General Discussion

I have frequently said that if someone is an honest, classical conservative, I can respect that.

Obviously we can’t all have the same leanings politically.

But I view Cheney cynically. I see it as his being savvy enough to get that the new mafia (Trump and co) will be hostile to the old mafia (Cheney and co).

It’s self interest tied with a hope that a narrative of having been on the right side of history (when there was no other option anyway) will scrub his real legacy (The Iraq war, war profiteering for Halliburton and torpedoing action on climate change).

The Cheney mafia isn’t going to bend the knee to the Trump mafia. These are all very egotistical people with strong personalities. That’s hardly a hallmark of character.

My point is that he is still not anything like a classic conservative (which would probably be closer to Adam Kinzinger or some of the conservatives this progressive lawyer Matt Stoller covers).

He was a war profiteer, a liar and pretty damn callous about Iraq, climate change and so much more. He was an architect of our present reality. His failure to mesh with the Trumpian brand is far from a change of heart imo.

Its partly perception of course, but that is mine.

Look, I am happy that they at least come out against Jan 6 etc. Anything is better than this Trumpian juggernaut which is an all-out assault on democracy. In no way do I diminish that.

But that’s a really low bar and far from any indicator of a conscience. And I am only pointing it out so that we don’t forget how we usually end up here. We seem so ahistorical and Panglossian.

Perhaps you have followed him more closely hlth2b. That could be. I have casually followed Cheney in recent years and been entirely cynical.

Again, I am glad that he had that minimal decency. I am definitely never downplaying what Trump is.

I just still think Cheney was awful.

Look at this alarming new embrace of Nick Fuentes. At this rate, soon Laura Loomer will be seen as a moderate. It’s really insane the constant shifting of the centre to the farther right coupled with a narrative that various fairly blah staid relative moderates (including people like me) are radical left.