Michael Brendan Dougherty: Was It For This?

I argued with Michael Brendan Dougherty for months about this:

“Was this what you bargained for?

Donald Trump is softening on NAFTA. His advisers are trying to talk him down from any substantial trade conflict with China. He agrees, absentmindedly, with Dianne Feinstein on immigration legislation, betraying that he has no clue what his own policy might be, or a legislative strategy to achieve it. …

Where’s the Trumpian revision of foreign affairs? American policy in the Middle East still seems to have a “made in Riyadh” label underneath it. Our troops are in Syria without legal mandate, and without the enemy, ISIS, being routed there. Same old wars. The only new thing is the depth of incompetence in the diplomatic corps, who insult our allies.

Instead of an industrial policy, and a national medical system that takes care of “everyone” as he promised, Trump has delivered an enormous corporate tax cut. …

But the returns are in for the populists, and I have to ask, are you really putting up with all the embarrassments of the Trump presidency for a “mirror tax” in Canadian lumber?

Trump’s governing style makes Mitt Romney seem like the real populist firebrand. It was Romney who advocated self-deportation for those who could not legally work in America. It was Romney who seemed determined to confront China over state policies that harm the American worker. …”

No, it wasn’t for this.

I don’t have any problem admitting that I was wrong about Donald Trump. I only supported the “America First” policies on trade, immigration and foreign policy. I never cared about the cult of personality. My first impression of Trump in 2011 was that he was a rogue billionaire and a vain opportunist who could potentially inflict a lot of damage on the system.

I also considered the possibility that Donald Trump was a con artist. At the end of the day, I concluded that it really didn’t matter because if he betrayed his own supporters he would have advanced the cause of nationalism and populism while opening himself up to devastating criticism on that basis. He would have also damaged conservatism and proven that it is impossible to reform the system.

The situation we are in now is probably the most destabilizing. The Trump presidency has shown the futility of “Taking Back America” or “Making America Great Again.” You can vote for reform, win the election, but it doesn’t matter because the policies don’t change. The donors control both parties and unelected judges can always be counted on to shoot down legislative victories.

Anyway, that’s why I am a secessionist. Hopefully, more people will come around to our point of view. Voting for the Republican Party isn’t going to change the status quo. We’re going to continue to thrash around for a while in tantrum elections until things get really interesting.

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5 Comments

  1. And I’m still waiting for someone to actually start a secessionist movement that has some teeth-you know, like Civil War II? Chittum laid it all out, decades ago. So did Raspail… And yet Germany is becoming Muslim, and France is becoming Africa. What the hell are you guys waiting for?

    Charlottesville was a pale imitation of what should’ve been going on for the last 20 years, back when I was young enough to have joined someone who was willing to die for America, and not Vietnam- or Iraq.

    But C’ville has not resulted in anything, except the knowledge that it is now basically too late to stand up for “America.” The 1960s Commies, faggots, hippies, and other unwashed hordes, (read Jews) have destroyed this land. This nation, I guess, has to go, because it is no longer the nation it once was..

    And so, are we going to sit and talk about this to death, on various blogs and websites for the rest of my life? It would appear so. This older man is fast losing hope for the land of my birth. You complain about the ‘boomers’ having destroyed culture. But I don’t see anything happening with the Gen X or the Gen Z or whatever else you guys call yourselves, that would give boomers hope.

    The Jews have succeeded in basically atomizing everyone of us, to the point that none of us can join together, to fight for the common good. Perhaps America has to die, in order for White Christendom to live. I don’t know. I’m just observing.

    I could honestly say that for many of us, Trump is our last hope. But then, we should’ve heeded the words of Scripture in the first place-“put not your trust in princes.”

    Even a prince of Wall Street.
    Dear Lord, deliver us.

    • I fell like you do. It’s very discouraging. I also believe that secession is just another stupid “thing we should be doing”. If we can’t control immigration how are we going to succeed?

      The real question is how do we get rid of the Jews? It would be nice if we could get rid of them peacefully but for us to survive they must go. I’m afraid violence may be the only way to get them to go. They will sure never shrink from using violence. Us, not so much.

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