A few readers felt I was a little too hard on Kevin D. Williamson. And they are right on the human level. Being hired and fired like that by Atlantic monthly was jarring, and certainly he deserves a sympathy he would not show others.
One reader pointed out that when Williamson wasn't dumping on Trump and his supporters, he could articulate the conservative position well.
A December 28, 2012, piece on the Second Amendment was on target, "The purpose of having citizens armed with paramilitary weapons is to allow them to engage in paramilitary actions. The Second Amendment is not about Bambi and burglars — whatever a well-regulated militia is, it is not a hunting party or a sport-clays club. It is remarkable to me that any educated person — let alone a Harvard Law graduate — believes that the second item on the Bill of Rights is a constitutional guarantee of enjoying a recreational activity."
Very well put. Quote it.
But that was not what Atlantic monthly was buying, nor was it what Williamson was selling.
Like Bret Stephens at the New York Times, Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post, and Ana Navarro at CNN, Williamson offered Atlantic the conservative who opposes conservatism.
If after 14 months of a Trump presidency (which has seen the appointment of Neil Gorsuch, the rollback of regulations, the revival of our military might, and a tax cut for all) you still oppose Trump, then you are not a conservative.
This does not mean he is beyond criticism. Of course not. Clutch those pearls at the things he says and his personal behavior. That was why the Good Lord gave you the ability to wince.
But judged by his actions alone, he is Reagan.
I get that a president is also a moral leader. Jimmy Carter was great at that. I wish Trump would have kept it zipped. I wish he were less loud, less proud, and a little bowed. But as Donald Rumsfeld said, you roll with the army you have.
And if you are not rolling with this army, kiss off.
Any punter who follows a NeverTrump person is not a White Hat.
ReplyDeleteWiliamson fans, you should be ashamed of yourselves.
I stopped reading Williamson (Pttuuiiii) before he rallied round the NeverTrump flag. But he is not the only self-avowed NeverTrumper that I stopped reading altogether when he began his tirades against MY candidate (and now MY President). People who don't support President Trump cannot be trusted: they are too easily influenced by unAmerican interests, they are often wrong in their facts, they use different yardsticks to measure people based on popularity within "certain circles", and of great importance, they have no vision of the future - just like the Left, they are trapped in a past they want to change and cannot see anything in front of them. That makes them unreliable and dangerous leaders.
DeleteCorrecct, and well said.
DeleteWell said, Don. You weren't too hard on Williamson. That fellow, alas, is one of those on the right who seem to feel a little too comfortable attacking their own when they should be directing fire left.
ReplyDeleteSay Don,are you losing advertising,readers,a boycott.So why waste the space to reply.You loose ground when you do this.You stat your opinion and be done with it.
ReplyDeleteWilliamson chose to be the unbending critic of the imperfect. Had he occasionally shown a bit more charity towards others, I'd be more sympathetic. I hope he manages to live his own life according to the impossibly high standards he expects of others.
ReplyDeleteIt was probably his merciless nature of writing that recommended him to the left. There crucifying your enemy is not enough; he must be first doused in pitch and set alight for use as street lamp. Perhaps the Atlantic editor was himself disappointed in the virtue tweeting demands of his readers to expel someone he knew would entertain them while laboring in his own dungeon of clicks.
DeleteKevin will find another place to land. There is good money in antiTrump writing today. Someone will pay. Perhaps the eco or impeachment fields..
Whatever you think of Kevin Williamsson's spots, they are certainly not new ones This may have been he biggest shocker, since the discovery of gambling at Rick's Cafe.
ReplyDeleteAttention backbiters. God's gonna cut you down, sooner or later.
ReplyDeleteJohnny Cash sang it. So let it be written, so let it be done.
Put me down as being a loyal fan and reader of yours who believed that you were NOT too hard on the vile Mr. Williamson. Williamson is the Bowe Bergdahl of the conservative movement: a deserter in time of war.
ReplyDelete(Which means he still is not as odious as the traitorous William "I Love Michelle O!" Kristol.)
-TK
Great comparison: Williamson is very much a Bowe Bergdahl
Deletehe could articulate the conservative position well.
ReplyDeleteIf you like the florid hyperbole of H P Lovecraft and relate to tween girls emotional snottiness then Williamson was just great.
Upvote.
DeleteAnyone who preferred to have Madame President Hillary in office for 8 years, selling out our country to the highest bidder and packing SCOTUS with Leftist activist justices is no conservative, and I have no tears to shed for anything that befalls them.
ReplyDeleteBucky
I want to ask Williamson how many unborn babies did he think he was saving by his Hillary vote? I understand not being a single-issue voter, but Margaret Sanger-loving Hillary may have been the most pro-abort major party candidate in the history of the Republic.
DeleteOf course, on another major policy dear to the heart of Williamson, Hillary was clearly the superior choice: Hillary would have done a much better job than Trump on screwing over the working class. Williamson holds the white working class in even greater contempt than Madam Hillary herself.
Two good points well said. His disdain for the working class, given his West Texas roots is bizarre.
DeleteI’ll tell you what Williamson was pedalling. The usual NeverTrump bicycle, but influenced by the Trump Effect as applied to Newton’s First Law of Motion.
ReplyDeleteIf you don’t keep moving forward at sufficient speed, the handle-bars start to wobble, you lose control, and your course becomes erratic.
Then the bicycle disintegrates beneath you.
"So you're saying"™ that for Conservatives Williamson is that fish on a bicycle that feminists always rant about?
DeleteI wouldn't say "that fish", but Kev's mighty dang fishy, for sure.
DeleteWell done, Don, well done!
ReplyDeleteI concur. Williamson is, at last, disgraced. He feuded, as you say, with POTUS Trump and lost. The 51st by your count.
Many of us are trying to put our finger on "what it's all about." Fin de siècle is surely high on the list -- and not only for "liberals" (aka Communists/Humanists) but also of "conservatives" (aka Racists/Religionists).
My vote is for manhood. This drama is about manhood and its opposite. That array of virtues, manhood, is returning and people, men and women, love that it is. The rest is politics, fleeting. The basics are manhood, or not. POTUS Trump represents manhood, thus his broad appeal.
The alternative is singular, loud and ruthless: Sodom. Thus your "good riddance" to Williamson. And mine.
The ultimate battle of good versus evil is coming sooner than any of us think. 24 months ago I would never imagined -- a hundred million years kind of never -- that one of the most important field generals on the side of good was going to be one POTUS Donald J. Trump. Of course, once this battle is played out, a lot of us are going to be shocked as to who ultimately is shown to be on each side, and our shock will be in both directions. And some of us will be shocked as to which side we end up on.
DeleteBut be aware the battle has begun. And anyone who sides with who is easily identifiable as the truly, monstrously evil even for a brief moment of convenience has chosen the wrong side. The battle has begun and Williamson not only chose poorly, but he has been arrogant about it.
-TK
Williamson deserves all the hardship the universe can throw at him. He infamously believes that white working class communities deserve to die, and presumably the individuals who comprise it. Williamson is an arrogant prick who deserves nothing but scorn and derision.
ReplyDeleteThere's a perfect job waiting for Williamson: barista at Starbucks!
ReplyDeleteHe can sneer at all the customers while misspelling their names on their little cups. Snark becomes him, so he'll fit right in!
WIlliamson is a screaming neo-con #NT from NRO. He was willing to go HRC vs. Trump. Perpetual war (unconstitutional) is his forte, but neo-cons are little but war-hawk commie libs. Look at the actual lineage.
DeleteConservative? Heh - spare me. Compare him to Kirk - and it is clear he is not anything near "conservative."
The The Atlantic dropped him proves EVEN THEY have standards. He made his own bed.
Everybody remember what Sloppy Williamson wrote in NR about flyover country America?
ReplyDelete"The truth about these dysfunctional, downscale communities is that they deserve to die. Economically, they are negative assets. Morally, they are indefensible..."
Anybody who could write that about my countrymen has placed himself beyond the pale, beyond sympathy and beyond the need to care about what he thinks.