1/ My friend @cdrsalamander has posted a nice thread in response to some of my musings this morning, and his response deserves a response. https://twitter.com/cdrsalamander/status/1315296128175353856 So here goes: First, some of this is (my response) is rank "whataboutism", and I apologize in advance.

2/ But memories are short if one fails to remember the degree to which Trump and his growing following took the piss out of people like me in 2015/6 -- "Vichy Republicans" "Rinos", "The people who put us in this mess" (the mess being command of both chambers of congress, a…

3/ …majority of governor's mansions, and a majority of state legislative bodies, but I digress). But that's politics. You want a friend, get a dog. Dish, and take it.

4/ Now that their man is on the run and their motives for supporting him are (rightly) questioned, they assume his victimization stance. Next, we need to divide up the Trumpenproletariat.

5/ First, there are generally principled conservatives who can't stand the carnival act and the cheapening of the Executive Mansion, but fear the other side more, and they like some of the policies that have made it through the noise (as do I!).

6/ Their support for Trump has always been conditional, and there has (in my estimation) always been a sense of some regret in being put in the position they are in. I look forward to working with these people in rebuilding the right.

7/ Next, there are those who preened for years as principled public conservatives and then chucked it all in order to feel the warmth of the orange sun.

8/ These people are execrable wastes of carbon, and I would like for them to be permanently politically exiled to whatever Orwellian Telescreen network survives Trump's dispatch.

9/ Finally, there are those who for most of their lives, were relatively apolitical, who drifted between parties, and who harbored dark grievances in their political hearts. They have not only been drugged by the propaganda, they like it that way.

10/ They have no desire for narratives that do not support their sense of grievance, they love that Trump lashes out at their enemies, they confuse entertainment and politics, and their political support is for sale based on the degree to which they are pandered to.

11/ These voters will have to be reckoned with, but they are unlikely to have much to do with the creation and sustainment of a governing philosophy of a party on the right.

12/ The great question before us is--will the party of the right be re-formed by the NeverTrumpers, the hold their nose Trumpists, and a sufficient number of the apolitical, or will it be re-formed by the execrable, unprincipled leading the apolitical through continuing…

13/ …political theater aided by the hold their nosers who will continue to hold their noses? It will be interesting to see. Fin.