Conservative culture needs to return to good taste and morality

Like many lifelong Republicans, my biggest concern with Donald Trump as a presidential candidate was that he is not actually a conservative. I liked that he was willing to speak some inconvenient truths, but I could not even begin to apologize for his boorish behavior or personal alliances. And he certainly was no fiscal conservative. But I was willing to be open-minded about his policy ideas and defended him when I thought he was being treated unfairly (which was a lot).

Watching the behavior of the GOP since the election, I honestly cannot help thinking that all of the critics who said that Trump would be the end of decency in the GOP were correct. This is not to say that I think the other side of the aisle shows the decency the GOP now lacks – they absolutely do not – of that the Never Trump Republicans are not nauseating in their self-righteousness. But it is impossible to be a good Christian and lack basic decency. This is probably the single biggest obstacle we face in restoring sane and effective government to this country.

This whole notion that anyone needs to “kiss the ring” to be a viable candidate is absurdly unconservative and un-American. This country only exists because colonists were tired of their livelihoods being treated as some bizarre loyalty to test to a single undeserving personality who expected them to pay up for a litany of his own bad decisions. Yet Trump seems to find it endlessly amusing to make GOP personalities grovel at this feet and then eventually toss his geldings under the bus on a whim. His behavior is closer to Louis XIV than George Washington.

After Trump, some of the biggest names in conservative media can only be described as online trolls. These aren’t people who know a thing about public policy, government, finance and economics, health care, immigration, election integrity, you name it. All they do is shitpost about the people in their demented little soap operas. It’s downright embarrassing to be associated with them.

One of my friends here wrote a while back that she anticipated the GOP falling from power as punishment from God for turning away from Christian morality. You can spend about 30 seconds on Twitter watching the things GOP politicians and the “conservative” chattering class say and recognize this is true.

• It is not okay to treat religion as a means to an end. The New Testament has a lot to say about people who invoke God and then behave like monsters.
• It is not okay to celebrate uncivilized speech and mannerisms. If you are the male head of the family or the matriarch, you are expected to set a good example – to value wisdom, beauty, and prudence, and supply those things for your children. If you do not, younger generations will have bad values.
• The New Testament commands Christians to practice hospitality. This is not an ask. You do not get to treat others as sub-human because they disagree with you, because they come from a different place or background.
• It is not okay to treat political leaders as idols. If you are living in the gutter intellectually, consider where your heart lies.
• It is not okay to mock the suffering of others. We have seen this on full display recently, with “conservative” commentators jeering political opponents who tested positive for covid and saying vile things about Simone Biles withdrawing from the Olympics. What truly insane and irresponsible behavior to teach your children.

I cannot remember anyone in the GOP behaving this way before Trump. We used to be better than this. We used to have an actual sense of virtue and virtue ethics.

We belong in exile.