Over at The Spectator, Roger Kimball: [1]
Third, this monologue [2], like many other statements [3] from Tucker Carlson, illustrates something about him that his enemies, as well as many of his friends, are loathe to acknowledge. It is this: though he is conservative, and though he is a sharp and effective critic of many of Trump’s enemies, he is by no means an unreflective supporter of the president. On the contrary, he dissents from Trump on many issues — from his policy in Syria to the slate of possible domestic initiatives he mentioned in his recent monologue.
This is the hardest thing for the Left (and, again, some ditto-head elements on the Right) to swallow: there are some independent commentators out there who call the shots as they see them and offer commendation or criticism on the basis of their own principles, not on the basis of parti pris. When it comes to the virtue of independence, Tucker Carlson leads the pack.
The reason that I post this, is because I’ve run into this myself, and from people who in the past I have had respect for, and I know very well of what Roger speaks. This seems to me an opportunity to explain long-held positions, and to answer the basic philosophy of my writings here.
Understand, that prior to the election I consider that I was one of the strongest anti Trump people out there. (Example) [4]
Not because I thought the Democrat nominee was worth a damn, but because the Republicans could do better. To this day, I strongly believe that we would have been better off dealing with Ted Cruz as president. Not, mind you, because it would have mollified the Democrats. (I am firmly convinced that nothing would, then, or now.)
Rather, because Cruz has always been a reliable conservative, operating from conservative values. Not so much with Trump.
Frankly however, the Democrats are only half the problem.
The remainder of it is the establishment GOP, who has almost invariably dumped on anyone who dares to come out as operating from those conservative principles, (which would include both Trump and Cruz) as I explained here [5] a couple years ago. Every blessed one of them is a lock- stepper, and I’m having none of it.
All that explained, however, we ended up with Trump as President… At which point I was forced into the pragmatic stance of supporting him when he’s right, and ripping him a new one when he’s wrong. Fortunately for myself, and for the country the latter of those two situations is by far the fewer. I have to tell you, from long, often bitter experience, that is a source of confusion like few others.
The fact is, I have not been in lockstep with either side through any of this. I do completely reject the Democrat Party it’s socialism its candidates and its partisan nonsense. I also reject a goodly portion of what I see in the GOP establishment which seems bent toward being Democrat lite, and not being actual conservatives.
That’s a position that I have held for the last two decades of writing in this website, and elsewhere. In that process, it’s fair to say that I’ve been chastised, banned, mocked, unfriended, and more, for the stands I’ve taken, over time.
To say the least it’s a position that angers and confuses both sides.
You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.
— Winston Churchill
Ironic, that more than once I’ve been accused of having insufficient subtlety in my arguments, by people who have exposed themselves over time as being either hard left, or GOP establishment. In my view, the subtlety of those positions are directly comparable to that of your average train wreck.
Those who sharpen their wits too much, lose them. To be over-subtle is to be stupid, my dear sir. The world at large will never be the fenced precinct or the desert island of the professors of economics.
— H. E. Jacob
For me, it all comes down to this… Over time, my positions have been proven correct far more than they have been proven incorrect, and almost invariably when they have been proven correct, it was after an extended period of criticism from the above-named people.
So, I will continue to speak my mind on any subject, how others react to that, notwithstanding.
And the fact is, I would expect, and demand, nothing less from any of you.