Difference between revisions of "Token conservative"

Revision as of 03:52, June 11, 2019

The term "token conservative" describes the lip service paid by the mainstream, liberal media to so-called fairness. The typical offering from the mainstream media is a single moderate, so-called "conservative" speaker, reporter, columnist among hundreds of fellow liberal employees. This person's view is almost exclusively "New World" moderate-to-liberal and they usually find more in common with their liberal counterparts than with real American conservatives. On occasion, a single true conservative such as Jeffrey Lord finds employment with the mainstream media, but it never lasts because of their commitment to real conservative viewpoints. The liberal media demands that they hire their brand of "conservative" – one that will attack real conservatives. In some cases, token "conservatives" have voiced opinions even more left-wing than those of commentators who admit being on the Left.

The liberal media often promotes token conservatives, portraying them as actual conservatives but never promoting movement conservatives,^[1] even though they are in the extreme minority of the Republican Party.^[2] Token conservatives are largely synonymous with the "Never Trump movement", which the liberal media frequently promotes as "conservative" voices despite their irrational rejection of President Trump and his conservative policies.^[3]

M. Stanton Evans, an icon of the conservative movement, once said that "The trouble with conservatives is that too many of them come to Washington thinking they are going to drain the swamp, only to discover that Washington is a hot tub."^[4]

Token Conservative views and personalities

• New York Times—David Brooks

Brooks supports homosexual "marriage"^[5] and abortion.^[6] He strongly opposes Donald Trump,^[7] even calling him "an agent of incompetence,"^[8] and considered the far-left elitist Hillary Clinton to be more "competent" and "normal" than Trump.^[9] On the Senate floor, left-wing Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid gave Brooks accolades for denouncing Republicans as "not normal".^[10] In October 2017, Brooks stated that "My own view on [gun control] is that we should probably pass all the gun control measures that are talked about, whether it’s the gun shows, whether it’s limiting the number you can buy"; Brooks stated this despite admitting in the same interview that he doubted that these measures would be effective in actually stopping gun violence.^[11] In 2019, Brooks endorsed Kamala Harris for president.^[12] In March 2019, he endorsed the concept of racial reparations.^[13]

• New York Times—Ross Douthat

According to The New York Times, Douthat’s writing “steers away from partisanship — he frequently criticizes Republicans — or doctrine."

Douthat said "'I’m sort of a squishy pro-lifer,' interested in finding areas of compromise." In May 2017, he called for conservative U.S. President Donald Trump's impeachment, not because of any "high crimes and misdemeanors," which Douthat admitted Trump did not commit, but because Trump was supposedly unfit to serve.^[14] He called on establishment RINO Republicans such as Bob Corker to impeach Trump if they were serious about their criticisms about him.^[15] However, Douthat was honest enough to admit that President Trump's foreign policy had been successful.^[16]

• Newsweek, The Atlantic, CNN, The Daily Beast—David Frum

David Frum, who voiced relatively conservative views prior to around the later part of the Bush II presidency, shifted strongly to the Left after the election of Obama in 2008. Among his left-wing positions, he supports the immoral practice of homosexual "marriage" and believes it is not a threat to family stability.^[17] He also believes that human-caused global warming is real and a threat, something which opens the window for massive government regulations.^[18] In addition, he voted for Hillary Clinton – a left-wing globalist – over conservative Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election^[19] and later called for President Trump to resign.^[20]

"What is irrational is the failure of conservatives and Republicans to perceive the divergence between Fox’s interests and their own." ^[21]

Rush Limbaugh Is "A Walking Stereotype Of Self-Indulgence" ^[22]

Speaking about Palin, “This is a woman who has got into a position of leadership by sending very powerful sexual signals,” Frum told reporter Judy Woodruff. “And we see that in the way that men like her much more than women do.”

In November 2017, Frum stated that "the worst mistakes that press organizations have made in the coverage of Trump has precisely occurred in their effort — their overzealous effort to be fair to the president,"^[23] despite the media clearly being anti-Trump.^[24]

• MSNBC—Joe Scarborough

"..how conservative the Republican Party's become, they've got it backwards. We have not been conservative as a party, we've been radical."^[25]

Scarborough wrote a book titled The Last Best Hope: Restoring Conservatism and America's Promise. To promote the release he visited numerous left-leaning media outlets and trashed well known conservatives, including Rush Limbaugh, Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich.^[26]

In 2017, Scarborough called for U.S. President Donald Trump to resign, in line with anti-Trump liberals.^[27] He also defended CNN after a damaging scandal in which it promoted a retracted anti-Trump fake news story in order to increase its ratings.^[28] Ironically, despite their constant attacks against Trump – many of them being deeply personal attacks – Scarborough hypocritically criticized "the entire mainstream media" for being "reflexively anti-Trump on all things."^[29] In December 2018, he claimed Trump was "the worst president in modern times, and perhaps ever."^[30]

In July 2017, Scarborough displayed his true political views by finally leaving the GOP.^[31] He made this switch official on October 12, 2017.^[32] In 2017, Scarborough responded to a false story by The Hill by saying that "despite the stupidity of my former party, there is no inner liberal inside of me. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) My party just went bats*** crazy."^[33] In July 2018, he stated that the GOP "no longer deserves to survive."^[34]

• New York Times (formerly, The Wall Street Journal)—Bret Stephens

Supporter of globalist "free trade" and open borders. He has stated that "the party of Donald Trump" is related to "exclusion, fear, and bigotry", and that conservatives must "admire" the elites, who are "educated" and care about "culture" and the "cultivation of the human soul."^[35] He also stated that "real Americans are screwing up America" and should deport themselves.^[35] In October 2017, Stephens called for repealing the Second Amendment (a position even more left-wing than that voiced by most liberals), saying that "I have never understood the conservative fetish for the Second Amendment."^[36] In a February 2018 interview with an MSNBC host, Stephens agreed with her that the Second Amendment is a "so-called" right.^[37] Unable to accept the fact that a conservative like Steve Bannon (who had spoken at a dinner by the Zionist Organization of America which has very good relations with him) is very pro-Israel and not an "antisemite", Stephens continued his attempt to smear Bannon and deny Bannon's actual views.^[38] In December 2017, Stephens admitted that although he agreed with – at least – most of Trump's policy decisions so far, he still wished that Hillary Clinton had been elected because he did not like Trump's personality.^[39] In March 2018, Stephens wrote an op-ed praising globalism and mocking its conservative opponents.^[40]

• CNN—Ana Navarro

Originally considered a "Republican strategist" for establishment pro-migration RINOs such as the Bush family and Marco Rubio,^[41][42] she voted for Clinton in the 2016 presidential election^[43] and donated over $18,000 to prominent Democrats, including Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Robert Menendez between 1997 and 2017.^[44] She is very anti-Trump.^[45] Despite condemning President Trump for calling the violent gang MS-13 "animals",^[46] she herself called the president an "animal"^[47] and "unfit to be human."^[48] She claimed Trump's conservative immigration policies were somehow "racist",^[49] and condemned Trump for pardoning conservative sheriff Joe Arpaio.^[50] He has good relations with Bill Clinton and has failed to criticize him for his mistreatment of women despite condemning others for the same actions, even if only alleged.^[51][52] She even said that Michelle Wolf should receive the Nobel Peace Prize after she delivered a hate-filled and bigoted speech directed at Trump and his administration.^[53] In January 2019, Navarro praised left-wing Democrat Kamala Harris after she announced her 2020 presidential campaign.^[54][55]

• CNN and The Daily Beast—Matt Lewis

Strongly opposes President Trump and said that his voters are "a**es."^[56]

• MSNBC—Steve Schmidt

Although referred to as a "Republican strategist", he is not a conservative. He has condemned true conservatives such as Steve Bannon^[57] while claiming conservative and pro-American immigration policies and rhetoric are "racist" and "nativist."^[58] He supports same-sex "marriage".^[59] He opposed President Trump's historic decision to move the embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, something many presidents promised and failed to do, by saying that "there will be blood on his hands."^[60] He has mocked mainstream evangelical Christian pastors (and showed his bigotry and intolerance of them) by calling them "theocratic nutjob preachers."^[60] He detests the conservative media, including Fox News^[61] and Breitbart News.^[62] In June 2018, Schmidt finally admitted his true political orientation by announcing he would leave the Republican Party and begin voting for Democrats, and he called for the Democrats to retake Congress.^[63] He was considering helping Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz – "his longtime client" – or another Democrat run a potential 2020 presidential campaign.^[64]

• Washington Post—Jennifer Rubin

Rubin writes a blog titled "Right Turn", but the only direction she goes is Left. She sounds like a leftist Democrat in her blog posts. She calls the Republican Party a "party of all white, angry, abusive men"^[65] and during the 2016 election she has attacked Donald Trump (who is much more bold for conservative issues than RINOs like Romney or McCain, which she likely supports), likely, in every single blog post she has made, even in the general election and after the election when Trump won.^[66] Although President Trump's cabinet was rated as being even more conservative than that of Ronald Reagan,^[67] Rubin claims that it "is perhaps the worst in modern history."^[68] She opposes conservative Judge Roy Moore due to his conservative and Christian positions,^[69][70] and she calls liberal globalist Evan McMullin a "conservative" while admitting she does not belong in the conservative Republican Party.^[71] She mocks conservative evangelical Christians, calling them "evangelical charlatans", and she borrows leftist attack lines against conservative Republicans.^[72] She supports the homosexual agenda.^[73] She hates Fox News because she believes it is conservative, and she denies that extremely talented and credible journalists such as Tucker Carlson are either.^[74][75] She states "What’s good for Fox is not good for the GOP or the country. Perhaps a credible center-right TV news operation is needed" (one should note that her vision of "center-right" news closely resembles leftist scams such as MSNBC).^[75] She genuinely believes that Fox's commentators are "racist", despite having no real evidence, other than the fact that they oppose Barack Obama and actually defended Donald Trump (of course, will she say the same thing about similar statements from the Left?).^[76] She advocates for "center-right" politics (whatever that even means) but attacks solid conservatives. In February 2018, Rubin, along with fellow WaPo token "conservative" Max Boot, finally admitted she was not actually a conservative,^[77] and in October 2018, several real conservatives asked WaPo to stop describing Rubin as "conservative" because of her left-wing policies on every political issue.^[78] In June 2018, Rubin endorsed an op-ed written by boot calling for giving amnesty for illegal aliens and deporting "contemptible Republican cowards."^[79] In January 2019, Rubin claimed that left-wing Nancy Pelosi "sounds more like Ronald Reagan" than the Republican Party.^[80] Rubin praised left-wing Democrat Kamala Harris after she announced her 2020 presidential campaign.^[54]

• Washington Post—Max Boot

Strongly anti-Trump. Blatant opportunist who has no sincere political values.^[81] Admitted in February 2018 that he was no longer actually conservative.^[77] He claimed the GOP under President Trump was somehow "white-nationalist party" and called for far-left Democrats to take over Congress.^[82][83] He supports affirmative action and has used left-wing arguments to defend it.^[84] He praised Barack Obama and his presidency, despite its many left-wing policies, claiming that it "appears to be a lost golden age when reason and morality reigned" and that "I would take Obama back in a nanosecond."^[85] He has directly borrowed left-wing attacks against conservatives, such as claiming they are somehow "racist."^[86] Boot has associated himself with anti-Trump porn star Stormy Daniels.^[87] Boot moved so far away from conservatism that he eventually repudiated conservatism itself and was even criticized by other Never-Trumpers such as Jonah Goldberg.^[88] Boot called for firing conservative Tucker Carlson, joining the Left's fake outrage mob.^[89] On a philosophical level, Boot fully accepts secular liberalism.^[90] He called for impeaching President Trump.^[91]

• The Weekly Standard—Bill Kristol

Since Donald Trump's 2016 presidential candidacy, Kristol has moved to the Left, becoming a prominent Never Trump movement activist.^[92][93] Even after Trump's election as U.S. President, Kristol continued his petty attacks against Trump, a conservative.^[94] He advocated for "rebranding" establishment Never-Trump "conservatives" as liberals.^{[95][96][97][98][99]} Kristol endorsed Democrat Doug Jones (who takes very left-wing positions even by national standards), stating he would be a better Senator than conservative Republican Roy Moore.^[100] In November 2017, Kristol tweeted: "The GOP tax bill's bringing out my inner socialist. The sex scandals are bringing out my inner feminist. Donald Trump and Roy Moore are bringing out my inner liberal. WHAT IS HAPPENING?"^[101] In January 2018, without citing any evidence, claimed that conservative Fox News host Tucker Carlson and his show (which promotes a merit-based immigration system that would benefit American citizens first regardless of skin color) were "close now to racism" and "[white] ethnonationalism of some kind."^[102]

• The Daily Beast, CNN, MSNBC—Rick Wilson

Despite being a Republican strategist, Wilson has taken extreme, irrational, and left-wing anti-Trump positions even when it was clear that President Trump's policies were very conservative. He argued in 2015 that GOP donors should "put a bullet" in Trump.^[103] He admitted in August 2016 that although a President Hillary Clinton would take away gun rights and religious liberty rights if elected, he still argued that a President Trump would somehow be worse.^[104] He claimed that President Trump was not "pro-American."^[105] Wilson encouraged left-wing comedian Kathy Griffin to "go back to war" against Trump after she posted a very disturbing photo of a bloody beheaded Trump head that earned her the criticism of even many leftists.^[106] Wilson, like many other NeverTrump "conservatives", celebrated GOP losses during Trump's presidency.^[107]

In addition to attacking Trump, Wilson has attacked Trump's supporters. In August 2015, he claimed on CNN that conservatives supporting Trump were "low information supporters."^[108] Speaking on MSNBC in January 2016, Wilson claimed that most Trump supporters "are childless single men who masturbate to anime. They’re not real and political players. These are not people who matter in the overall course of humanity."^[109] He also claimed that Trump supporters (many of whom are non-white) somehow "want anybody who's darker than a latte deported."^[110] In January 2019, Wilson again mocked Trump supporters, labeling them a "credulous rube 10-toothed base."^[111]

During an argument over immigration to the U.S. from third-world countries, Wilson displayed his moral superiority and tolerance of opposing viewpoints by telling pro-Trump radio host John Fredericks that he should "go on Amazon, order yourself a pointy white hat, head down to Home Depot and get the wood to build a burning cross," and after Fredericks responded by making intelligent arguments over economic effects of immigration, Wilson stated that "I will gut you like a fish on this show if you want to keep this up."^[112]

On August 6, 2018, MCNBC was forced to mute itself for seven seconds because Wilson went into a vulgar, explicative-filled rant that lasted the entirety of that time, and which was directed at President Trump and his supporters.^[113]

• CNN—S. E. Cupp

A "conservative" who somehow has her own CNN show. Supports same-sex "marriage" and a neocon foreign policy. Has harshly attacked President Trump and called for his resignation even after being vindicated by the Mueller Report.^[114]

• Washington Post—George Will

Evolutionist/creation denier^[115] and self-proclaimed "heathen" and agnostic.^[116] While Will says he believed Roe v. Wade was an unconstitutional ruling, he thinks that the issue is unimportant overall.^[117] He opposes the death penalty.^[118] He supports amnesty for illegal immigrants.^[119] In May 2017, Will stated that Donald Trump supporters were "scowling primitives" who "hijacked" the conservative movement.^[120] Will endorsed far-left Democrat candidate for the U.S. Senate seat in Alabama over conservative Roy Moore.^[121] He has defended illegal immigration and attacked the more conservative GOP under President Trump.^[122] Will supports mass levels of immigration to the U.S.^[123]

• Washington Post—Charles Krauthammer

Krauthammer was comparatively more conservative than the others listed here, and although he did not vote for Trump in 2016, he was more sympathetic and supportive towards him than the other token conservatives. However, he was pro-abortion,^[124] an evolutionist/creation denier,^[125] and a former Walter Mondale speechwriter.

Common Characteristics

Most liberal media "conservatives" share the following viewpoints;

• GOP should be a RINO "big tent" inclusive party
• Lacking principled stances on issues, unless, of course, they take an explicitly left-wing stance on an issue
• Attack solid, principled conservatives
• Claim Republicans must compromise or concede to liberals on social issues
• Claim to know what is the best for the Republican Party
• Write books which nobody reads – books which have the consistent theme of how to make the "conservative" movement succeed, but which are always promoted by liberals and which always advocate for the viewpoints listed above

During Trump's presidency, many token conservatives showed their true colors, as illustrated in the examples above, and many of them openly advocated for electing Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections.^[126]

See also

• O’Sullivan’s First Law
• RINO
• Evan McMullin, another faux "conservative" who is not primarily a media figure

External links

• NY Times Hires Its Version of A Conservative to Write Op-Ed Column
• NBC 'Today' Turns to Leftist and a Moderate for Advice on GOP Comeback
• Nolte: Kevin Williamson’s ‘Atlantic’ Firing Should Wake Up #NeverTrump (But It Won’t), by John Nolte, April 6, 2018.

References