WASHINGTONāA former Trump administration official laid out a comprehensive critique not only of the Left but of conventional conservatism, warning if the Republican Party failed to follow the presidentās lead, it might ultimately find itself ousted from power for good.
In a public forum in the nationās capital, former Trump Deputy Assistant to the President for Strategic Communications Michael Anton, now a lecturer and research fellow at Hillsdale College, told the story of his groundbreaking but intensely controversial essay, āThe Flight 93 Election.ā
According to Anton, āwhen Donald J. Trump announced that he was running for President, I didnāt take it seriously.ā It was the third time Trump had flirted with a presidential bid, and Anton did not believe the now-president would follow through.
āHe kept saying, āIām in it for real this time,āā Anton said, so ultimately he decided, āIāll try to take it seriously.ā
As he did, he began to acknowledge Trumpās platform made more sense to him than others in the field.
The conservative establishment didnāt agreeābut there was āsomething intellectually about modern conservatism that wasnāt quite right,ā Anton charged.
Conservatives once focused on policies advancing founding principles, but gradually began to see policies as ends in themselves. Take immigration, trade, and war, said Anton, on which over time, conservative think tanks had drifted into an āinflexible Chamber of Commerce position.ā
Anton noted Republican pundits would repeatedly react with revulsion as Trump blasphemed. āHeās finally done it now,ā they would assert each time, Anton said, āHeās toast.ā
For instance, support for the second Iraq War became a āsacrosanct position,ā Anton suggested, leaving its critics āostracized from the Republican Party.ā
Yet, Anton said, as a George W. Bush staffer, āI have to say forthrightly that the Bush Administration was wrong.ā
When Trump came out against the Iraq War in South Carolina in February 2016, conservative establishmentarians once again wrote him off.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/former-trump-aide-lashes-left-warns-establishment-gop_2851249.html
http://dcwhispers.com/potus-trump-now-turns-to-d-c-swamp-and-says-my-turn/#VJ4BWHiy5zWruF3b.97