National Review Special Issue: Against Trump

By Kit

Homework has forced me to delay my mega-pre-Iowa Caucus post on Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump. So, in lieu of that, here is National Review's new special issue on Donald Trump.

With writers ranging from populist Tea Partiers like Glenn Beck and Dana Loesch to intellectuals such as Thomas Sowell and William Kristol. I highly doubt it will much in the way of direct influence on most of the primary voters in places like Iowa and New Hampshire but I hope it might inspire other conservatives to also attack Trump directly.

The Editorial: "Against Trump"

It features this killer line: "Trump is a philosophically unmoored political opportunist who would trash the broad conservative ideological consensus within the GOP in favor of a free-floating populism with strong-man overtones."

The Symposium: "Conservatives against Trump"

Here are some highlights:

First, the best: Thomas Sowell: "What is even more remarkable is that, after seven years of repeated disasters, both domestically and internationally, under a glib egomaniac in the White House, so many potential voters are turning to another glib egomaniac to be his successor."

Brent Bozell III: "A real conservative walks with us. Ronald Reagan read National Review and Human Events for intellectual sustenance; spoke annually to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Young Americans for Freedom, and other organizations to rally the troops; supported Barry Goldwater when the GOP mainstream turned its back on him; raised money for countless conservative groups; wrote hundreds of op-eds; and delivered even more speeches, everywhere championing our cause. Until he decided to run for the GOP nomination a few months ago, Trump had done none of these things, perhaps because he was too distracted publicly raising money for liberals such as the Clintons; championing Planned Parenthood, tax increases, and single-payer health coverage; and demonstrating his allegiance to the Democratic party"

Mona Charen:"We can talk about whether he is a boor (“My fingers are long and beautiful, as, it has been well documented, are various other parts of my body”), a creep (“If Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her”), or a louse (he tried to bully an elderly woman, Vera Coking, out of her house in Atlantic City because it stood on a spot he wanted to use as a garage). But one thing about which there can be no debate is that Trump is no conservative—he’s simply playing one in the primaries. Call it unreality TV." (Emphasis mine)

The whole thing is worth a read.