased conservatives have been with most of Trump’s cabinet appointments.
The incoming EPA chief is an enemy of environmental regulations. Trump’s pick to run the Labor Department is no fan of unions. The revered Gen. James Mattis will run Defense. And if the hawkish Mitt Romney winds up at State, that would seem to be a pretty sure sign that Trump is not really invested in buckling to the Russians.
Could it be that Trump will govern like a normal Republican? Well, no – he’s too ideologically unmoored for that. But he might be willing to let conservatives achieve a lot of their most important policy goals.
Start with tax cuts, that central conservative policy plank. Trump is promising a big one, and with the Republicans in charge of Congress there’s really no reason to think he won’t deliver.
Then regulatory reform. The old saying is that personnel is policy. Assuming that’s still true, Trump’s proposed cabinet appointees, such as Pruitt, indicate that he’s going to be looking to cut a lot of red tape.
But the biggest upside of a Trump win for conservatives is, of course, the Supreme Court. Even if Trump replaces only Antonin Scalia, that could be enough to cripple the public sector unions that provide much of the Democratic Party’s core infrastructure.
Back in March, the Court deadlocked 4 to 4 in a case determining whether public sector unions could force workers to pay their union dues. The topic will inevitably come up again, and if Trump gets a right-winger on the bench, it’s easy to imagine the judiciary kneecapping unions – and, by extension, the progressive movement they exist at the heart of.
It’s unlikely conservative criticism of Trump will end anytime soon. In fact, it will likely continue for the duration of his presidency.
But it’s certainly dissipated since he won the presidency, for reasons that are pretty obvious. In large part thanks to Trump, conservatives appear to be on the cusp of substantial victories, whether they like him or not.
In:- Donald Trump
- James Mattis
- Mitt Romney
Will Rahn is a political correspondent and managing director, politics, for CBS News Digital.
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