Thread by @willchamberlain

I'm just going to spend the next hour picking apart everything wrong - and contemptible - about this thread, because everything about it screams "THIS IS WHY TRUMP WON"

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1069396210409250816

Let's start with the opener. Nichols argues that "it's no longer possible to indulge the pretense that [the white working class's] concerns are economic - or fixable."

First - I have no idea who thought that the white working class's concerns were purely economic.

The opioid epidemic, life expectancy going down, out-of-wedlock marriages - these are all cultural issues.

In fact, the disappearance of jobs is as much a cultural issue as an economic one - without stable jobs, it's hard to have stable families, which is key to community

Next, he suggests that Trump's presidency proves the concerns of the white working class aren't "fixable."

Given that the one legislative achievement of unified GOP government was tax cuts, this is ridiculous. Nothing's even been tried!

Next, we have this horrifying straw man of what the Trump base wants.

Imagine the kind of contempt you have to have for an entire class of people to project this belief system on to them.

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1069396211105480704

Next, we have a bizarre defense of Rubin/Boot/Wilson.

Nichols lives in an alternate universe, where Rubin and Boot haven't done complete 180s on a slew of policy issues to fit in with their new party.

Also, as an aside:

Switch parties, @RadioFreeTom.

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1069396211944296449

To follow up, we have this absolutely contemptible tweet. There are a number of things to pick apart here.

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1069396212741222400

First, the contrast between his "superpower" foreign policy, and the "defeatist" foreign policy he ascribes to Trump and the nationalists he loathes.

1) Labeling anyone's foreign policy as "defeatist" is stupid - it's pure venom, no one wants to lose

2) If you think is defeat is bad, maybe the fact that your foreign policy has been chalking up Ls in wars for nearly two decades is something to consider

3) Trump just straight-up defeated ISIS

4) "Superpower" foreign policy is also content-free

Really, the dichotomy is "imperialist" foreign policy vs. "nationalist" foreign policy, to borrow from the great @yhazony

We all think the US is a superpower

The question is - should our foreign policy be focused on spreading our values or protecting our interests?

Nichols would have you think Trump's nationalist foreign policy is "defeatist"

THAT IS WHY TRUMP WON

Trump told Jeb! in a nationally televised debate that his brother lied us into Iraq, and then crushed him and everyone else toeing the imperialist line

Nichols says "well, that means you aren't really conservative, and we are"

Says who?

The conservative base told you that your liberal imperialism is not conservative, and you are desperately hanging on to 2003-era political definitions to win the point

Second, Nichols' description of white working class voters "looking to Daddy" to solve all their problems is just totally contemptible

This complete lack of care for one's fellow citizens isn't remotely conservative, it's just "let them eat cake" elitism

Also think about the emptiness of Nichols' point here

"Drugs and out-of-wedlock marriages destroying your community? Well, just stop doing drugs and get married, you knuckle-dragging fools!"

Like, maybe government should TRY to do something about this?

At a minimum, figure out how government policy has contributed to this problem - and then fix it?

For example, by considering the employment-related impacts of free trade and uncontrolled immigration, and advocating policy change?

To get back to the thesis - this is why Trump won.

Tom Nichols: "Hi white working class! Your lives are shit because you are shit and government can't do anything to help you. Vote GOP!"

Trump: "Uh, maybe build the wall, and get better trade deals?"

Not a hard choice

Next - “pushing this line diminishes agency and responsibility!”

That’s not an excuse for ignoring the impact of policies that have hurt a class of people broadly.

If Bannon we’re making it all up working class wages wouldn’t have stagnated

https://twitter.com/radiofreetom/status/1069396213525561349?s=21

Two things to critique here: the indictment of "small-town populism" and the description of conservatives as having a particular temperament

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1069396214314090504

These "ignorant, self-pitying, insecure nationalists" are the families whose kids serve in the military and fight our wars

Because they are nationalists and patriots

Nichols cavalierly demands they fight wars for his "superpower foreign policy" while dismissing them as rubes

Next, the temperament argument

Conservatism isn't a temperament, it's an ideology

And "prudence and stoicism" in defense of that ideology has led to the left crushing the culture wars for thirty years

The modern conservative right isn't defeatist

We're here to win

This tweet is hysterical and contemptible at the same time

Nichols concedes that conservatives historically were too indifferent to the struggles of others

His entire thread is about why it's good to be indifferent to the white working class

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1069396214989430786

Also note that this critique says that conservatives, at their best, are basically slow liberals, providing "prudence and judgment" to balance out aggressive liberalism

Turns out conservatives want to do more than achieve liberal goals slowly

We want nationalism

More of the same dismissiveness of the Trump base, and indifference to their struggles

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1069396215626956800

Again, this casual assumption that the white working class is racist

Horrible

Iowa went for Obama, then went for Trump

This idea that they hate the idea of a woman or a black president is Occupy Democrats level dumb

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1069396216583200768

"The white working class just fears immigrants irrationally!"

Yes, very conservative to reduce concerns about immigration to racism, that's not at all a leftist tactic

For someone who's angry about being told to switch parties you sure do act like a Democrat

For once, a semi-accurate tweet

"Generation Fox" will not "figure it out," in the sense of deciding that Nichols et al. were right all along and restoring them to positions of power and influence in the conservative movement

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1069396217329786880

And because "Generation Fox" didn't figure it out, they will have to be crushed at the polls

This sounds familiar

GOPe types have been demanding the electoral destruction of Trumpism for two years

News flash: It won't work

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1069396217979908096

And, again, characterizing their ideology as "mindless ethno-nationalism" is such a stupid trope

"Vote for Trump? You're actually a fan of Richard Spencer."

Persuasive

"This is no longer a rational political debate"

Nichols ends his rant like many of my freshman college debaters did after a loss

"I didn't really lose! The judge is just crazy!"

Cool story bro

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1069396220064514049

Ok I'm done