We are inundated with news story after news story and ad nausea commentary about former President Donald Trump’s unique threat to our democratic republic. Rep. Liz Cheney is thus the eternal “good conservative” for opposing Trump and “Trumpism.”
Except that this issue has never really just been about Trump. Take Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), a fervent Trump critic who voted to impeach Trump (the same as Cheney) and will resign his office to become the new president at the University of Florida. Sasse has been a staunch moral conservative, voting with the GOP but often clashing with Trump. Still, academia is an area where principled conservatives can make a difference (see Mitch Daniels). Perhaps a bigger difference than by serving in a stalled Senate.
BEN SASSE AND THE BATTLE OVER WHAT KIND OF CONSERVATIVE LEADS THE GOP
However, since the announcement of Sasse’s appointment, snarky commentators like the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin have conveniently forgotten their previous opinions to decide that Sasse is simply a puppet for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL). Similarly, Bulwark writers Tim Miller and Amanda Carpenter have criticized Sasse for not being anti-Trump enough, which is about the only card they play these days. Sasse has also been greeted at the University of Florida by student protests. Some students even referred to Sasse as an “alt-right guy,” which is patently untrue. College students are young and impressionable. But that’s no excuse for a Washington Post columnist. Rubin apparently doesn’t understand that the governor of Florida does not appoint the president of Florida University and that Sasse has been president of an academic institution before (Midland University).
But the basic truth of this sorry saga is clear: It’s just another example of what happens when an independent-minded Republican fails to abandon their principles completely and become a Democrat. Again, it’s noteworthy that much of the criticism against Sasse is coming from commentators who did. This is not really about the threat of Trump or Trumpism. It’s about the perceived threat from any conservative in any position of relevance of power, even that of a principled milquetoast intellectual.
There is a lesson for the political Right here. Those who forever abandoned the conservative movement are not interested in actually reforming it. And it makes their caterwauling over Trump that much more empty.
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Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) has written for National Review, the New York Post, and Fox News and hosts the Versus Media podcast.
