3016 Sept 7^th

Today we have a column from Patrick J. Buchanan. From my perspective, it is lovely to have a well that never runs dry. Buchanan memorializes the late Phyllis Schlafly whose most recent book appeared in bookstores the day after she died. The title of Ms. Schlafly’s book was “The Conservative Case for Trump.”  The book, published by Regnery a publisher noted for supporting conservative rants, has a tough sell if it wishes to convert many conservatives into believing that Donald Trump is a conservative.

Schlafly’s first book, a self-published work backing Barry Goldwater for president, sold 3 million copies, largely as a result of Schlafly’s personal efforts. Goldwater carried only six states in the election of 1964, but Schlafly was encouraged enough to persist in her activities to keep women in their traditional rolls and thus to enthusiastically oppose the equal rights amendment, which Buchanan is convinced, she singlehandedly defeated. (The Dallas Morning News, an ultra-conservative newspaper has refused to back Trump for president and has encouraged its readers to vote for Clinton. The last time the Dallas Morning News refuse to back a Republican presidential nominee was when Goldwater ran against President Johnson.)

Trump’s position on many issues dear to conservatives is unclear. But then most of Trump’s positions on issues he has addressed are unclear, or if they are clear they are subject to change depending upon his audience and the phase of the moon.

Consider global warming: The conservative’s position on this issue is very clear; it is a hoax. Dr. Carson, the noted neurosurgeon and Trump supporter thinks it is a hoax and so does Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma who brought a snowball into the senate chamber to provide definitive proof that global warming didn’t exist.  Who says you can’t be a senator and a scientist at the same time?

Trump agrees; he has called global warming “bullshit” and a hoax. On the other hand he wants to build a seawall to protect parts of his Scottish golf course from the rising North Sea water level and the erosion caused by … guess what, global warming! He specifically mentions global warming as the reason his petition to build a protective seawall should be approved.

Buchanan tells us that, “Free trade dogma comes out of the party of Wilson and FDR not the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt.” Pat must know that that Republican champion Ronald Reagan was all for free trade and all for open borders. But of course Pat won’t admit it.

Here is a Reagan eulogy by Daniel Griswold of the Atlantic in 2004:

“In the many eulogies to Ronald Reagan since his passing, virtually all acknowledge his role in defeating Soviet communism and reviving America’s self-confidence. But another aspect of Reagan’s record that should not be forgotten was his commitment to keeping America open to trade and immigration.

Reagan’s vision of an America open to commerce and peaceful, hardworking immigrants contradicts the anti-trade and anti-immigration views espoused by Lou Dobbs, Bill O’Reilly, Pat Buchanan, Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, and many others who claim to speak for the conservative causes Reagan largely defined.

Reagan’s heart and head were clearly on the side of free trade. While president, he declared in 1986: ‘Our trade policy rests firmly on the foundation of free and open markets. I recognize … the inescapable conclusion that all of history has taught: The freer the flow of world trade, the stronger the tides of human progress and peace among nations.’”

This doesn’t fit at all with Buchanan’s view of conservatism so of course he refuses to acknowledge it.