Trump s Exit | City Journal
While Trump behaved with characteristic self-absorption, the hypocrisy of the mainstream press and of many Democratic politicians in responding to the January 6 storming has been patent. These are the same people who have either ignored the destruction of federal property and the desecration of national monuments over the last year or glorified that mayhem in the name of racial justice. Speakers at the Democratic National Convention stayed silent about the anticop riots ( mostly peaceful protests ) leading up to that convention.
The media and political elite s self-righteous rhetoric now, calling on Wednesday for a swift police response to the Capitol intrusion, comparing it hyperbolically to Falluja and Benghazi, asserting, as MSNBC s Rachel Maddow did, that nightfall is when Trump rioters become violent as if the one-off Capitol violence were as routine as anti-police riots is laughable. But while it is understandable to focus now on the Left s nauseating double standards, as much of conservative media are doing, the Trump problem cannot be sidestepped.
His disregard for the norms of the presidency only imperfectly respected by his predecessors, but never quite shredded with the same indifference foreshadowed the disregard for the Capitol building shown by a handful of his supporters on Wednesday. It was a fitting end to his tenure. The final downward trajectory of his presidency possesses an undeniable dramatic coherence. In 2016, he refused during the third presidential debate to commit to accepting the election result if he lost. Even then he was promoting the idea that the election was rigged. His logic was identical to that of rigged election theorists today: It is inconceivable that Trump could lose the 2020 election. Therefore, if he did lose, it could only be through fraudulent means.
Pragmatist Trump supporters made the calculation that he was the lesser of two evils. His vindictiveness and narcissism had to be balanced against the alternative of an increasingly militant Left that seeks to tear down the accomplishments of Western civilization in the name of equalitarian identity politics. Trump did not drive the Left into its current apoplexies; the momentum from the previous four decades of academic-generated hatreds was moving to this point regardless of who was in the White House.
It is the case, however, that the Trump demise will give even more fuel to the ongoing desecration of our heritage by the Left, a desecration that will prove more momentous than what occurred on Wednesday.
Now, any cause championed by Trump, whether border enforcement or color-blind public policy, will be discredited in the view of whatever remains of a moderate, non-woke establishment. The brief interregnum from the dominance of the Left provided by the Trump presidency will be followed by a frenzy of revenge on greatness and meritocracy.
The most enthusiastic Trump supporters had deep and justified grievances that made them excuse so flawed a standard-bearer. The only upside one can hope for from these last two months is that Trump will have lost his hold over the future of conservatism. Perhaps someone will emerge who can articulate the ideals of tradition and excellence with the grace that they deserve.
How about Mike Pence?