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The Case for Trump 2024: Your Vote Isn’t a Sacrament

Friday, July 26, 2024 9:19
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In the 2020 election, I was blackpilled and exhausted and ready to move on from Donald Trump. At the time, it seemed like we had nothing to show for the Trump presidency except for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the First Step Act. The Senate was a graveyard for legislation.

Four years later, I am not so quick to blame Donald Trump for this miserable state of affairs. The Senate filibuster which Democrats used to obstruct Donald Trump’s legislative agenda was used by Republicans to block Joe Biden’s legislative agenda. Neither party has the 60 votes in the Senate necessary to overcome the filibuster. Nothing passes Congress unless it is either a “bipartisan compromise” or the Senate parliamentarian rules it can be passed through budget reconciliation rules.

Since launching this blog in 2008, I have covered the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations. The country has only grown more polarized as Americans have drifted apart in their values and become better at sorting themselves into partisan camps. The truth about American politics is that neither party has an agenda that is popular enough to command a legislative majority big enough to impose its will on the other party. We do not have a dominant party. The last time that America was this evenly and bitterly divided was during the Gilded Age in the late 19th century. Chances are you do not know much about that time because nothing much happened. Politics generated a ton of heat but little light.

If you were elected the president of the United States in November, you would face the same obstacles as Obama, Trump and Biden. You would simultaneously be the most powerful man in the world and nearly powerless to push anything that is controversial through Congress. NGOs would sue you in the federal courts. Federal judges from the opposing party would block your executive orders. Your supporters would inevitably grow frustrated. Your political support would begin to wither away.

This is why it came as such a pleasant surprise when the Supreme Court handed down the Dobbs decision in 2022 and Students for Fair Admissions in 2023. By changing the composition of the federal courts, Donald Trump had scored some big wins on abortion and affirmative action. Trump had also negotiated the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan which was completed under Biden. Suddenly, Donald Trump’s legacy was greater than when he left office, which is one of the reasons why I have warmer feelings toward him and now regret having written too harshly too soon about him.

Maybe I had closed the book on Donald Trump too soon? Trump’s Supreme Court will be handing down decisions like Dobbs for decades to come. Trump’s full legacy is unknown. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, the Red States sprung into action and swiftly passed abortion bans. The pro-life movement had “voted more harder” for decades to change the composition of the federal courts. They looked like suckers until suddenly they won a major policy victory after Ruth Bader Ginsberg died in 2020.

Since the demise of the Alt-Right, I have gotten involved in the Christian nationalist movement. In doing so, I have been introduced to the abolitionists who are Christians who reject the pro-life movement and who demand the immediate abolition of abortion in all 50 states. They are angry with Donald Trump for refusing to support a nationwide abortion ban and will not morally compromise themselves and betray their principles by voting for Trump, and thus evil, in the 2024 election. They do not give Trump credit for half measures like Dobbs which banned abortion in nearly half the states.

In the White Christian Nationalist space on X, we tend to overlap with both White Nationalists and pro-life Christian conservatives, so we are exposed to a lot of content from anti-Zionists and abolitionists. White Christian Nationalists are typically pro-life and anti-Zionist, but there is a lively debate going on about Donald Trump and whether to vote in the 2024 election. It is funny because on any given day you can see abolitionists and anti-Zionists making similar arguments against incrementalism. The two groups are mirror images of each other in their current effort to punish Trump in the 2024 election.

In the case of the abolitionists, activists are demanding something that is impossible for any politician to deliver. Abortion bans have proven to be unpopular in Red States like Kentucky, Ohio and Kansas. It is not Donald Trump’s fault that evangelical Christianity, which is strongly correlated with opposition to abortion, is concentrated in the South. Donald Trump’s base is also composed of pro-choice voters and lukewarm non-attending Christians who are in an uneasy alliance with Bible thumpers. Punishing Trump by refusing to vote in the 2024 election is not going to change the culture of Vermont or California. Trump cannot embrace abolitionism without losing the country and blowing up his own base which is exactly what abolitionists would have him do on principle. The Dobbs decision which allows for abortion to be banned in states where pro-life, anti-abortion evangelical Christians are demographically dominant is probably the best practical settlement of the issue that is possible in our present political reality.

In the case of anti-Zionist White Nationalists, there is a similar political problem. Zionism is a bipartisan consensus because until very recently most Americans were Zionists. Old people are overwhelmingly pro-Israel. Jewish donors also control the media and finance both political parties. Anti-Zionism is strongly correlated with age. Younger voters on the Left and Right are much more critical of Israel and Zionism. Old people are much more likely to vote though and hold elected office. Even if he were inclined to do so, Donald Trump cannot embrace anti-Zionism without losing the country and his own base. Anti-Zionists are a minority on the Right. Only around 1/4th to 1/3 of Republican voters support cutting off aid to Israel and much of that is due more to isolationist sentiment than anti-Zionism. These voters are represented by politicians like Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene who are pro-Israel, but who have opposed foreign aid and other aspects of the Israel Lobby’s agenda. Punishing Trump for being a Zionist and representing his voters will only hand the country over to a different Zionist.

In the eyes of both the abolitionists and anti-Zionist White Nationalists, pragmatism and political reality (abolitionism and anti-Zionism are unpopular) matters less than choosing not to vote on the basis of moral principle. Voting for the lesser evil is compromising with evil. It is a sin and a stain on one’s character. It is better to remain pure than weigh trade offs. Abolitionists and anti-Zionist White Nationalists have decided to punish Trump and his voters until they get their way on a nationwide abortion ban and Israel and the Jewish Question. The divide between abolitionists and pro-lifers is reminiscent of the divide between White Nationalists who prioritize anti-Zionism and other issues like immigration.

Abolitionists Rising:

So how should an Abolitionist vote? I believe there are two defining factors that we must consider when addressing this question. The first is that an abolitionist is a Christian, and the second is that an abolitionist is an immediatist. Both of these should weigh heavily in the hearts and minds of abolitionists as they eat or drink and certainly as they go to the voting booth. The problem is that American politics and culture have been thoroughly marinated in humanism and incrementalism. This indoctrination makes it difficult for many to properly think through the issue of voting, especially in casting a vote for the highest office in the land. …

The ends justifying the means is, of course, the heartbeat of incrementalism, “If it just saves one life, it is worth it.” The plea of pragmatism is what is behind every 20-week ban, 12-week ban, and fetal heartbeat bill that has ever been presented. You could say that situation ethics demands this type of pragmatism in elections and incrementalism demands it in policy. …

Now, how should an abolitionist approach voting? Should he enter the ballot box looking at two candidates and make the lesser candidate the standard by which he is to make his decision? Should he ask the question, “What would be most comfortable for myself and my kin moving forward?” Should he seek to find some middle ground between God’s standard and sin? Certainly not! An Abolitionist should approach voting like he does every other moral dilemma. …

There is no room within the Abolitionist framework to vote for men like Donald Trump, unless, of course, they repent. So let us remain faithful to God, pray for President Trump’s repentance, and burn with a holy fire to rescue our pre-born neighbors. …

Abortion is now banned in Alabama because evangelical voters chose pragmatism in 2016.

By treating voting like a sacrament and having unrealistic expectations, the abolitionists have chosen to be the Beautiful Losers described by Sam Francis and have been politically disemboweled by their own principles. This used to be the knock on conservatives. They were losers who were not interested in winning, but rather in basking in the glory of defeat while displaying their principles.

In both cases, I am coming down on the side of pragmatism in 2024: I am grateful abortion is banned in Alabama, which is not everything, but something in our current political climate. I was shocked by the Dobbs decision. I never believed Roe would be overturned. Also, I believe that generational turnover is required to bring down political support for Zionism, which is not in the cards in the next four years. Israel seems bent on destroying its public image in the war in Gaza regardless of who sits in the White House. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie have shown that isolationism and concern about the national debt can be leveraged to reduce support for Israel in Congress. Insofar as any progress can be made at all on the issue, I think it will be in electing more people like that to Congress.

Aaron Bushnell was an immediatist who set himself on fire and committed suicide for the cause of anti-Zionism in February. He died burning in a “holy fire” for his moral principles.

As glorious as it was to take such a principled moral stand for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, Bushnell’s death was quickly forgotten in the churn of the 24/7 news cycle. It didn’t topple the pillars of American support for Zionism which are old people voting, Jewish oligarchy and media control. Bushnell martyred himself for anti-Zionism in the most gruesome way to “send a message.”

Immediatists are always looking for a sword to dive on and a battle to lose. They make contradictory arguments like the system is rigged and your vote is meaningless, but spend months writing and talking about how they plan not to vote and campaigning to persuade others not to vote. They believe the outcome of the election will hinge on their votes. Their precious vote actually matters a great deal to them. If they seriously believed their own arguments, they would disengage from the system and find something else to do with their time. They are highly engaged political activists and their messaging and radical posturing is for the consumption of other activists in their subculture.

In 2024, I have become more self-aware and skeptical of activist dynamics, which were recently again on prominent display in DC in the protests against Bibi Netanyahu:

Pro-Palestinian activists suffering from activist brain convinced themselves that this was effective messaging which would help their cause. It was another example of the activist addiction to self-sabotaging behavior. It was another illustration of how activists are politically handicapped and so wrapped up in their subculture and emotionally invested in their cause that it skews their judgment.

In sum, activists with unpopular causes who make politically impossible demands are prone to sliding into pious acts of self-sabotage and self-congratulation. They become more interested in displays of their own holiness. These activists treat voting like one of the sacraments. The example of Dobbs and the abolitionists have moved influenced me to move in the pragmatic, gradualist direction.

As usual, the point of this article is to explain my own thinking because otherwise you would not understand the shifts in my position. I am not telling you to vote for Donald Trump. You are capable of making your own decisions. This is my attempt to flesh out my own inner monologue.

1. The Right finally moves on from Trump in 2028

2. The Alt-Right has terrible political instincts

3. Joe Biden has been a sedative as president

4. Activist brain blinds us and creates prejudice against conservative normies

5. Trump is the leader because he is the best of the Republicans

6. “Worse is better” is a cope and was tried in 2020 and maintains the status quo

7. Voting is not a sacrament. Few know this


Source: https://occidentaldissent.com/2024/07/26/the-case-for-trump-2024-your-vote-isnt-a-sacrament/


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