Two things are true.
- Kevin McAleenan was a terrible acting DHS secretary who implemented performative cruelty as part of his job description.
- His replacement will be worse.
Two other things are true.
- Shep Smith was a good journalist who brought some factual reality to Fox News.
- His credibility was used to legitimate their opinion section.
We don't know for sure why these men are stepping away from the mechanisms of Republican governance. We don't know if Bill Barr's recent conversation with Rupert Murdoch is tied to Smith's ouster at Fox, for instance. But it's telling that two basically conservative figures have been forced out of the Executive branch and the party's propaganda organ because they are insufficiently loyal to Trump.
Yes, Smith had a tendency to deflate the GOP's more ludicrous conspiracy theories, but he was largely objective as a news anchor. That objectivity likely cost him his job.
Trump has hollowed out many of the institutions of the federal government. Most of his Cabinet positions are filled with acting secretaries, because no one will serve the buffoon, when the most important criteria for a Cabinet post is slavish devotion to Orange Julius Caesar. Now, we look to be on the trajectory of Trump hollowing out the institutions of conservatism. How long does Norm Ornstein hold on at AEI? How many other conservative figures get forced out of other institutions like the National Review or the Hoover Institute? How many GOP Congressmen retire or get primaried?
Trump is turning the GOP into a personality cult, and he's doing it without much pushback.
They deserve the reckoning of history that they will most likely get.
No comments:
Post a Comment