Anonymous ID: c79218 March 24, 2019, 6:15 p.m. No.5873130   šŸ—„ļø.is šŸ”—kun

WASHINGTONā€”A 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 presidentā€™s lead, it might ultimately find itself ousted from power for good.

In a public forum in the nationā€™s 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, ā€œThe Flight 93 Election.ā€

According to Anton, ā€œwhen Donald J. Trump announced that he was running for President, I didnā€™t 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.

ā€œHe kept saying, ā€˜Iā€™m in it for real this time,ā€™ā€ Anton said, so ultimately he decided, ā€œIā€™ll try to take it seriously.ā€

As he did, he began to acknowledge Trumpā€™s platform made more sense to him than others in the field.

The conservative establishment didnā€™t agreeā€”but there was ā€œsomething intellectually about modern conservatism that wasnā€™t 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 ā€œinflexible Chamber of Commerce position.ā€

Anton noted Republican pundits would repeatedly react with revulsion as Trump blasphemed. ā€œHeā€™s finally done it now,ā€ they would assert each time, Anton said, ā€œHeā€™s toast.ā€

For instance, support for the second Iraq War became a ā€œsacrosanct position,ā€ Anton suggested, leaving its critics ā€œostracized from the Republican Party.ā€

Yet, Anton said, as a George W. Bush staffer, ā€œI 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