How does the saying go? The core principle of conservatism is there are people the law binds but does not protect, and people the law protects but does not bind?
Or, another similar insight: liberals judge actions as good or bad and judge people by their actions. Conservatives judge people as good or bad and judge actions by the person performing them.
What Trump realized is he doesn’t have to even pretend to enforce the laws objectively. Conservative Americans want selective enforcement. They want the government to go after liberals and leftists and minorities with the full voice of the law. They want law enforcement to ignore conservative crimes and hunt down liberal crimes, because conservatives are good people so their mistakes can be forgiven, but liberals are bad people so they must be guilty of something.
And that’s where Biden fucked up. He had the FBI go after Trump relentlessly for four years in the belief that, if he could find enough bad actions Trump did, he could discourage conservatives from supporting him in 2024. What he didn’t realize is, Trump’s supporters would never condemn any crimes Trump committed, because they believe Trump is a good person and therefore what he does isn’t a crime.
All Biden did was give Trump an excuse to send his FBI after his political enemies too. And Trump and his supporters are happy to use that power far more widely than Biden did.
How does the saying go? The core principle of conservatism is there are people the law binds but does not protect, and people the law protects but does not bind?
Or, another similar insight: liberals judge actions as good or bad and judge people by their actions. Conservatives judge people as good or bad and judge actions by the person performing them.
What Trump realized is he doesn’t have to even pretend to enforce the laws objectively. Conservative Americans want selective enforcement. They want the government to go after liberals and leftists and minorities with the full voice of the law. They want law enforcement to ignore conservative crimes and hunt down liberal crimes, because conservatives are good people so their mistakes can be forgiven, but liberals are bad people so they must be guilty of something.
And that’s where Biden fucked up. He had the FBI go after Trump relentlessly for four years in the belief that, if he could find enough bad actions Trump did, he could discourage conservatives from supporting him in 2024. What he didn’t realize is, Trump’s supporters would never condemn any crimes Trump committed, because they believe Trump is a good person and therefore what he does isn’t a crime.
All Biden did was give Trump an excuse to send his FBI after his political enemies too. And Trump and his supporters are happy to use that power far more widely than Biden did.