Category Archives: Neoconservatism

UPDATED: Conservative For Trump Crucifies The ‘Con-servative’ Movement

Conservatism, Donald Trump, Elections, Foreign Policy, Iraq, Neoconservatism, Republicans

Somehow, being conservative now means denying the obvious and saying idiotic fantasies like ‘Islam is always peaceful’ or ‘Our war is not with a radical strain of Islam.’ Uh, sorry, but no it is not, and yes it is. And if getting a president who at least understands that means voting for Trump, then I guess I am not a conservative.—John Kluge

A conservative attorney and veteran of failed, unconstitutional wars the kind Rubio/Cruz would continue, motivates his support for Trump and his disgust for “con-servatives.” (Doff of the hat to Jack Kerwick for sending this). He does seem confused about the genesis of our un-American foreign policy, blaming Democrats (Wilson), not incorrectly, but not considering the neoconservative interlopers who’ve hijacked conservatism. The parts I like:

* “it doesn’t appear to me that conservatives calling on people to reject Trump have any idea what it actually means to be a ‘conservative.’ The word seems to have become a brand that some people attach to a set of partisan policy preferences, rather than the set of underlying principles about government and society it once was.”

* “Conservatism has become a dog’s breakfast of Wilsonian internationalism brought over from the Democratic Party after the New Left took it over, coupled with fanatical libertarian economics and religiously driven positions on various culture war issues.”

* “Lost in all of this is the older strain of conservatism. The one I grew up with and thought was reflective of the movement. This strain of conservatism believed in the free market and capitalism but did not fetishize them the way so many libertarians do. … This strain understood that a government’s first loyalty was to its citizens and the national interest. And also understood that the preservation of our culture and our civil institutions was a necessity.”

* “Conservatives have become some sort of schizophrenic sect of libertarians who love freedom (but hate potheads and abortion) and feel the US should be the policeman of the world.”

* “… when the hell did being conservative mean thinking the US has some kind of a duty to save foreign nations from themselves or bring our form of democratic republicanism to them by force?”

* “… Trump said what everyone in the country knows: that invading Iraq was a mistake. Rather than engaging the question with honest self-reflection, all of the so-called “conservatives” responded with the usual ‘How dare he?’”

* “I do not care that Donald Trump is in favor of big government. That is certainly not a virtue but it is not a meaningful vice, since the same can be said of every single Republican in the race. I am sorry, but the ‘We are just one more Republican victory from small government’ card is maxed out. We are not getting small government no matter who wins. So Trump being big government is a wash.

* Sixth, Trump offers at least the chance that he might act in the American interest instead of the world’s interest or in the blind pursuit of some fantasy ideological goals. There is more to economic policy than cutting taxes, sham free-trade agreements and hollow appeals to “cutting government” and the free market. Trump may not be good, but he at least understands that. In contrast, the rest of the GOP and everyone in Washington or the media who calls themselves a conservative has no understanding of this.”

* “Our country is going broke, half its working-age population isn’t even looking for work, faces the real threat of massive Islamic terrorist attack and has a government incapable of doing even basic functions. Meanwhile, conservatives act like cutting Planned Parenthood funding or stopping gays from getting marriage licenses are the great issues of the day and then have the gumption to call Donald Trump a clown. It would be downright funny if it wasn’t so sad and the situation so serious.”

* “Some of us are pretty serious people and once considered ourselves conservatives. Even if you still hate Trump, you owe it to conservatism to ask yourself how exactly conservatism managed to alienate so many of its supporters such that they are now willing to vote for someone you loathe as much as Trump.”

Via New York Post.

John Kluge is an attorney living in Washington. He served in the US Army for nine years, including two deployments in Iraq and Kuwait. This essay first appeared on Ricochet.com.

UPDATE (3/10):

UPDATED: Murdoch Media’s Megyn Kelly Busts A Move For Marco

Donald Trump, Elections, Media, Neoconservatism

Before Jeb Bush dropped out of the race for president, Megyn Kelly, crypto-Rubio supporter and quasi TV journalist, kept egging sleepy Jeb on to tackle the “quarterback who’s running with the ball.” Last night, GOP groupie Kelly was bobbing and weaving—busting a move—to describe Her Man Rubio’s style during CNN-Telemundo’s Republican debate, 2/25.

Check the show girl’s moves, 2:53 minutes into this segment. “We saw Rubio out there like a prize fighter just jabbing and bouncing and smiling and enjoying himself,” Kelly crescendos.

This is what’s become of TV journalism.

UPDATED (2/28):

Trump Called Bush A Liar & Won South Carolina (Nevada, Too)

Bush, Donald Trump, Iraq, Neoconservatism

“Trump Called Bush A Liar & He Won South Carolina (Nevada, too)” is the current column, now on WND. An excerpt:

Donald Trump has buried George W. Bush, for good. Or so we hope.

This might not be “Morning in America,” but it is a moral victory for values in America. Somewhere in those Judeo-Christian values touted by “values voters” is an injunction against mass murder.

Before the February 20 South Carolina primary, it looked as though G. Bush might just make a comeback.

After the South Carolina primary, where Donald Trump won with 32.2 percent of the Republican vote, it seems certain that nothing will resuscitate the legacy of “one of the nation’s worst presidents.”

Notwithstanding his war crimes and unprecedented intervention in the financial system and the private economy, “W” also happened to preside over the largest domestic spending since Lyndon Johnson. As chronicled in Ivan Eland’s “Recarving Rushmore: Ranking the Presidents on Peace, Prosperity, and Liberty,” “[Bush] advocated bad policies and demonstrated horrendous operational incompetence.”

The disastrous and expensive (in casualties and money) nation-building project in Iraq and Afghanistan were only exceeded in catastrophic results by Bush’s expansion of executive power and theft of the civil liberties that make the United States unique. Bush had almost no accomplishments to offset such foibles.

Trump addressed the war: “They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction. There were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction.”

The chattering class, Left and Right, was—still is—gobsmacked. A political Samson was bringing down the pillars of their world.

Desperate to restore equilibrium before the crucial SC vote was CNN’s Anderson Cooper: “You would not say again that George W. Bush lied?”

Trump obliged. He backpedaled before the primary, going with non-committal: “I don’t know. I can’t tell you. I mean, I’d have to look at documents.”

So America has some unfinished business. Because we do know. We can say for sure. And we have all the documents.

George W. Bush lied America into war.

Bush began his ballyhooed presidency by lying during his campaign. He promised America a humble foreign policy, but came into office with the express purpose of using his plenary powers to unseat Saddam Hussein. …

… “Trump Called Bush A Liar & He Won South Carolina (Nevada, too)” is the current column, now on WND.

Marco Rubio Has Been Probed, I Mean Tapped, By ‘The Kochtopus’

Conservatism, Intelligence, Neoconservatism, Propaganda, Republicans

The Onion’s spoof is not far off. Marcobot, aka “GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio, reportedly awoke in the Koch brothers’ secret compound Thursday and reached suddenly to his throbbing head to discover a cold metal device implanted behind his left ear.”

The Koch Brothers are a GOP Goliath worth around $115 billion. They’re gunning for Donald Trump who’s worth $10 billion.

USA Today:

A key player in the Koch brothers’ inner political circle will work directly on Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign, bringing deep connections to the brothers’ vast network of donors and experience helping oversee their sophisticated political operation.
Republican power brokers Charles and David Koch haven’t endorsed a GOP primary candidate, but Marc Short’s decision to move to the Rubio camp, first reported by Politico, comes as the party’s top figures grow increasingly alarmed by Donald Trump’s rise and looks for ways to stop his momentum.

WARNING: Donald Trump appears partial to Rubio and is making overtures to crooked prosecutor Rudy Giuliani. At the same time, Trump is trashing Ted Cruz, an enormous talent who has argued brilliantly and numerously before the Supreme Court and WON.

Were I president, I’d tap Cruz for Attorney General and task him with getting the U.S. out of binding, costly, and disadvantageous agreements with the UN (such as when “our” refugees are vetted by their Palestinian-run refugee division). Just for starters.

Intelligence, as in a very high IQ, is a rare thing. Intelligence that is as focused as that of Cruz is still rarer. No conservative should squander the scarce resource that is Cruz’s legal aptitude and ability to win big for the country.

Then again, conservatives do squander.