Donald Trump left many carcasses of RINOs on the political battlefield.
These were the #NeverTrumpers who dominated Republican Party politics for decades. Most think of themselves as the intelligentsia, and the soul of the Republican Party.
In truth, there represented the useless relics, mere shells of Republicanism. It’s amazing how they ever got into power.
Certainly their “republicanism” was built on the right ideals. They learned from people like William F. Buckley and Milton Friedman. But along the way, the students formed a new Leftist-lite sect of the party.
People like George “Bowtie” Will, Glenn “I’ll Cry at Anything” Beck, and Bill “Yes I’m a Snob” Kristol.
Remember the attempt they made to take Trump down during the election of 2016? Leftists media loved it.
The Daily Beast wrote:
The conservative magazine National Review published a special issue Friday uniformly opposing Donald Trump’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, one week before the first primary caucus is held. “Against Trump,” the issue’s headline blares, featuring an array of right-wing writers with editorials explaining how the real-estate magnate and reality-TV star would do irreparable damage to conservatism. The issue features essays from talk-radio figures like Glenn Beck, Michael Medved, and Erick Erickson; neoconservative writers Bill Kristol and John Podhoretz; and TV pundits Dana Loesch and Katie Pavlich.
Powerful names in Conservative circles.
The ladies recovered, though I don’t believe they got help from the #MeToo movement.
The men haven’t fared as well. As Politico wrote: of the demise of The Weekly Standard:
“It is no secret that news organizations across the U.S. are dealing with an evolving business landscape,” a spokesperson for Clarity Media said in a statement Tuesday. “The Weekly Standard is dealing with these same issues. Clarity Media has been exploring a number of possibilities regarding the future of The Weekly Standard. At this time, Clarity does not have any news to share about its evaluation process.”
The owner of The Weekly Standard said Tuesday it’s “exploring a number of possibilities” for the conservative journal, leaving the future uncertain for the rare right-leaning publication that has largely opposed President Donald Trump’s brand of politics.
Rumors had been swirling about The Weekly Standard since Monday morning, when its owner, Clarity Media, announced that a sister publication, The Washington Examiner, would be expanding its footprint with a blown-out weekly conservative magazine with national distribution. That appeared to overlap with the Weekly Standard’s model, leaving staffers and supporters of the magazine to wonder what its fate would be.
When you lose your billionaire backer, the future can’t be too bright. Particularly when you have nobody who wants to read your highbrow nonsense.
As another Politico writer adds,
Political magazines depend on the largesse of motivated patrons for their survival. When the patrons lose interest—or run short on cash—the magazines expire unless other moneybags can be located to cover the losses. Following that eternal script, the Weekly Standard appears close to folding because its current patron—and most important reader—billionaire conservative Philip Anschutz, has grown tired of it. He better favors his other conservative political publication, the Washington Examiner, which his company announced plans on Monday to “expand into a national distributed magazine with a broadened editorial focus.” In other words, the Standard is dying so the Examiner can live larger.
That’s a little simplistic, but probably not far from the mark. The Standard has remained a determinedly never-Trump magazine in a time when fewer and fewer conservatives—especially elected conservatives—are willing to take that stand, and this has marginalized the magazine in the current conservative movement. Increasingly, it’s all political thought leader and no thought followers. The magazine has been unable or unwilling to tack with the Trump current the way National Review has.
I told the story of meeting Steven Hayes and Kristol at the Republican Convention. I watched as they plotted against candidate Donald Trump up to the last minute.
But as Politico pointed out National Review eventually realized how dumb they were. They jumped on the Trump Train and now ride it to prosperity.
Sh*t happens, right?
And more sh*t happens, when you buck Trump.
Glenn Beck was a titan of media a few years ago. Now his company is a shell of what it once was. In fact, The Blaze recently merged with CRTV, a relative startup in Conservative media.
Beck and most of the Never Trumpers found out Trump is the real deal. Beck admitted it, and managed to not completely implode, though it was close. Kristol never admitted it. If you ever met Kristol, you understand that he’s never been wrong. At least according to him. So he can’t backtrack and admit he was wrong. So his ego ruined his reputation and his business.
No wonder he began taking money from fat cat Leftists. Consider a Buckley protege becoming some billionaire Leftist’s bitch, all because he can’t admit he’s wrong.
I can’t recall a president having the ability to impact media to the degree that President Trump does. And although I vow to only write my truth about the man and his politics, I wouldn’t be mad if he shine some positive light my way.
One good tweet about you from Trump and you are on the political map.
