Hot Takes on Senate Impeachment Vote: Part 3
Steve Deace, who built some name recognition and a bit of a following as an alternative, Christian conservative radio host during the 2016 primaries, has added his voice to the gutless chorus of “Trump or death!” spewing from the mainstream GOP these days:
I had Republicans try to get rid of me more than once over the years for telling the truth about what a political hack #MittRomney is. I’ll magnanimously accept your apologies now. Thanks! pic.twitter.com/lO97snt1P6
— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) February 5, 2020
First of all, the idea that “Republicans” were “trying to get rid of” Steve Deace over the years is pure self-promotion and ego-mania. And the idea that he can take a bow for having seen some truth about Romney that others could not see is ridiculous.
But for me, the real core of the problem for a man like Deace is that he, along with the bigger players in the conservative media like Mark Levin, Dennis Prager, Roger Kimball, and on and on and on — played Principled Constitutionalist during the primaries, opposing and exposing Trump everywhere they could, but then, when Trump’s victory became inevitable and the official establishment position, turned around and skulked away from all their previous criticisms. In other words, they played anti-establishment hero until that stance actually became inconvenient from a financial and career-advancement perspective, at which point they quickly turned the page on their own (supposed) souls and followed the money.
So, given what Deace has done over the past few years, I cannot help asking, in response to his braggadocio about his long-time criticism of Romney: “Would you still be in the position to claim such a principled position on Romney if he had won the presidency in 2012? Or would you have quickly turned around and sucked up to the establishment with flimsy arguments about how ‘Mitt has turned out to be more conservative than I expected,’ weakly proffered to rationalize your blatant pragmatic materialism, just as you have done with Trump? Hmmm…?”
