Timothy Noah
Posted on 08/16/2022 9:04:27 PM PDT by NoLibZone
Wyoming is a very conservative state. Forty-six percent of its adults self-identify as conservative, as opposed to moderate or liberal; only Mississippi claims a higher percentage. But in sending incumbent Liz Cheney to her premature retirement in Tuesday’s primary, Wyoming struck a blow against conservatism.
Cheney’s defeat is just the latest demonstration that Trumpism now eclipses conservatism as the reigning faith of the Republican party. Compare the 46 percent of Wyoming’s adults who self-identify as conservative to the 57 percent of its adults who are Republican or lean Republican, according to Pew.
That makes Wyoming more Republican than conservative; indeed, it’s the most Republican state in the union. More to the point, Wyoming is in thrall to the cult of Donald Trump.
Trump’s share of Wyoming’s vote in 2020 was 69.9 percent, more than 23 points higher than Trump’s national average and the largest share of any state.
It’s become shorthand for reporters to gauge how conservative a political candidate is by how slavishly devoted that person is to the Trump line. I’ve probably done it myself once or twice. But the Trump political scorecard is not a conservative one.
Even before Trump’s loyalty test became a professed belief that Trump won the 2020 election, Trumpery was mostly a mishmash of nonideological vices: rank bigotry, xenophobia, authoritarianism, greed, and a gleeful breaking of rules and ethical norms large and small. Mix in nativism and trade protectionism, then top off with positions with which Liz Cheney would never quarrel—the standard GOP trinity of opposition to abortion, taxes, and regulation. (Cheney’s National Taxpayers Union score, 72 percent, puts her only two percentage points behind Speaker-in-Waiting Kevin McCarthy, and her Planned Parenthood score is a respectably low 20 percent.)
It is a minor thing but I like that Liz is going to come in at under 30%, not getting out of the 20s just sounds better against an opponent who is at 66%.
What a dismal showing for the incumbent.
Cheney ran on being anti-Trump knowing full well she’d pay a political cost In Wyoming. But then she has higher asperations to begin with as she so often says “To make sure Trumo never gets close to the Whitehouse again”.......and frankly she’s never stopped barking at Trump supporters.
Ultra Conservative Adam Kinzinger vows to reclaim Cheney’s seat in ‘24! - FNC
frank ballenger. You are correct, and when conservatives elected a heroic figure Donald Trump who put in Judges who over turned roe, the establishment backstabbed him and may have actually killed the country. The selfishness of Romney, Cheney, the Bush family... may have actually killed us all. That said... they are now GONE. People who love this country will continue the fight, and we will do it without cowards and self serving self appointed elites.
Amen, my FRiend.
John Paul Jones:
I have not yet begun to fight.
What do you expect TNR to say?
So freakin lost in the ozone…
From the people that considered the Cheney’s and Halliburton war criminals just a few years ago...
New Republic has no real clue what conservatism is nor does CheneyIdiot. Therefore, there is no real or actual defeat but that of Cheneyidiot being removed from office and rightly so. Karma is real.
Another repudiation of the establishment GOP and the Bushies in general.
Way to go Wyoming!
I have no reservations improving upon (or moving beyond) the term “Conservative”. That national ‘divorce’ so many speak of should first occur here, on the Right — goodbye Bush, Cheney, Kristol... We were never married to the Rats. The Rats are irrelevant.
Consider how the MSM courts the faux conservatives — it’s become a reliably abusive instrument to beat down the Country. Conservatism isn’t a bad thing — it embodies the goodness of Reagan, his disciples, an era. But it’s nonetheless just a term — and a term that’s been hijacked.
Terms matters. That’s how the Left manipulates opinions, perspectives, goals, academics, grants... The Right conceded the value of terminology — the terminology that ultimately frames the national discourse. Why? Because our terminology was rooted in conservatism — there’s nothing to explain because it’s so damn honest and simple. One is a conservative, and no further explanation is required. We had talkers, authors, pundits espousing the same damn POV over and over and over for decades — we remained comfortable & idle in the comfort and veracity of conservative truth. And that’s not to say conservatism by definition is a failure — the tenets it represents are perfect and immutable. But like all things, it — the term — has a window of attraction.
Enter DJT — Make America Great Again
We’re connected by conservative ideals, and Trump knew/knows that. But MAGA wasn’t about recycling Conservatism. MAGA was a revival — the Phoenix formerly known as Conservatism. We became connected with so many that existed outside the sphere of Conservatism. But that unfortunately came at a cost — we were betrayed by the faux conservatives we held close for decades — those unwilling to let go of Conservative décor. It was a rude awakening, but good riddance.
America First
It takes time for the Rats to adapt to the momentum they don’t control. The MSM messaging is awkward. It’s viewers confused. The narrative ambiguous. It’s a process that can take years.
We’re leaders of the generations we’ve created. Their playlist doesn’t need to include Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin. No doubt one day it will, but for today, we need to clear the path for the new ideas & energy that will ultimately ensure their Constitutional future.
The Founders gave us a Country. We need to think about its preservation without simply reciting what they’ve already stated.
The legendary and notorious House of Cheney HAS FALLEN!!
Ding-dong, the witch is dead! Which old witch? The wicked witch
Ding-dong, the wicked witch is dead
Hope springs eternal. But they usually go the other way.
AL BS!!!!
Timothy Noah is an inner city pimp, whose mother is ashamed of him
With Lizzies loss, I expect the value of my investment in kneepad stocks to rise...
And why would I care what the New Republic thinks about conservatism? They don’t get to define what *conservatism* is; it’s an alien point to view to them anyway.
... just as I don’t care what the Europeans or the Chinese think about the US.
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