Thread by @cdrsalamander

There is a sub set of 202-conservatives I’ve been watching, perplexed, my entire life. They were omnipresent when I became politically aware in the 80s. They were happy & content being the minority. They would constantly position themselves to do & say things not to advance /1

...the conservative cause, but to have nice things said about them from their “opponents” across the aisle, the WaPo, the evening news, or maybe the NYT. Whenever possible, they insisted to their friends across the aisle they were not “that” kind of conservative. Oh, no. They /2

...were friendly & compliant. They just wanted to work with you, not try to take your power. What became “the base” of the conservative movement believed & trusted their 202-conservative betters. They were always told that they had to give them power in order to have a winning /3

...majority. The 202-conservatives demanded unswerving loyalty to campaigns run by people like Steve Schmidt & Mike Murphy who held them in contempt. The last straw for the base was throwing in with the ‘08 and ‘12 campaigns where the top of the ticket acted at crucial /4

...moments that they didn’t want to fight & win. They would pause campaigns while the other party continued to fight hard. It passively stood by & let unchallenged a partisan press’s manipulations. Where the base wanted a champion to fight & win, it seemed instead the /5

...202-conservatives were more interested in being good losers so after the election their friends would tell them how honorable they fought. Then, after both elections were lost, they saw their former champions who they showed such obedience to with their support, showed them/6

...mutual respect & fidelity afterwords; they sneered & smeared the base & those they liked. They apologized to the other party for having to say & push policies to “appease their base” during the election.

That was it. 2016 came around & as game-spots-game, those who thought/7

...they were entitled to rule focused on each other (see Jeb!/Murphy vs. Rubio) & ignored the rube who was out there fighting & showing contempt to those who showed the base such contempt. As the high-functioning (full disclosure, I went from Walker/Rubio/Cruz through the /8

...campaign) destroyed each other in a narcissistic display of entitled pettiness, there was one person left to stand against the only (D) candidate that everyone liked the least, HRC. Trump had his core & the day of battle, the reluctant auxiliaries joined the line.

So, here /9

...I am this AM reading the absolute state of what was once a major part of “my” part of the Party. Yea, me - the pro-gay, pro-weed, libertarian, left-wing of the Southern Baptist Convention (OK, Great Commission Baptists), Pawlenty/Walker/read “The Dream & the Nightmare: /10

... The Sixties’ Legacy to the Underclass,” prior to the ‘00 election because GWB recommended it part of the party. Just look at the supine Bulwarkism, Lincoln (sic) Project delusionists, & others this AM. They are more interested in showing what nice losers they are than /11

...remembering what politics in a nation of laws is about; power checking power. Within the laws, there is no greater good by not doing legal actions that, if the roles were reversed, your opponent would unquestionably do.

There are a lot of good, smart, & honorable /12

...conservatives out there who are praying for Trump to leave power. He may leave in under 6 months. He may be in power longer - but the conservative cause will continue. If for whatever reason Trump is having on you the effect that you spend more time begging for approval /13

...from the opponent’s trenches at critical junctures in the fight, I’ve got sad news for you; when the Trumpian phase of the battle is over, you can’t just return to the conservative lines. Having no more use, your new friends will expel & mock you. Even if you fully adopt /14

...all their sect’s beliefs, you will never be trusted & if anything, will be a pet or object of pity. Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland enjoyed a better reward for his treachery.

So, here we are. So strange. So, 2020.

BT