Mean Tweets

 These days one often sees articles or cartoons on conservative web sites listing, usually accurately, various very bad things coming from Biden and his administration and then saying something like “but at least we don’t have any more mean tweets”. The reference to the tweets is intended to stand for the more general notion that usually Republican voters who did not vote for Trump foolishly made a decision based on not caring for his personality instead of the policies and plans of the candidates and got something substantively harmful to themselves to avoid having to put up with something only annoying.  They have a point. Usually while deciding which candidate is the worse human being matters, learning and judging each one’s plans and beliefs is more important in deciding which is the lesser evil. The things the Biden-Harris gang are doing are very bad, and the things they want to do are far worse. But the conservatives are still wrong.  

All along Trump was an arrogant, dishonest, unprincipled jackass and ignoramus who had no business being president. That would have been plain enough if he had never taken to Twitter. The tweets were just something that highlighted the fact. The best reason to have supported him over Hillary Clinton in 2016 was that she seemed to be an at least equally repulsive person, and her plans and policies were worse. He was still the overall lesser evil in terms of policy in 2020. The important question was whether his character, temperament, incompetence, and lack of principles were exceptionally bad enough to make that not matter. I thought they were but realized that the answer was not obvious, and that many thoughtful people disagreed and planned to vote for him. However, his actions after losing the election changed that, and the answer became obvious.  They were inexcusable throughout, and after  December 14^th he was openly behaving as an enemy of the republic.  The country is better with him gone.

His defenders are also wrong as a matter of practical politics. When a person fouls up and makes a really bad decision, it usually is better to admit the mistake and cut losses instead of throwing good money and good effort after bad. Voters in Republican primaries in 2016 made a very bad mistake in selecting Trump over a number of people who were both qualified to be president and able to defeat Hillary Clinton. That decision eventually led to Republicans losing majorities in both houses, losing the presidency, and temporarily losing some of their natural constituency in suburbs.  Trump was not a Reagan or an FDR bringing net numbers of new voters to his party. He brought some in, but he chased many away. He won a squeaker in 2016 against a remarkably unlikeable opponent, led the party to a beating in 2018, and then lost re-election to an elderly, seemingly mentally slipping bungler who scarcely campaigned. That is not much in the way of winning and winning until you get tired of winning. It is time for Republicans to fold ‘em and walk away or even run.  They need to accept that they bet wrong, take their beating, and move on and try to learn from the mistake and win the next time. The Biden gang is giving them an opportunity to do that.