“What to do?”
That was the title of a Cold-War-era column by William F. Buckley Jr. asking how the West—and conservatives in particular—should respond to the threat of Communism. It’s also the question serious conservatives are asking themselves about President Trump right now.
I’ve been reading quite a bit of pre-Reagan-Revolution Bill Buckley of late, at the (inadvertent) urging of Bill Kristol. I host THE WEEKLY STANDARD’s podcasts, and not long ago I asked Kristol if there had ever been a time like this when traditional conservatism—small government, individual liberty, pro-freedom internationalism—was so out of favor. Kristol pointed out that’s the environment in which Buckley spent his entire early career. From Truman through Carter, Buckley and National Review were promoting a conservative agenda that was largely out of favor with both parties. (The Goldwater moment is the exception that proves the rule…he lost the Electoral College 486-52.)
So I started reading. Buckley on Ike, on JFK, on China, Cuba, and the USSR. What emerged was an eerie resonance between Buckley’s comments about confronting Communism 50 years ago and the current challenge facing conservatism that Trump presents.
For example, Buckley wrote a column in 1954 titled “A Dilemma for Conservatives” that begins:
In 1980, Buckley railed against the argument that “we must avoid destabilization. Destabilization is a fancy word for ‘don’t do anything that might upset the Soviet Union.'”
“So again,” Buckley asked,” What do we do?”
Again and again, that same question, and again and again Buckley’s answer: “Do something.” Buckley’s position was that, when confronted with the totalitarian evil of international Communism, it was incumbent on the West and America—and conservatives in particular—to act. Whether it was embargoing Soviet goods from American markets or backing anti-Marxist rebels, our duty was to put our values into actions. Words were not enough. In fact, Buckley argued in 1956, words were the problem:
Replace references to Communism with “Trumpism,” and you get the current strategy of many conservatives: Lots of throat-clearing about the president’s cringe-inducing comments, lots of “Yeah, he’s not perfect” and “We could do without the drama,” followed by … stillness.
Now, the point is not that Donald Trump represents the same threat as Communism. It’s not like Trump controls thousands of thermonuclear weap— er, that is, he’s not part of a cult-of-personality politica— uh, has an irrational connection with Mother Russ— anyway, that’s still not the point.
No, the point is that Trump and Trumpism are a clear and present danger to conservative principles supported by millions of Americans. And Trump’s erratic incompetence is endangering the political party that is (currently) the best vehicle for those principles. Conservatives and Republicans engaged in détente with the Donald are putting both their party and my principles at real risk.
Ideally an elected Republican would be a problem for the opposition. But ask yourself: How is Trump a danger to Democrats? Other than one (very important and outstanding) SCOTUS appointee, what has Trump done to advance conservatism or make the GOP stronger?
Which is why I laugh every time I see yet another Democrat like Texas representative Al Green urging impeachment. Seriously? Don’t they realize that most movement conservatives would swap Trump for Vice President Pence in a heartbeat? We’d even do a trade deal that involved taking Olbermann and O’Donnell for partisan nuts to be named later.
Serious-minded Republican leaders know Trump is destroying the GOP’s reputation and undermining conservative principles. Republicans had hoped they could ride this bull through the china shop, grab some bits of conservative legislation on the ride, then jump off and walk away from the carnage untouched.
To paraphrase that great political philosopher and reality-TV star Sarah Palin: How’s that workin’ out for ya?
The inevitable retort—indeed the only retort—from die-hard Trump loyalists is “What, so you want Hillary?” Of course not. I get the “lesser of two evils” argument. I have no doubt that if Clinton were in the White House, there’d be scandals flowing from the administration faster than an unattended intern fleeing the First Gentleman.
But Buckley saw this fallacy as well:
During the Trumpian moment, that’s how I feel about my country and my fellow conservatives: “Morally and philosophically adrift.” I’d like to think it’s just me, that Republican lawmakers actually have a strategy they’re executing to get good outcomes from a flawed president. But that’s not what I see.
All I see from the GOP is fear. Desperate political hacks flailing about with one motive only: How do I keep this job? How do I keep the talk-radio legions from destroying me in a primary, then go on to survive a general election?
There is a pragmatic case to be made that being a Republican who takes on Trump is a no-win situation. Democrats will still vote for Democrats, and the GOP base will punish your disloyalty. This—and not eight-dimensional chess strategery—is the real source of the GOP’s silence on Trump.
In 1962, Buckley wrote a column addressing the anti-Communist slogan “Better Dead Than Red.” Accommodationists were using the phrase to undermine the argument for confronting communism by saying it implied a dangerous death wish, that the right was willing to risk annihilation in the name of their ideology.
“‘Better Dead than Red is an inaccurate statement of the American position,” Buckley wrote, “listing, as it does, non-exclusive alternatives. Properly stated it is: Better the chance of being dead than the certainty of being Red.”
Buckley concludes with a chilling “And if we die? We die.”
The struggle against Communism was life or death. Fortunately, America and the West made those sacrifices and millions of people were eventually freed from totalitarian violence and economic idiocy.
The struggle against Trump is … not. Nobody’s being asked to die, or get so much as a paper cut, standing up against the president. All us millions of average-joe, in-the-trenches conservatives are looking for is leadership—elected conservatives to confront the damage Trump is doing to our cause, without jumping on the liberal media’s bandwagon of hype and hysteria. Leaders who will explain why what we believe is both right, and more important than any single president or politician.
This may cost some conservatives an election. Well, that’s part of the job. “And if you lose? You lose.” There’s always another election around the corner.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah is demanding the Comey documents, a key part of the GOP Congress doing its job to investigate possible obstruction of justice by a president.
Chaffetz is also quitting Congress.
To skip the Buckley and quote the Batman, that may make him the hero we deserve right now.
