Conservative William Kristol: 'We're really going to pay a price

[elleng]

for this terrible failure in leadership’

*You’ve become a prominent member of the resistance with Never Trumpers, Republicans for the Rule of Law, Meeting of the Concerned. Is that a role you could have imagined for yourself earlier in your career?

I think I've always had a kind of heterodox or contrarian streak. I think I've usually been willing to stand up to the powers that be, to some degree. But I don't like it, honestly, when people overdo how difficult and noble this is or something. I mean, God knows, in the big scheme of things, it's nothing compared to what millions of people have done across the world in standing up for their beliefs against leaders and governments. And, in a way, being free from that kind of orthodoxy has been somewhat liberating.

We hear a lot about the difference between Republicans’ private vs. public views of President Trump. As someone in a small minority of the party who has spent the past few years trying to rally fellow Republicans, fellow conservatives, to stand up to him, have you been surprised by that?

I have been surprised by the total capitulation to Trump. I never liked the, Well, in private, they say this. I mean, at some point, that is not an excuse; it’s almost meaningless. People’s behavior in public, if you’re a public official, is your behavior. It really came to a head on impeachment, where we fought hard trying to get Republicans to do the right thing and failed entirely, except for Romney. I think that brought home to me, and should have brought home to everyone, that Republican members of Congress should get zero credit for saying things in private that they’re not willing to say in public. At least the true believers believe it, right? I mean, is going along really a more admirable stance? Is being a cynical apparatchik better than being a true believer?

But, yeah, I guess I am a little depressed by the failure of civic and political courage in standing up to Trump. We're not back in Germany. We're not in the Soviet Union. We're not even in Hungary, in Venezuela. I mean, what are you really putting on the line?'>>>

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/conservative-willliam-kristol-were-really-going-to-pay-a-price-for-this-terrible-failure-in-leadership/2020/05/11/16a87c84-7818-11ea-b6ff-597f170df8f8_story.html?

[KG]

1. another soulless ghoul. piss on him anyway.

[Mike Nelson]

2. I think...

... what some of them are "putting on the line" is considerable wealth and power.

[ms liberty]

3. An interesting interview. K&R. n/t

[Scarsdale]

4. He was one of the biggest

cheerleaders for Palin! Couldn't he see how dumb she is? WHY do republicns always pick the least intelligent people as "leaders"? Where were these people when tRump was being lionized daily before the election? We all saw the danger, yet could not believe people would be STUPID enough to vote for the con man. Now that the country has been brought to its' knees, these "patriots" are speaking out? Too little, too late.

[machoneman]

5. My reply: it was all about it's control. In the past, the Republiscum party picked terribly....

...under-educated or, as you stated, the least intelligent people as 'leaders". By doing so the Party (capitalized to denote senior R-scums, big business donors, think tanks, et al) wanted to control the agenda or more broadly, their platform.

Think about Reagan. He was as pliant a president as Geo. Bush II. Both went along with the senior R-scums players needs and wants in almost every case. Bush I was the only intelligent R-scum president since maybe Eisenhower. Yet even Bush 1 went along with the platform's agenda on rich over poor, business over labor, greed versus environmental stewardship, pro-life over choice....you name it.

Palin you say? She would have been, for them, a perfect pick since they could fill her empty head (!) with all their desires and controlled her legislative actions just like the puppeteers they are. Ah, but they misfired in Trump! Now, the tables have been turned and they (gulp!) have learned too late that the monster has been unleashed, they are on the other end and he pulls their strings now. By giving in and even voting against his impeachment and removal, they will now reap the whirlwind, so to speak. And it is way too late for them to save the soul of the Republican (sorry, had to say it this one time) Party or their jobs, the Senate majority, any hope of ever getting a House majority for the next 12-16 years or so and the real prize, the Presidency.

Vote for Biden!

[dalton99a]

6. +1