Staying true to the principles as the age of Squirrel-Hair gets underway

It seems to me that one mark of a conservative is getting the response to the remark, "It's a new day; the old ways have been tried and found ineffective, so we're going with something new" correct.

Clearly, if such a remark comes from a leftist, the way for a conservative to formulate the response is pretty much ready-made. "No, transgender bathrooms, subsidies to solar-panel "companies," pseudo-agreements that allow mortal enemies to obtain nuclear arsenals, therapy dogs for law students, government-run health-insurance exchanges, and race-based Congressional caucuses are as wrong as ever" is the proper rejoinder. Pretty much a no-brainer, right?

But what to say to the person so uttering when he or she is speaking about Trumpism, the injection of a populist-nationalist sentiment into the ideology heretofore known as conservatism?

We've had to contend with these get-with-the-program exhortations from the likes of Hannity, Coulter, Ingraham, Gingrich, Root and Black since the summer of 2015.

What does a unreconstructed conservatism say to them?

Especially since they just won a huge political victory?

There's nothing gracious about the way they state it. Ask Jonah Goldberg:

From the Right, any time I say anything — and I mean anything — critical of Trump, I’m told it’s proof that I’m “bitter” or “biased” and that I can’t admit I was wrong about him, etc. I can go on TV and say that Trump has been brilliant at x and y but I’m still concerned about z, and all I’ll hear is the whistle of incoming ALL CAPS arrows: GET OVER IT! HE WON! GO AWAY NEVER TRUMPERS! HOW DO I TURN OFF CAPLOCK!!!111! Etc.

The quest for clarity gets much stickier in dealing with this bunch than it does with proudly overt leftists. For one thing, they have a point about how actual conservative principles do indeed get an airing in the age of Squirrel-Hair. Pompeo, Mattis,  DeVoss, Pruitt, Perry, Puzder, Sessions, and, obviously, Pence, are all great picks. What's there to gripe about?

Plenty. You see, there's the light-of-day Trump, who listens to those he respects and acts on their advice. That's clearly how we got such an overall great cabinet. Then there is the after-dark Trump, the one who barks and bellows at his thank-yu rallies, and, of course, tweets well into the night.

The one who leaves you shaking your head and muttering, "What the hell brought that on?"

The latest exhibit in substantiation of this assertion:

With the election behind him and nothing to lose, Trump is openly admitting what was pointed out on social media and more traditional news sources throughout the campaign: Trump supporters are dangerous.

From the Hill:

“You people were vicious, violent, screaming, ‘Where’s the wall? We want the wall!’ Screaming, ‘Prison! Prison! Lock her up!’ I mean you are going crazy. I mean, you were nasty and mean and vicious and you wanted to win, right?” Trump said in Orlando, Fla., during a stop on his “thank you” tour.

“But now, you’re mellow and you’re cool and you’re not nearly as vicious or violent, right? Because we won, right?”

Not nearly? Is that supposed to make the rest of society feel better?

I haven't read the transcript of the whole speech; I saw that he was at some podium as I channel-surfed and, as usual, found a college-basketball game that was much more to my liking. But what kind of context could an utterance like that be put in that would explain its fundamental weirdness?

I actually think the more important work to be done, in terms of arguing with the various types of people exhorting us to get with the program of a new day, is with leftists rather than the self-appointed populists who still consider themselves conservative. They are going to carry Squirrel-Hair's water long past the point where their self-respect is taking a beating. They truly don't care about the vulgarity, shallowness, narcissism and lack of core principles that have been the essence of real conservatives' opposition to Trump all along. He will get a pass for the most egregious outbursts.

But leftists, because they are ignorant - and by that I mean that they have zero interest in parsing the fissures on the Right and seeing that rightie sector that still has deep misgivings about this guy winning the presidency - will use all its formerly-mainstream organs (NYT, CNN, etc.) as well as social media and opinion-site comment threads to try to lump everyone right-of-center into a Trumpist camp.

The thorny task before sites like LITD is to navigate between the necessary task of keeping the three pillars of actual conservatism front and center and giving the nod to S-H when he gets stuff right.

It's important work. As always, the practice of conservative principles, both in official government proceedings as well as in the culture, is a mission of urgency. On the other hand, since, clearly, not a lot of people have not thought those principles out, the matter of distinguishing for them the stark difference between what they actually are and this imperfect vessel by which they will imperfectly be promulgated and implemented is going to occupy a lot of our time and mental energy.

And expect no help from you-know-who. He is who he is, for better and definitely for worse.