Morning Jolt: The Tired ‘But Pence Might Be Worse’ Argument

One major advantage that President Trump enjoys is that while he has vehement critics on both the left and on the right, it is unlikely the two groups will ever work in tandem for long. The Trump critics on the right generally want a return to pre-Trump conservatism, emphasizing traditional values, personal responsibility, a rejection of isolationism, and a genuine free market and small government with no corporatism. The Trump critics on the left generally want to get rid of everyone to the right of them.

We saw this in the response to Trump's selection of Mike Pence. A lot of Trump critics, myself included, thought the Pence pick was about as solid and reassuring a selection as he could possibly make: he was more experienced, more well-versed in policy, more level-headed than Trump and exponentially more consistently conservative. But to a lot of people on the left, Pence's qualities didn't matter.

To the Left, despite their belief that Trump is a devilish figure and a major threat to destroy the country, Pence is no real improvement -- meaning the Left's problem with Trump is not that he's uniquely crude, ill-informed, erratic, narcissistic, ...

October 16 2017

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The Tired 'But Pence Might Be Worse' Argument Jim Geraghty One major advantage that President Trump enjoys is that while he has vehement critics on both the left and on the right, it is unlikely the two groups will ever work in tandem for long. The Trump critics on the right generally want a return to pre-Trump conservatism, emphasizing traditional values, personal responsibility, a rejection of isolationism, and a genuine free market and small government with no corporatism. The Trump critics on the left generally want to get rid of everyone to the right of them. We saw this in the response to Trump's selection of Mike Pence. A lot of Trump critics, myself included, thought the Pence pick was about as solid and reassuring a selection as he could possibly make: he was more experienced, more well-versed in policy, more level-headed than Trump and exponentially more consistently conservative. But to a lot of people on the left, Pence's qualities didn't matter. To the Left, despite their belief that Trump is a devilish figure and a major threat to destroy the country, Pence is no real improvement -- meaning the Left's problem with Trump is not that he's uniquely crude, ill-informed, erratic, narcissistic, ... READ MORE Put out more flags, &c. Jay Nordlinger The secretary of the interior, Ryan Zinke, has a taste for the showy, or a flair for the dramatic. On his first day in office, he rode to work on a horse. (That was kind of cool, I thought.) And... How Not to Marginalize the Alt-Right Dan McLaughlin How Not to Marginalize the Alt-Right ADVERTISEMENT Getting to Work in Maine Nicholas Horton The state of Maine has long been on the leading edge of welfare reform. Under Governor Paul LePage, it has reformed its food-stamp program by promoting work, resulting in former enrollees' more... A Classical War of Modern Violence Victor Davis Hanson Editor's Note: The Following is the first in a series of excerpts adapted from Victor Davis Hanson's new book The Second World Wars. It appears here with permission.   Some 60 million people... Trump Is Right to End Insurance Subsidies, Wrong on Restricting the Press Jay Cost These days, it is hard to be a constitutionalist. Our system of government is under attack from both the left and the right. Progressives are gnashing their teeth over President Trump's... ADVERTISEMENT Passchendaele: The Lost Victory of World War I Nick Lloyd 'Confirms his position among the best young scholars of WWI in this comprehensively researched, convincingly presented analysis . . . [His] thesis is controversial, but his scholarship makes it impossible to dismiss.' - Publishers Weekly LEARN MORE California Wildfires Chuck Yeager's Supersonic Flight ADVERTISEMENT Follow Us & Share 215 Lexington Ave., New York, NY, 10016, USA Your Preferences | Unsubscribe | Privacy View this e-mail in your browser.