Trump’s budget deal destroys conservatism, funds nationalism

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The feedback, or should I say pushback, from the loyal congregation of worshippers at Trump Nationalist Church over my two-part series showing how America First nationalism isn’t patriotic or conservative has exceeded my expectations. According to his sect of sycophants, Trump isn’t only “the most conservative president in history,” he’s also personally “responsible for saving conservatism for future generations.”

Yes. Those are real quotes.

Some of the more pragmatic members of Trump Nationalist Church were less pugnacious with their criticism, choosing instead to challenge me to provide proof of Trump’s lack of conservative bona fides.

While a casual perusal of my website would provide Trumpists with a mountain of proof sufficient to convict him in the court of public opinion, Trump himself provided a bit of self-incriminating evidence with his announcement that a deal has been struck with congressional “leaders” on the budget.

The deal is certain to be praised by faux-conservatives — Rush Limbaugh has already blessed it — even though it repeals the final two years of the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 and raises the baseline for future discretionary spending by nearly $2 trillion over the next decade.

The BCA was the creation of the GOP-controlled “TEA Party” Congress under the guidance of then-House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan. In his official statement at the time, Ryan declared, “No longer can Washington endlessly spend money it does not have.”

For some reason, Bill Lumbergh in the movie Office Space comes to mind…

The GOP establishment has routinely worked with Democrats — usually when an election is approaching — to ignore the BCA and lift spending caps, freeing them to “endlessly spend money [they do] not have,” so Trump’s recent agreement with them isn’t unique. It is, however, proof of his lack of conservative values.

This budget deal is also evidence of how Trump’s nationalist ideology has led him to attack conservatives from his early days as a candidate to today:

  • May, 2016: In an interview on ABC’s This Week, Trump told host George Stephanopoulos he considered conservatives unnecessary for accomplishing his agenda.
  • March, 2017: During the fake-repeal of Obamacare debates, Trump attacked the House Freedom Caucus for opposing the passage of Obamacare 2.0 (aka Trumpcare), and he vowed to fight them in 2018. Trump’s threats worked; HFC leadership completed its journey to the dark side of Trumpism earlier this year.
  • April, 2017: Trump intensified his attacks on conservatives by specifically targeting Rep. Justin Amash, calling for him to be primaried in 2018 for his refusal to embrace Trump’s agenda.
  • June, 2018: Trump joins forces with Mitch McConnell to destroy conservatives in the midterms, leading to the successful elimination of Rep. Mark Sanford in the South Carolina primary. Trump’s pick, Katie Arrington, beat Sanford in the primary but lost to Democrat Joe Cunningham in a district that had been Republican since 1980. But hey, at least she was pro-Trump.
  • May, 2019: With the help of the GOP machine, Trump launches an open attack on Amash and personally gets involved in raising up a primary challenger for 2020. With the Freedom Caucus siding with Trump, Amash resigns from the group he co-founded and later leaves the GOP to become an Independent.

Trump’s America First nationalism agenda is socialist, not conservative, and he’s been successful using it to destroy conservatism.

Unfortunately, his budget deal with a Congress equally committed to the same agenda guarantees the money necessary to keep the destruction going will be there when he needs it.

 

 

David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative.

His daily radio commentary is distributed by the Salem Radio Network and is heard on stations across America.

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