This week, an extraordinarily lengthy piece at the Claremont Review of Books launched into those conservatives who will not vote for Donald Trump. The piece has gotten heavy media play from Trump voters, who apparently distribute it on the tenth-grade sensibility that essay length substitutes for quality. The piece is a shoddy straw man, filled with outright misrepresentations and silly analogies. It’s pure, unadulterated Trumpsterism masquerading as high-minded conservatism, all wrapped up in the pseudo-philosophical language of misinterpreted virtù.
The first clue that something’s wrong with the piece is the byline: Publius Decius Mus. Yes, the self-aggrandizing pseudonym harkens back to the Roman consul of the same name, who sacrificed himself in battle in order to save his comrades in 340 BC. We are meant to learn three things from this byline: first, that the author is a classics genius familiar with the writings of Livy; second, that he is a hero willing to die for his cause (but not give his name for it); and finally, that he’s just like the founding fathers, who wrote The Federalist Papers pseudonymously, in his love of ideas.
What follows is, to paraphrase Cicero, incoherent, mind-numbing horseshit.
….
From there, Publius moves on to blame. Why won’t conservatives just agree with him? Because they must be paid off! “Pecuniary reasons also suggest themselves, but let us foreswear recourse to this explanation until we have disproved all the others…. So what do we have to lose by fighting back? Only our Washington Generals jerseys—and paychecks.” This is the last refuge of the desperate Trump advocate – everyone with whom they disagree has been bribed. The system is rigged. Someone ought to ask Sean Hannity or Laura Ingraham or Breitbart.com just how much money they’ve lost backing Trump with the ardently hot passion of a thousand smoldering suns. The answer: not a dime. And they’ve gained ratings and presumably, the massive money that comes along with such ratings. Some of us have actively foregone significant money not to worship at the Trumpian altar. It’s truly incredible how Trump supporters darkly suggest that Jonah Goldberg is somehow getting rich off of opposing Trump but simultaneously say National Review is going bankrupt. Which is it, dolts?
….
But in the end, the only fellow lacking virtù is the one who hides behind Donald Trump’s skirts and a pseudonym to tar those with whom he disagrees, and to do so while falsely representing his paleoconservative nastiness as a defense of conservatism. Some of us have spent decades fighting the left. Publius has wasted ten pages of valuable paper excusing his own cowardice in failing to fight the left (where’s he been all this time?) on behalf of another coward who has failed to fight the left (where’s Trump been all this time, other than giving money to Democrats?).
There are good arguments for voting Trump. But this diarrheic mess of jabbering drivel by a faux-intellectual substituting classical references for wisdom ain’t it.
- Discussion
-
What happens when you bring a knife to a gun fight. https://t.co/6LrmgDebpH
— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) September 8, 2016
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.