Opinion

True Conservatives Should Dispense With The Trump/Pence Con

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Alan Keyes Former Assistant Secretary of State
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The headline read, “Mike Pence has something to prove.” WND editor Joseph Farah’s commentary was all about how Mike Pence reversed his support for the Indiana law meant to assure that the State of Indiana would protect the unalienable rights of religious conscience undeniably included among those the U.S. Constitution’s First, Ninth and 14th Amendments are all of them plainly intended to secure. Approved by the State’s legislature, the bill became law over Pence’s signature. But, as Mr. Farah aptly describes it,

…after signing the bill and singing its praises, Pence did an about-face — rewriting the law to render it meaningless, toothless, neutered, if you will … His convictions did not last even one tough news cycle. It was a shocking betrayal.

Pence caved to the demands of the elitist faction’s licentious behavioral cult. Thanks mainly to blatantly anti-constitutional abuses of judicial power, especially at the federal level, adherents of this cult are seeking to pervert the course of justice so as to force the rest of us to praise their idols and participate in their rituals. Moreover, we are being asked to pay for the privilege — both in literal terms, when our tax dollars are used to defray the cost of their forms and places of worship; and in terms of conscience and our own religious integrity, when we are forced to sacrifice time, labor and the fruits of our skill or learning to adorn or implement their practices.  

Donald Trump’s record amply demonstrates a lifelong and boastful commitment to this libertine cult. His decision to choose Mike Pence as his running mate is all about trying to overcome the objections of conscientiously principled conservatives, who sanely doubt that Mr. Trump has repented of this commitment.  

Their doubts derive from Donald Trump’s oft repeated rejection of the need for repentance; and from unrepentant behavior, like his sly support for the forced abandonment of sexual propriety in our public toilet facilities; his plainly anti-Constitutional insistence that the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell opinion, asserting the specious “right” of homosexuals to marry, is “the law of the land”; his telling failure to support the integrity of champions of God-endowed right, like Alabama’s Chief justice Roy Moore; and his unfavorably contrasting preference for judges like former Alabama Attorney General William Pryor.

Pryor’s prosecution of Chief Justice Moore in 2003 aided a radically leftist organization’s previous (and presently reiterated) persecution of the Chief Justice on the ludicrous charge that his conscientious actions violated judicial ethics.  Yet, as Chief Justice of Alabama, his staunch refusal to enforce as law any abridgment of the privileges and immunities of citizens of United States in Alabama is required by the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

Like so much else in his record, words and actions Donald Trump’s praise for a Judge like William Pryor as a prospective nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court belies one of the key points his supporters make as they try to prove that he is no longer an adherent of the Clinton/Obama faction. However, it’s consistent with the fact that, in the not very distant past, Mr. Trump regularly consorted with that faction, supported them, and touted them as his personal and political friends.

With this in mind, the problem with Trump’s choice of Pence is not what Pence has to prove about himselfIt’s what the selection of Pence emphatically fails to prove about Donald Trump. Moreover, rather than confirming the conservative image Trump has projected during his present campaign, the selection is consistent with the likely possibility that that image is false: an expedient fabrication. It adds to the evidence that behind the curtain this Wizard of Angry Applause is not at all what he pretends to be.

But many Trump supporters don’t care very much about the issues of conscientious principle Mr. Farah holds against Pence. They will dismiss concerns about Trump’s choice for VP, saying that the most important things are his stand against free trade, illegal immigration and his call to ban Muslims. But they must already be hearing what even such an early, vocal, and deeply self-interested Trump backer as Anne Coulter is lamentingMike Pence has been a staunch supporter of the GOP quislings’ betrayals of America’s sovereignty and international economic interests, the very betrayals Mr. Trump made a big show of excoriating in order to fool grassroots conservative voters in the GOP’s nominating process. Pence also opposed Trump’s call to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. (a call Trump has already started to “modify”).

Add this to Pence’s betrayal of conscience, and you understand why, in prospect, Ann Coulter called Trump’s selection of Pence a “combo-platter of disaster.” However, I doubt that people like Coulter, who helped Trump dupe GOP primary voters, really want such voters to think through the obvious implications of Trump’s choice for VP. That might lead them to consider the very likely possibility that Trump is still acting as an agent of the Clinton/Obama Democrats.

If he is, the Pence choice is a stroke of strategic genius. Despite his decisive betrayal of conscience, Pence can be sold to casually informed voters (i.e., the ones who know only what they hear from campaign ads interspersed among their non-political entertainment fodder) as a pro-life moral conservative (for purposes of praise or blame, depending on which side is producing the ad). But word of his cowardly lack of principle will spread, like a debilitating viral infection, among better informed voters (the ones usually more likely to turn out at the polls). They will come to see Pence for what he is — window dressing that reeks of betrayals to come. Not a few of them will refuse to be played for fools again. They will reject the Trump/Pence storyboard.

Meanwhile, with respect to Trump’s most salient rhetorical weapons, word of Pence’s consistent commitment to positions on trade and immigration that belie Trump’s sledgehammer rhetoric will also spread. As a result, people Trump has thus far successfully taken will develop symptoms of confusion and outrage, weakening their political resolve. Not a few will see it (I think correctly) as proof that Trump’s campaign is a ploy.

They will realize that Pence will a) the focal point for political malaise in the GOP base; and b) the focal point for hard edge Clinton attack ads highlighting his pro-life views. That combination works to Clinton’s advantage. But let’s say the Trump/Pence ticket wins. Then Pence becomes the one working behind the scenes with the GOP quislings to assure that they get the “bipartisan” compromises consistent with the elitist faction agenda Trump has made a pretense of opposing. As President of the U.S. Senate, Gov. Mike Pence will be ideally positioned to follow his proven inclinations, orchestrating success for the anti-American sell-outs Trump’s tragically deceived conservative supporters love to hate.

Either way, for sincere conservatives the Pence choice confirms the likelihood that Trump’s candidacy is just a new and not that different version of the betrayals the GOP’s quisling Congressional leaders have routinely perpetrated following the GOP Congressional victories in recent years. Trump’s long con is meant to advance the anti-conservative, anti-Constitutional, anti-American elitist faction agenda, no matter how the election turns out, as I’ve argued all along. Either way, the elitist faction wins, which is the whole point of Trump’s presidential bid. And it’s the reason true conservatives should dispense with the Trump/Pence con.