On Monday, July 9, President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to replace Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh is a serious and respected federal judge with a well-thought-through constitutionalist orientation. Based on what we know now, he deserves enthusiastic support from all who believe in a constitutionalist Supreme Court, and he should be confirmed by the United States Senate. President Trump deserves credit for the selection.
On Monday, July 16, President Trump stood next to Vladimir Putin in Helsinki and spoke in a manner correctly characterized by John McCain as “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.” McCain continued: “The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naïveté, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate.” The United States and the free world could pay a high price not just for Trump’s performance in Helsinki but for his ongoing attitude and policies toward Putin and, for that matter, other enemies of freedom.
So one Monday Trump does something praiseworthy. The next Monday he does something contemptible.
Different observers will weigh the pluses and minuses differently. They’ll come to varying judgments on the Trump presidency. But perhaps people of good will can agree on this: Life is complicated. The good, the bad, and for that matter the ugly are not perfectly separated and distinguished here on earth. So a degree of intellectual modesty is called for. As Publius put it in Federalist 37:
American politics in 2018 is no exception to this rule. So it may be a puzzle that some of us are anti-Trump and at the same time pro-Kavanaugh. Some might even call it a contradiction.
Well, as Walt Whitman asked, “Do I contradict myself?” His poetic answer:
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
I’m no poet. I do not contain multitudes. But like many other prosaic people, I can, in the spirit of The Federalist, try to contain two thoughts in my mind at the same time.
They are: Donald Trump is in many ways a bad president—bad for the country, bad for conservatism, bad for the Republican party. His sway over party and policy should be limited as much as is feasible and his dominance of our politics not extended any longer than necessary.
And Brett Kavanaugh is a good pick and should be confirmed to the Supreme Court.
In this spirit, I would also say that one might have voted for Donald Trump. One might approve to some degree of his presidency so far. But that does not mean that one approves forever or automatically, or that one is impervious to evidence of unfitness.
Soon after the midterm elections, it will be worth a step back, a deep breath, and a hard look. It will be worth asking then—as Americans, as conservatives, as Republicans—do we want four more years of a Trump presidency? No need then to relitigate who was right about this or wrong about that in 2016 or 2017 or 2018. What will be needed is to be open-minded about the right course ahead.
As our greatest president put it: “As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.” Can’t we act in the spirit of Lincoln in the age of Trump?
