Perry Bacon, Jr. apparently is a new columnist for the Washington Post. After his first column, I’m not sure why.
Bacon unleashed some weapons-grade stupidity in a column entitled “The misguided identity politics of the anti-Trump Republicans.” It included some real mind-numbing nuggets like this one:
At this point, the best — and probably only — way to stop Trumpism would be for a significant share of Republicans to align with the Democratic Party, at least temporarily. But here’s the problem: For many Trump-skeptical Republicans, both elite and rank-and-file, being a Republican, and definitely not a Democrat, is a part of their personal identity. And so far, too few have been willing to prioritize the health of the country over this attachment.
One cannot understate the bombastic audacity of that statement. In Bacon’s mind, the only way for anti-Trump Republicans to eliminate Trumpism from the GOP is to abandon all of their principles and start voting for Democrats.
How out to lunch do you have to be to write something this galactically wrong?
As a conservative, I vehemently oppose the left-wing, statist direction that Trump has taken the party. It’s ideologically abhorrent to me, to say nothing of a proven electoral loser. So on what planet would I abandon my conservative beliefs and support radical left-wing politicians and policies as a protest against the leftward drift of the GOP?
Bacon continues:
A much more useful approach would be for these Republicans to formally break with the GOP and announce that they will back Democratic candidates. If you prioritize preserving democracy above all (and you should), it shouldn’t be a hard choice to back a small-d democrat, even one who is a liberal Democrat. Our electoral structure is set up for two parties, so it’s just a waste of time to talk much about third-party efforts. The best way to force a party to reform itself is to crush it in successive elections.
This is some Kang and Kodos level tomfoolery.
If I wanted to sell my soul and embrace left-wing nonsense, I could have easily done that by becoming an unabashed Trumpist like so many of my formerly conservative allies. If I didn’t sell my soul and abandon my principles for a Republican, I sure as hell won’t do it for a Democrat either.
One of the reasons that I have remained a Republican this entire time, even if I did not vote for Trump either time, was the fact that we have a lot of good Republicans here in Maryland who do not drink the Trump Kool-Aid. They remain steadfast conservatives and are not trying to make Maryland more like the absolute train wreck that is Washington. Sure our one Republican Congressman, Andy Harris, sold out his country and his conservatism to become a Trump lapdog. But at the local level, Trumpism has not taken hold in our local elected officials.
But let’s be honest; almost every day since I wrote this piece nearly five years ago I have thought about disaffiliating with the GOP. National Republicans have gone off the deep end. We’re starting to see more of that stench make it’s way into Maryland, with absentee National Committeeman David Bossie still ostensibly in office, and whatever nonsense Kim Klacik is up to.
But at the local level, Republicans are the party that are trying to balance the budget, reduce the size of government, and keep my taxes though. The things that national Republicans used to do before they took their marching orders from a leftist like Trump.
Then we get this tweet:
No, I’m not a “Republican no matter what.” But I *am* a conservative, no matter what. Democrats believe in radically high taxes, bloated government, and the continued killing of unborn babies. How exactly are my conservative principles and my moral values advanced by voting for such ideas that are antithetical to my moral compass?
Bacon’s issue here is not with the fact that never-Trump Republicans don’t vote for Democrats, it’s the fact that us never-Trump Republicans are conservatives. In his warped view, Bacon feels that radical left-wing politics ideas are right and that my ideas are wrong and that by not embracing his wrong ideas that I am somehow morally inferior. The irony of all this being is that Bacon’s politics are a lot closer to Trump’s than my own.
So no, Perry Bacon, Jr., there is no universe where my interests are advanced by voting for Democrats, particularly at the state and local level where that kind of thing actually matters.