The End of Never Trump?

It's Time for Adult Talk

President Donald J. Trump, joined by Vice President Mike Pence and members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, announces a national emergency to further battle the Coronavirus outbreak, at a news conference Friday, March 13, 2020, in the Rose Garden of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour)

Congratulations to Donald J. Trump on becoming the 47th President of the United States. He won a crushing defeat of a much-maligned Democratic Party that could never quite figure out what they were for but knew what they were against.

He took back Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania and won the popular vote. I was wrong about the election, and it wasn’t even close. He’s done what no American president has done since Grover Cleveland.

One of the perverse joys of being a double hater is that you don’t like either party. As a lifelong “conservative” (what does that even mean again?), I’ve never been one to root for Dems very often; listing all the reasons is unnecessary. I didn’t enjoy voting for Harris, but I felt at peace voting against Trump for the third time. But we were the minority.

That sucks, but that’s the ball game. In 2016, after Trump won an astonishing victory, I went with my then-girlfriend to a rally against Trump after he won. I don’t know why I went, but I did. And what I saw there was a lot of the reasons why the Democrats lost again.

As far as I could see, it was identity politics. There was a lot of talk from the Cal-Berkley lounge. It was Robin D’Angello and Ibrahim X. Kindi-ville. The speeches were given in Kansas City, Missouri, hardly a mecca for wokeism outside the confines of Kansas University or the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

It was just not productive. People bashed the voters and disparaged the deplorables, and it felt performative.

I asked my then-girlfriend, “What’s the point of all this?”

“I’m not honestly sure,” she responded.

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There’s no need for that this time. This was something very different. The decision has been made.

And now, the knives come out for those of us who were thoroughly defeated. Or at least they should. I asked President Bush to endorse Harris, and I stand by that article. Nevertheless, it wouldn’t have mattered. Just like it didn’t matter what the generals said, because why should we care what they say again? Perhaps Joe Biden should’ve left the election a bit earlier? The strategy to team with Liz Cheney did nothing for Harris, and I don’t think she could have done much. President Joe Biden is deeply unpopular—and she couldn’t rescue him.

Vice President Kamala Harris isn’t a mesmerizing candidate. Nevertheless, this is more of a rebuke of President Joe Biden than anything else. People thought Trump could handle the economy better, and Biden’s early decision to reverse Trump’s hawkish immigration policy proved fatal. They thought he said a bunch of stupid shit but felt that the Democrats hadn’t done a good enough job.

The world is also on fire. Biden “mismanaged” the Afghan withdrawal. Less than 7 months after that, Putin invaded Ukraine—that happened under Biden’s watch. And when Putin gave him an opening when their offensive stumbled, Biden didn’t want to go for the kill shot, and then Ukraine’s failed counter-offensive, which was provided to you partially by the Department of Defense, fell apart. Then, there was the largest killing of ethnic Jews since the Holocaust and a year-long destructive war that followed.

January 6 didn’t matter.

Not even the overturning of Dobbs could hold the Democrats together.

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I’ve lost a lot of things in my life.

I lost my innocence on the streets of Baghdad when I saw my first dead, mutilated little girl. I lost two wars and part of my sanity along the way. I recently lost my family through divorce.

It hurts. All of them were devastating blows, but you get back up again. But even a lost election was not the end. Those who opposed Trump need to admit we failed and figure out why.

I’ll still be Never Trump in most things. But if he does things I like, I will tell you why. Democrats need to understand why people don’t want their particular brand of politics. I’ll try to explain it to you through my eyes, a man who lives in deep-red Texas.

You can decry who Trump is and what he represents. I have done and will continue to do so, but this is the people's will in the end. But we must respect it, even if we hate it.

That’s the only way to learn from defeat.

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When you lose, you must be truthful in your inquiry without rose-colored glasses, which we never did in Afghanistan.

I’ve written repeatedly about the Doha Agreement. Last week, I wrote about how President Trump’s Doha Agreement led to our defeat. But in the end, Biden decided to act dishonorably, abide by the agreement, and abandon our allies—and then blame them for losing the war.

And while nobody voted on Afghanistan, it was the beginning of the end for the Biden-Harris administration.

There will be a lot of finger-pointing in the coming weeks and months. That’s healthy. My only hope is that the Democrats look at their conduct following Afghanistan and use it as a lodestar for the rest of Biden’s term, specifically, his refusal to step aside in 2022, as AB Stoddard wrote.

Donald Trump has won a mandate. As soon as you accept that, the next few steps will be more manageable, but it will take time for many people. But in the end, admitting defeat is the first step toward learning.

Until next time.