politics

I’m going to keep pointing this out until it becomes a part of the narrative.

The strategy of prominent Republicans flipping to vote for Harris is specifically designed to help Republicans win Congress.

If Republican voters are demoralized by the prospect of Trump, a lot are going to just stay home and not vote at all. That would lead to a Democratic electoral sweep.

Cheney, George Will and other Republican ghouls’ best option to avoid this is to give permission to their voting base to toss their Presidential vote to Harris, but also get them into the polls so they can be reliable Republican voters down the ticket and try to keep the House and take the Senate.

FFS, quit giving the enemy oxygen.

I'm not sure it's a 'pigs flying' moment. Despite being an ultra-committed conservative, he's been a critic of Trump since the beginning (and other unserious Republicans like Sarah Palin) and voted Democrat in 2016 and 2020 accordingly.

Honestly, fair dues to him. He's from an elder era of more serious politics, and — as incongruent as it may sound when referencing those with a libertarian slant — an injection of that sort of seriousness is exactly what the American right-wing sorely needs. Like with Dick Cheney, I agree with him about virtually nothing — apparently except for the continuation of American democracy that's tragically on the ballot this November.

I wish there were far, far more Republicans willing to act similarly.

Not quite, Will de-registered as a Republican years ago... (checks notes) 2016.

https://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/george-will-leaves-gop-224801

So he's not anti-Conservative or anti-Republican, he's just anti-Trump.

For those too young to remember, there was an era of intellectually honest conservatism. It was led by people like George Will and the late, lamented William F. Buckley Jr.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_F._Buckley_Jr.

Buckley would have shot Trump in the middle of 5th Avenue and gotten away with it.

This really isn't that surprising. The Republican party has become a cult of personality around Trump, putting it at odds with actual, ideological conservatives.

I don't know what Trump's ideology is, or if he even has one. He seems to only believe in his own ambition, for wealth, power, and control.

However, conservativism does lend itself to people like Trump rising to power, because it promotes a central authority and/or aristocracy that preserves tradition, culture, and the established social order. Conservatism doesn't just tolerate social hierarchies, like class, it promotes them, and, in fact conservatism believes that such hierarchies are not only necessary, but natural and essential. It makes sense that malignant narcissists would take advantage of such a system to try and take their "rightful place" at the top of the hierarchies, because they believe that they are inherently superior to everyone else.

I am so confused.

George Will

Who? Has he played a significant role in past elections and I've never noticed?

and baseball fan

Why? Why is this part of this story? It makes me want to care even less. Is that the point?

That guy’s still a cunt.

Will is conservative, but also believes in America, and in Democracy. He knows that Trump is terrible for both of those things. So even though he's going to disagree with Harris on damn near every policy position that she has, he recognizes that she's the far, far better option for the country.

George Will can eat shit.

Was Will ever a Trump supporter? Somehow I thought he was smarter than that, but I haven't read an essay of his in decades.

This is starting to get scary.

Why are all these warhawks endorsing Harris?