Being conservative used to be central to my identity. But now, frankly, I don’t give a damn. I prefer to think of myself as a classical liberal, because “conservative” has become practically synonymous with “Trump lackey.”

I remember as a high school student in the 1980s attending a lecture at UCLA by William F. Buckley Jr. I was dazzled by his erudition, wit and oratorical skill. Today, young conservatives flock to the boorish and racist performance art of Milo Yiannopoulos and Ann Coulter. The Conservative Political Action Conference couldn’t find room for critics of Trump, save for the brave and booed Mona Charen, but it did showcase French fascist scion Marion Maréchal-Le Pen.

The career of Dinesh D’Souza is indicative of the downward trajectory of conservatism. He made his name with a well-regarded 1991 book denouncing political correctness and championing liberal education. Then he wrote a widely panned 1995 book claiming that racism was no more, and it was all downhill from there. In 2014 he pleaded guilty to breaking campaign finance laws. Now, as the Daily Beast notes, he has become a conspiratorial crank who has suggested that the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville was staged by liberals, that Barack Obama is a “gay Muslim” and Michelle Obama is a man and that Adolf Hitler, who sent 50,000 homosexuals to prison, “was NOT anti-gay.” He managed to sink even lower last week by mocking stunned Parkland school-shooting survivors after the Florida legislature defeated a bill to ban assault weapons: “Worst news since their parents told them to get summer jobs.”


It is hard to imagine anything more cruel and heartless, but for a bottom-feeder like D’Souza it’s all in a day’s work. As he wrote in his 2002 book “Letters to a Young Conservative,” “One way to be effective as a conservative is to figure out what annoys and disturbs liberals the most, and then keep doing it.” (Thanks to Windsor Mann for the quote.) That, in a nutshell, is the credo of today’s high-profile conservatives: Say anything to “trigger” the “libtards” and “snowflakes.” The dumber and more offensive, the better. Whatever it takes to get on (and stay on) Fox News and land the next book contract!

not sure what ryan and mcconnell are "enabling"...they're trying to cope the best they can with the asshole they're stuck with.

1. Muddying the waters on the Russian meddling in our elections. If Ryan wanted to, he could have stopped Nunes and his memo riddled with falsehoods. Instead, he supported Nunes and Il Douche. He didn't have to; he chose to be an enabler.
   
2. Not imposing sanctions on Russia for the meddling, after Congress passed the imposition of those sanctions with overwhelming majorities last summer. McConnell and Ryan can stand up to Trump in the interest of the nation, but they are choosing to enable his kowtowing to Putin.
   
3. Flouting the White House's own standards on security clearances. Many people in the White House are working without formal security clearances but seeing highly classified information. After all the Republican angst about Clinton's email server, Ryan and McConnell have done nothing to stop this.

Propagandhi711 wrote:it's somewhat amusing to hear you two expecting ppl responsible for keeping their party in power to voluntarily relinquish it to democrats because you want it. not sure what ryan and mcconnell are "enabling"...they're trying to cope the best they can with the asshole they're stuck with. you do realize that a large percentage of those that voted the party into power still want trump in power? if people want to punish them for that, they'll do it in '18 elections. they are concerned with hard realities of being elected into power/governing and dont have the luxury of standing solely on 'principle' like intellectuals.