One of the best ways to understand a person’s state of mind about politics is to ask him whether he thinks that a politician he generally disagrees with has ever done anything good. Is there one decision or policy he favors? Just one? If the answer is “no,” you know you’re dealing with someone who’s so blinded by and obsessed with hatred that he can’t possibly be taken seriously. About anything.
Case in point: a Twitter conversation I had today with Doug Mataconis, who blogs at Outside The Beltway, a once respectable and much respected conservative-libertarian blog. Doug started it all by tweeting out that he has lived through 10 presidents — “Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43, Obama and Trump — and the current Potus is without question the worst.”
I've lived through 10 Presidents — Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan , Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43, Obama and Trump — and the current @POTUS is without question the worst.
— Doug Mataconis (@dmataconis) November 2, 2019
One John Powers responded to that by writing, “Remember all those Never Obamas and Never Bushers who fled their party en masse? Yeah, me neither.”
Remember all those Never Obamas and Never Bushers who fled their party en masse? Yeah, me neither.
— John Powers (@ReportingfromNY) November 2, 2019
To which Doug responded that there were also no Never Reagan or Never Clinton movements because “none of these men had the obvious contempt for political norms, decency, the Rule of Law, our allies, and American national interests that Trump has demonstrated. And none of them were as plainly indecent.”
That latter remark is rather telling. After all, Nixon was basically a political version of The Godfather, and Lyndon B. Johnson was known — then and now — to be a) extremely racist and b) incredibly rude.
I pointed that out in a short tweet.
You’d think that Doug would agree, but no. Instead, he stepped it up a notch.
LBJ was at least decent at domestic policy. Without him we would not have had the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the Voting Rights Act.
— Doug Mataconis (@dmataconis) November 2, 2019
LBJ, Doug wrote, was at least “decent at domestic policy. Without him, we would not have had the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the Voting Rights Act.”
I responded, “As for decency: LBJ was a monster. The only difference was that media were less big back then and he got away [with it].”
https://twitter.com/MichaelvdGalien/status/1190612777850851331
In that last tweet, I also told Doug that “it’s difficult to argue that ALL of Trump’s policies are bad. Even his most passionate detractors will admit he has done some things they are happy with.”
Oh no, Doug wrote: “Name one. From my point of view, I don’t see anything good, decent, or honorable about Trump.”
Name one. From my point of view I don't see anything good, decent, or honorable about Trump.
— Doug Mataconis (@dmataconis) November 2, 2019
“Not one policy, not one rule that he abolished, nothing good? Anywhere? Doug, that tells me more about your state of mind than it tells me about Trump,” I responded, after which I listed some of Trump’s accomplishments: “Lowest unemployment African Americans. Lowest unemployment Hispanics. Lowest unemployment women. Some great deregulation. Lowest marg. tax rate for small businesses in decades, coal exports have exploded, and so on. It’s seriously ridiculous to state he has done ‘nothing good.'”
https://twitter.com/MichaelvdGalien/status/1190626436014657536
And that’s when it became clear to me that NeverTrumpers truly suffer from some kind of derangement syndrome. Here’s Doug’s response:
The regulatory repeal was accomplished by Congress, not Trump. It would have happened with any Republican President. Same goes for the Judges, and I can't say I'm entirely thrilled with all his choices there to begin with. And his foreign policy has been pandering to dictators.
— Doug Mataconis (@dmataconis) November 2, 2019
Our conversation continued:
I disagree completely. Every day Trump is in office the damage done to this nation gets progressively worse.
— Doug Mataconis (@dmataconis) November 2, 2019
https://twitter.com/MichaelvdGalien/status/1190627006012166145
And then, suddenly, Doug wrote this:
Do you get your marching orders from Alex Jones or Breitbart? Either way, you're revealing your insanity,
— Doug Mataconis (@dmataconis) November 2, 2019
“Do you get your marching orders from Alex Jones or Breitbart? Either way, you’re revealing your insanity,” Mr. Sane wrote.
Really? I am pointing out that there must be one thing Trump did that he thought was good, and when he insists that he can’t, I am the one who’s insane?
He ended the conversation by hurriedly firing off three tweets in which he attacked me personally:
Facts are facts, MAGA-troll.
— Doug Mataconis (@dmataconis) November 2, 2019
And if you support Trump you need to stop calling yourself a "Libertarian" like it says in your Twitter bio.
— Doug Mataconis (@dmataconis) November 2, 2019
In any case, I'm done trying to lead you to reality this morning. Have a good day.
— Doug Mataconis (@dmataconis) November 2, 2019
This is the true face of the entire NeverTrump movement. NeverTrumpers have truly completely lost it. You’ve got the lowest unemployment rates among ethnic minorities in history; the median household income has hit the highest level ever recorded; small businesses have the lowest marginal tax rate in decades; many useless but expensive regulations have been abolished; coal exports have increased by 60 percent; manufacturing jobs “grew at the fastest rate in 23 years,” as the Washington Post (of all places) points out; Trump has appointed Gina Haspel as the CIA’s first female director; under his leadership, the U.S. has passed Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world’s top oil producer… he has pulled out of the idiotic Iran deal… and he has gotten some great judges appointed.
Yet, NeverTrumpers — who always call themselves either libertarian or conservative — can’t point out one policy or decision by Trump that they like. Sad.
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