Given the damage the Left and the Left’s political party, the Democrats, are doing to America, you would think conservatives would understand that defeating the Left is by far their most important task.
The Left’s damage includes, to name but a few examples, doing incalculable damage to America’s children by supporting and advocating mutilating surgeries, prescribing hormone blockers, promoting innocence-robbing “nonbinary” cross-dressing shows and discussions, and having ordered inexcusable school lockdowns; printing trillions of dollars, which in turn has led to devastating inflation, unprecedentedly high national debt and a weakened dollar; and ruining every institution in the country including, but not limited to, the universities, the military, medicine, the arts, sports, journalism, religion, marriage and free speech.
Yet, apparently, millions of conservatives, including some leading ones, do not understand that defeating the Left is their most important task. For many conservatives, it appears that whether to aid Ukraine or whether to support former President Donald Trump overshadows defeating the Left.
Let’s begin with Ukraine.
One of the most important voices in the conservative movement recently tweeted that every Republican who supports aiding Ukraine is a RINO (Republican In Name Only). That would mean that conservatives such as Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro and I, not to mention more than 40% of all Republicans, are RINOs.
The contempt, interestingly, seems to be primarily in one direction. Conservatives who support aiding Ukraine do not have contempt for conservatives who oppose such aid. But many conservative opponents of aid to Ukraine have expressed contempt for conservatives who support aid to Ukraine. For example, I continue to regard conservatives such as Tucker Carlson, perhaps the leading conservative critic of aid to Ukraine, as an invaluable asset to the conservative cause and its task of fighting the Left. Though we differ on Ukraine, I continue to regard him as my respected ally.
People should adopt two rules with regard to political allies.
One is that you will have no allies if your only allies are individuals with whom you agree on every issue; it should suffice to agree on most issues. The other rule is that if we agree about who our chief enemy is, we can differ on a lot of other issues. With few exceptions, if you understand the existential threat the Left poses to America and to Western civilization, you are my ally.
It seems that some conservative opponents of aiding Ukraine do not believe in these two rules. They are prepared to jettison erstwhile allies who support aiding Ukraine and they do not regard fighting the American Left as important enough to ignore differences over Ukraine.
That is a recipe for a fatal fracture of the conservative movement and of the Republican Party. If conservative opponents of aiding Ukraine make agreement on Ukraine a make-or-break issue of whom to ally with and whom to support politically, that means the end of the anti-Left coalition.
The other divisive issue that poses a fatal threat to conservatism and the Republican Party — and therefore to America — is whether to support any Republican other than Trump. I hope I am wrong, but it seems that millions of conservatives will not support any Republican presidential nominee other than Trump.
These people might be called “Only Trumpers.” And because of their numbers, they pose an even greater threat to a Republican victory than did the “Never Trumpers.” Yet, the two groups are quite united — in their conviction that Trump is more important than defeating the Left (and therefore saving America). For the Never Trumpers, defeating Trump was more important than defeating the Left; and for the Only Trumpers, nominating Trump is more important than defeating the Left.
Because of these two cracks in the conservative movement, we may be watching the chances of a conservative/Republican victory in 2024 receding by the day. And if that should happen — i.e., if the Left is allowed to win again — it is difficult to imagine America and its values surviving. All because of Ukraine and/or because of Donald Trump. Are either of these issues worth that price? Is any issue worth that price?
Just so you know supporting President Trump is not about President Trump, it’s about defeating the Left. As anyone raising children or training a dog knows, bad behavior without consequences gives rise to more bad behavior. As there’s been no justice for what was done to him, and the American people through him, by the current justice system, justice must come in the form of his return to office. It’ not “ only Trump.” it’s “ only justice” that will heal this nation. And maybe the world along with it.
Dennis if the left is “allowed” to win again will only be because of the now institutionalized voting fraud machine that the Democrats control in the key swing states and districts they stole in 2020.
The wishful thinking of coming together as a party and singing “Kumbaya” is a non-starter. Not when the GOP is controlled by globalist RINO stooges. Either they go or we go. The populist (not a dirty word) MAGA America First agenda is the ONLY way forward.
Taking our whole Country back from the Globalists and their pans we need to get ourselves out of the United Nations and make them solve their own problems they being upon themselves we can still help out after Natural Disaster
There were two evil empires, the USSR and the CCP. After the collapse of the USSR, we moved our industry to China making China the superpower that it is, and we continued the war against a weakened Russia.
This is stupidity to a degree that can only be explained by Divine intervention. We are under judgment.
Not just you but the whole of Europe basically outsourced manufacturing to China.
I need a new lawnmower, I can’t find a British made one other than the very specialist ones that don’t have a mass market and are far too big for me.
The world has missed a huge opportunity to get out of China following their disastrous release of the World pHarma Organisation virus.
We have to take back manufacturing the world cannot survive with a service economy, the financial sector clearly cannot either because it is in constant need of bailouts.
Come on Prager, this is an absolute falsity: “Conservatives who support aiding Ukraine do not have contempt for conservatives who oppose such aid.”
Who is calling who shills for Putin?
Ukraine is a NATO induced quagmire, just like Kosovo, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Somalia, etc.
Read Stephen Cohen’s 2017 book, “War With Russia?” for some authentic context about what has been happening in Ukraine. Mr. Cohen was a Russian expert for multiple US presidents.
That is why ‘conservatives who oppose Ukraine aid’ are so full of contempt, the denial of America’s/NATO’s role in stoking this conflict since 2008, culminating in a ‘color revolution’ in 2014, is infuriating. Breaking decades old promises to Russia about NATO encroachment to appease corrupt American arms dealers like Raytheon, Northrup-Grumman, and Boeing?
Those who oppose aid have an accurate, contextual understanding of contemporary Ukrainian history; while those who support aid are willfully ignorant, clinging to an extinct Cold War dichotomy.
Stephen Cohen is a dishonest liar and Bolshevik apologist who parrots the “Good Lenin, Bad Stalin” myth, and has proven to be a textbook useful idiot.
Yo, Dennis, when you and I were kids if you thought like a Communist, talked like Communist, and acted like Communist you were called a Communist. The intimidation, incarceration, cancellation, indoctrination and subjugation of those who cherish Christianity, free speech and the right to bear arms are the tactics of the Communist Left! GOD BLESS.
The GOP must put forward an unabashed America First candidate. Pale imitations will not cut it!
The Administrative State must be started to be dismantled. It is unconstitutional by a plain reading of the document, our National Charter!
The Left must be defeated and harshly penalized for their obvious criminality and even sedition/treason. No quarter should be spared, but all done meticulously legally!
No, a globalist Republican is NOT better than an overt Leftist, as the bottom-line result is the same!
The only thing that would bring about a Republican defeat in 2024 would be Democrat fraud. It doesn’t matter who the Republican candidate would be unless it’s Liz Cheney because Democrat Commies would support her.
“Supporting Ukraine” is a defining issue, similar to one’s position on transgenderism. Staying out of foreign wars, not throwing good money after bad, America first, and respect for international agreements (eg NATO will not move one inch closer to Mother Russia) should be core conservative principles. Saying the only difference between conservative A and conservative B is their position on Ukraine is to confuse the very definition of conservative. Mr. Prager, would you merely respectfully disagree with a “conservative’s” favorable view on the BLM riots? Of course not. Moreover the “one way street” you describe is a fiction, as several leading Republicans have echoed the inane liberal position that anyone who opposes aiding Ukraine is a stooge of Vladimir Putin. Funny also that you, Levin, and Shapiro are all on the same page on what I believe to be a conservative litmus test. I’m sure the loonies at the Unz review will connect the dots in their typical way and blame the you-know-whos.
The question of “who to align with” is another red herring, born of a notion that has got our country into so much trouble: How has this notion worked out, Mr. Prager? The idea that we must ALWAYS pick sides, and always involve ourselves in situations halfway around the world? How did our involvement in VietNam, Iraq, and Afghanistan further our interests? The idea that Russia has no right to be in the Donbass, or in the Baltic or Black seas, which border its territory, but somehow we do, says it all, How anyone who calls himself a conservative can “align” with a country which a Ukrainian-born friend of mine has referred to as the “whorehouse of Europe” is beyond me.
No, Mr. Prager, this is not an argument over how much we should spend on free daycare or whether we should move our embassador to Tel Aviv or Outer Slobovia, topics over which reasonable people might disagree. Support for Ukraine and our bloodthirsty, avaricious military industrial complex and never-ending wars is, as they might say, an “existential” issue.
Republican Inc. Is the danger to the Republican party.. You’re talking semantics, where we are talking actions. Republican Inc. has utter contempt for its voters. When we had the majority in 2016, Obama care was not repealed, planned parenthood remained funded. Benghazi and Hillarys emails were investigated and swept under the rug. When Clinton’s witch hunt of Trump started,did Republican Inc. jump up and defend him? Nope they sat on their hands thereby condoning it. They got two things done, tax cuts and three Supreme Court Justices confirmed. The so-called party of the constitution is and are letting all the alphabet agencies run roughshod over people’s constitutional rights because of who they supported. Whether it’s the J 6 protesters still in jail with no bail, or the censorship still going on. Globalization, climate change, secure boarders, and inflation. What do we hear from Republican Inc.? Here eat your shit sandwich and drink this bottle of piss, you ungrateful shits. So tell me again why I should vote Republican?
Your two rules regarding political allies are fine, but they tell us nothing about who we should vote for. Why are you opposed to Trump as a presidential candidate in 2024? Who else has offered anything in the way of strategies for defeating the Left? Are you familiar with Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp of Washington corruption” by rewriting the Civil Service Act and firing a large percentage of bureaucrats? It’s a very bold proposal that no one else has made. If we apply Buckley’s Standard, Trump is the most right, viable candidate who could win. Current polling of all the current 2024 presidential candidates among likely voters clearly show Trump winning over all other Republican candidates. Will you stand with the rest of us anti-Lefties and declare yourself to support Donald Trump for President in 2024? And I don’t care about your stance on support for Ukraine!
Dennis, tell me, all the billions of dollars to Ukraine, has it been audited? Give me the breakdown of where all the money has gone. Let’s see, could it have gone to the oligarchs who’ve become increasingly wealthy?
Are you for paying the pensions of the Ukrainians? Biden flat out stated American tax payers will be funding Ukrainian pensions. Are you for this? We have this corrupt government who are continually trying to find ways to tax our retirement savings, but we are going to pay another country’s citizens pensions?
The Left hate Putin because he’s NOT a globalist. Same reason the Left hates Trump.
Shapiro has been wrong on quite a few important issues. One, he called every stupid who wouldn’t get the “vaccine”. Two, he didn’t believe there was widespread fraud in the election. Three, he was screeching Trump would ruin the country if he became president. That’s three strikes. Don’t tell me about Shapiro who walked back his statement about the vaccines after overwhelming evidence of the harm it has caused. Too late now.
We are involved in aiding Ukraine because a weak and corrupt Joe Biden got us involved.
Dennis, there is only Trump. Desantis is slowly being exposed as being a wholly owned product of RINO money….Rove, Ryan, Bush Inc.
Desantis cannot win a general without the MAGA crowd. But Trump can certainly win without the Desantis crowd
Reducing the problems with the Republican party or conservatives to only Trump and Ukraine seems overly simplistic. No need to fill this window with a list of issues the left is using to crush our nation. Until Republican/conservative voters learn to recognize an authentic representative not much will change.
Daniel Horowitz of Conservative Review often points out how many super-red state legislatures fail to move forward conservative measures due to the number of Republicans who refuse to support it. Start there before these rinos move up to the federal level and we may see some progress.