Begun, The War On Conservatives Has

Many conservatives predicted that President Trump, once disappointed at conservatives in Congress failing to go along with his populist program, would turn to Democrats in order to ram through his agenda. It didn’t take long for Trump to open that door. Trump didn’t care much about repealing Obamacare; he spent most of his campaign saying he would repeal Obamacare, but then promising health insurance for everyone. Even during the Trumpcare push, Trump openly stated that the best thing might be to let Obamacare fail on its own terms. Because Trump had little interest in the business of doing the hard slogging necessary to generate a massive health care overhaul, he delegated bill-writing to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who knew that Trump’s legislative ADHD wouldn’t allow him to take too long with the process. So Ryan negotiated with himself, tried to ballpark a bill that could pass both houses of Congress, and ended up with a Frankenstein monster of stupidity combined with a few pieces of good policy. Then Trump pushed. And failed.
Trump and Ryan failed because the policy they pushed didn’t repeal Obamacare – it re-enshrined its central regulations, which conservatives opposed. Trump and Ryan failed because even their good policy changes were opposed by moderate Republicans in Congress.
So, who did Trump blame? Was it Ryan, for pandering to moderates in the Republican caucus? Was it the moderates, who wanted a watered down bill? Was it Trump himself, who made promises that Democrats would have loved, then insisted on Obamacare 2.0 rather than a true free market repeal?
Nope. It was conservatives. You know, the people who actually took the whole “repeal Obamacare” thing seriously. The people who thought that a new entitlement program was a bad idea. The people who didn’t lie to their constituents. Conservatives, the people who brought Republicans their victory in 2010 and 2014, who despised Hillary Clinton so much that they turned out in record numbers for a man noticeably short on conservative credentials in 2016. They’re the problem. Trump himself has fired off only one tweet casting blame for the Trumpcare debacle: This is laughable. Trump doesn’t give two figs about Planned Parenthood – he spent much of the campaign praising them. Heritage and Club for Growth both supported Trump ardently during the election. The top members of the House Freedom Caucus were all Trump campaign stalwarts. But Trump is blaming them. Of course. This is the same guy who said during the election cycle that he didn't care if the Republicans lost the Senate, since that would enable him to work with Democrats. And so White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus blamed the conservatives in the GOP, and then added that Trump could work with the Democrats instead. Avatar for the establishment Hugh Hewitt, a fan of Paul Ryan’s and a bizarrely vacillating fan of President Trump, called the House Freedom Caucus “the Area 51 sub-caucus…which believes in legislative flying saucers that ignore the Senate, and the Senate rules, and the reconciliation rules. They own the loss, nobody else.” And Democrats are eager to split Trump from conservatives: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who has zero interest in working with Trump, is now flirting with Trump, understanding that he can give Trump the run-around without consequence. Schumer accused Trump of being “captured by the hard right” and offered to work with Trump if Trump dumped repeal and tax cuts for high income earners (i.e. the people who pay the vast majority of America’s taxes). Back in March 2016, I wrote this: Trump’s new war on conservatives, cheered by establishment lackeys, was totally predictable. If Trump pursues that war, it’s all downhill for conservatives from here. Which means that conservatives must stand and fight. It’s time to send Trump conservative legislation – make him veto it. Push Ryan to propose legislation that will please conservatives, rather than treating them as an out-group to ignore. If Republicans gained the White House and Congress and Senate only to dump conservative principles in favor of bipartisan mush, they won’t have only blown the most obvious chance of our lifetimes, they’ll have broken all their promises. They’ll deserve to lose.