Achievement or Adulation?
A look into what Trump enthusiasts want from others.
A lot of people ask me, a conservative Trump-critic, what I believe were Donald Trump’s greatest achievements as president. The question usually comes from MAGA-folks who are obsessively concerned that Trump hasn’t received enough respect for his time in office, and they seem to think they’re putting me in a tight spot by calling me out on the matter.
But for me, it’s actually a very easy question. The three answers I immediately give are: his Supreme Court nominees, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and Operation Warp Speed.
I do add some qualifiers. I think any establishment Republican president would have delivered the first two items (with the congressional majorities the party had at the time), and I think any president from either party would have signed off on the third. But Trump did those things, he deserves credit for doing them, and I’ve never had any problem saying that.
What I find ironic and amusing these days is that I actually seem to have more regard for those particular accomplishments than Trump, himself, does.
Trump’s three SCOTUS nominees are why we now have a firm conservative majority in the court. Yet, the former president attacks the legitimacy of the Supreme Court (including those he nominated) whenever he doesn’t like one of their rulings. In fact, he’s so displeased with the situation that he has suggested repeatedly that if he becomes president again, and ends up with more Supreme Court vacancies, he will not nominate Federalist Society judges like he did last time.
Conversely, I’m quite satisfied with the current makeup of the court, and would love more textualist and originalist justices.
By the way, how did Trump end up with three SCOTUS vacancies in the first place? Two words: Mitch McConnell.
McConnell took all the political slings and arrows (and there were many) to make sure Trump hit the ground running. He ensured that Trump was able to fill Antonin Scalia’s old spot with someone of like mind, and as it turned out, McConnell also made it possible for Trump to run for president again this year.
Yet, the former president absolutely despises McConnell. He expresses nothing but seething hatred for the man, regularly insulting him in very personal terms, celebrating his misfortunes, and even aiming racist epithets at his wife.
You know, it sure sounds like someone isn’t being properly recognized for his achievements.
Another person Trump loathes is Paul Ryan. The other day, Trump posted, "Ryan is a loser, always has been, and always will be." He added, “He was the WEAKEST & MOST INCOMPETENT Speaker of the House in its History."
Yet, it was Ryan who handed Trump the biggest (and braggiest) legislative achievement of his presidency. Some may recall that once in office, Trump abandoned the tax reforms he’d campaigned on as a candidate, and instead signaled that he would sign whatever tax legislation the Republican Congress placed on his desk. Ryan largely authored the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (which Trump reportedly didn’t read and clearly couldn’t articulate when asked about), but Trump took all the credit for the resulting economic growth that he still refers to as “the greatest economy in the history of the world.”
Well done, Paul. Despite being a weak, incompetent loser, and the worst Speaker in history, you managed to produce the greatest economy the world has ever seen. It’s just a bummer that the former president doesn’t appreciate it, and is now effectively promising to reverse course by raising taxes on Americans by an estimated $300 billion a year (minimum).
And just this week, after years of awkwardly shifting back and forth between taking only tepid credit for the rapid development of the Covid vaccines in 2020, and suggesting (in hopes of appeasing anti-vaxxers in his base) that the vaccines may actually be dangerous, Trump began assigning pro-vaccine sentiment to one of his political opponents… as an attack line.
Bizarrely, that opponent was longtime, outspoken anti-vaxxer, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“And by the way, [Kennedy] said the other night that vaccines are fine,” Trump insisted in a Truth Social video. “He said it on a show, a television show, that vaccines are fine. He’s all for them. And that’s what he said.”
In sane political times, a candidate who green-lighted a historic initiative that saved an estimated hundreds of thousands of American lives (and millions worldwide) would be running enthusiastically on such an achievement. Instead, Trump’s embarrassed by it. He’s now treating pro-vaccination sentiment like a foul odor that he hopes to rub off on others.
So, for those of you who adamantly insist that I’m insufficiently appreciative of the good things Trump did in office, maybe you should consider that your beef isn’t with me, but rather the guy whose honor you think you’re standing up for.
I’m pretty confident it’s not the recognition of achievement you’re after. I think what you care about is personal adulation of a guy you really-really-really like.
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The current GOP base had established pretty clearly that NOTHING is more important to them than showing how much they LOVE their Lord and Savior, Donald Trump. Nothing else comes close, not personal moral character, not policies, and certainly not winning elections.
Interestingly, the ONE exception is one you mention above - vaccines. He made a (tepid) pro-vaccine comment at one of his rallies a year or more ago - something to the effect of admitting that he got vaccinated - and actually got booed. That is the only weakness in Trump's teflon armor I've seen with regard to his disciples, which is why he is now attacking the most famous anti-vaxxer in public life as pro-vaccines.
// I'm not sure why the answer is so obvious to you
1) Because Gorsuch & Kavanaugh have been on the bench for about the length of time as Roberts was when he made the Obamacare decision (~7 years?) + all passed the Dobbs litmus test. So unless Barrett turns into Miers in the near future, I think the current trajectory is perfectly reasonable to assume.
2) Because I rather suspect that a majority of principled conservatives are comfortable enough by now to also agree with me on this point. For example - if you were to theoretically poll principled conservatives for an opinion on this, I'd be very surprised if: a) Trump's nominations didn't rank higher than b) Bush's or c) Too Early to Tell.
// Bush's mistake, as correctable as it was
IMHO - only thanks to Krauthammer, who I really wish were still around to bail out conservatives on such poor decisions (among many other reasons).
// Would you have preferred a bunch of pointless partisan posturing?
Personally, no. But at the same time - you could understand that in our current environment, many conservatives view that vote more as a statement & would consequently trust Romney less on this issue (sans a preview list). Impossible to know for sure, but I can absolutely envision a circumstance where Romney would've first sought out Susan Collins for an approved candidate, especially given the razor-thin margins at Kavanaugh's time, for example. The other part of this answer would be a much longer discussion than we already have, getting into Romney's psychology of why he can't effectively defend himself (let alone others) from even the most ridiculous, baseless accusations. It just doesn't lend itself to thinking he has a strong enough spine when the heat turns up. You can certainly disagree, but it's still perfectly logical to conclude IMO.
I suppose what baffles me the most here is that you seem to think my couple opinions here aren't shared by a rather significant number of even principled conservatives.