The point of it all. Either you are committed to the man or you are committed to the principle. Either you are a conservative on Free Republic or you have surrendered your power of discernment to Trump Republic.
These are not arcane generalities, when Donald Trump reneges on his explicit and often repeated campaign promise to drain the swamp and assign a special prosecutor of Hillary Clinton's alleged crimes, you must choose between loyalty to the man or commitment to the rule of law. On this matter of principle it's not a question of aligning myself with my FRiends, it is a question of a lifelong commitment to the rule of law and a revulsion of cronyism and corruption-the very issues this whole campaign was grounded upon.
Similarly, if (repeat: "if") Donald Trump is reversing his position on waterboarding, climate change, building the wall, or repealing healthcare these are matters which beg for analysis on a conservative forum. Some of these issues might be more important than others but we should be able to identify them and express our opinions concerning them without being accused of somehow mounting a criticism of "our movement" or, even worse, rendering some "form of a aid to the Left."
This is why I say we are conservative Free Republic rather than Trump Republic. If Trump reneges on his campaign promises which secured our support as conservatives, we must decide whether what is left of his promises are so important that we must swallow the flip-flops. We must consider whether we can believe him concerning the rest of his promises.
These are not problems caused by the messenger they are problems caused by Donald Trump himself. If he cannot properly articulate his position on prosecuting Hillary Clinton, for example, are 300 million people supposed to wait mute and in suspense about whether corruption in Washington is going to be addressed, about whether the swamp is really going to be drained? If Donald Trump is not going to govern as he campaigned, we conservatives have a whole new fight on our hands and we certainly must question whether we have any "movement" that deserves the name, "conservative."
Believe me I am fully aware of the traps and snares that await President Donald Trump and I also understand the more Donald Trump adheres to his campaign promises, the more fierce the forces aligned against him will be. Trump deserves our support when he governs as a conservative and he deserves our good faith criticism when he does not. Trump is not above the law, not above being called before the bar of public opinion, any more than is Hillary Clinton. He is entitled to the presumption of good intentions and he is entitled to our support as our default position.
Yet we bitch about the uni-party establishment even as we censor ourselves, we deny our very reason for existence if we forsake principle for the man. It's not Jeremiah but the sinners who should be called to account, it is not the messenger who is the problem.
I support Trump and will continue to do so under the presumptions that I have outlined above which I think are generous. As I've said many times, I also intend to preserve my self-respect.
