S-Q-U-I-S-H
It’s hard enough to know what conservatives mean by socialism or woke. It may be harder still to know these days what they mean by conservative.
Charlie Sykes takes a swag at The Bulwark. He’s not sure anymore, beacuse “what passes for ‘conservatism’ now, in right-wing media and MAGA circles, is not really what Edmund Burke (or J.S. Mill, Milton Friedman, Bill Buckley, George Will, or Charles Krauthammer) had in mind, is it?”
What conservatism is and is not in his estimation (abbreviated here, see post for details):
MAGA “Conservativism” is for a strong national defense…
…except, of course, when it is not.
MAGA “Conservatives” believe in fiscal restraint…
…except when they are in the White House.
“Conservatives” are devoted to the constitution, which must be strictly observed…
… except when it needs to be scrapped in order to hold onto power.
MAGA “Conservatives” believe in “American Exceptionalism”…
…except when they are lavishing praise on foreign leaders like Viktor Orban, or (as I wrote earlier this week) wishing that we could be more like the Philippines, or China, in our willingness to kill suspected criminals.
Conservatives used to support resistance to Russian aggression…
…but MAGA “Conservatives” are now Vladmir Putin’s most useful idiots.
MAGA “Conservatives” are against Affirmative Action…
…except when they need to win a senate seat.
MAGA “Conservatives” are all about “law and order”…
…except when they say screw it.
One almost waxes nostalgic for the days when conservatism was more concerned with the efficiency of libertarian “getting and spending” and in defending “the unchanging ground of our changing experience.”
Nowadays, conservatism means clown shows for armed, authoritarian cultists prone to violence who oppose any change that means they must share this nation of immigrants with people who “ain’t from around here” and who hold radical, “un-American” notions like “created equal” and equal treatment under law.