Can conservatism survive coronavirus? Ask Donald Trump

Understanding that the human condition is uniquely flawed, tribal, and even opportunistic, perhaps, this is our moment to place down our arms, set aside partisan differences, and reach across the great political divide.

What if I said, “no?” I trust the left as much as I’d trust Prince Andrew at a quinceañera.

The previous draft of this was hopeful and even "prayerful," a favorite term of Nancy Pelosi. But after a small conversation with a close friend, journalist Chadwick Moore, I came to the realization that these people can't be trusted. Do not be surprised after the left milks this crisis to advance a leftwing agenda that they will turn around and attempt another impeachment.

According to military strategy, the enemy never sleeps, and the left declared war on the right a long, long time ago. Do we not remember that the left still remains convinced that President Trump is a Russian agent? Not long ago, they impeached him and attempted to convict and remove him from office. The left at this very moment is utilizing a crisis to advance their agenda, interjecting aspects of the green new deal to force an already crumbling airline industry to reduce their carbon footprints.

Someone has to say it: The left knows that the longer this crisis goes, the more will hurt the Trump administration, and the better the Democrats will fare electorally at the end of this crisis. People are losing jobs, the economy is sinking, and they're holding the stimulus plan hostage over climate and power. Breaking news, folks—there is a global pandemic, handle it first.

"This is a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision," Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told lawmakers, as reported by The Hill. Naturally, the left opts for never letting a good crisis go to waste.

Rather than pass the 1.8 trillion-dollar rescue plan, the left has opted to hold hostage the American people. Businesses that were once powerhouse employers will soon be non-existent, unless democrats are able to cram down a slew of social justice and environmental provisions that are unrelated to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

The left has injected provisions that would require corporations to have top down gender and racial quotas from the board of executives down to subcommittee assignments, increase wind and solar tax credits, fund climate mitigation efforts, free internet, fund community newspapers (likely biased) and establishing minority-run banks.  As people are dying, the left wants to insert provisions that would address the "gender and minority pay inequity." This is insane. Why am I supposed to take the left in good faith? Rather than coalesce around a piece of legislation that the American people need, where both the left and the right could agree, they would rather solve social injustices or have nothing at all. They must think we're dumb. Oh, wait. They do.

Do not let this crisis obscure our memories on how CNN's low-ratings-Don Lemon laughed, giggling like a drunken cheerleader, as Rick Wilson and Wajahat Ali mocked Trump Supporters: "That's partly [Trump] playing to their base and playing to their audience of the credulous boom rube demo that backs Donald Trump that wants to think that (in Southern accent) Donald Trump is the smart one and y'all elitists are dumb." They continued: "You elitists with your geography and your maps and your spelling," Ali chimed in.

Trump, the antithesis to socialism, through pressure and turmoil, is unwittingly paving the way to socialism by bailing out America, expanding government, possibly commanding private industry for emergency production, and pushing for a cash payment to every citizen. It is no surprise that big government radical leftists such as Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-05) is saying, "politics aside, this is incredible and the right response in this critical time." If she supports this, we really need to think harder about what we are doing. Mark my words, the blueprint for a universal basic income (UBI) and government intervention has been laid, and Donald Trump is the chief architect if he caves to the left’s demands. They are already saying this isn't enough, "the payments must be recurring."

I am skeptical of the fake national unity, much like vegan foods attempting to be meat. It's overpriced, and an attempt to virtue signal. We see some on the left praising Trump as "the kind of leader that people need," said Dana Bash of CNN. This dangerous language dances with the devil between need and want. It is need that is synonymous with dependence, and want is what citizens demand when they have expectations of those who serve them. Oddly, it is only when the right begins to advance big government policies and intervention that the left decides to lay praise and play nice.

When was the last time the establishment media and left had a thrill up their leg in approval? It was when Trump bombed Syria in 2018, a decision that ran contrary to his core base of support. His base was furious. We all began to think, "oh great, another Mideast warmonger."

Can we trust the left to act in good faith? Absolutely not. This is what they do, and they have never extended us the same courtesy. Why do we have to be the benevolent ones? The path of least resistance is when this administration begins to advance big-government policies that the left always wanted. This abusive relationship needs to stop.

Liberty is independence from those that govern, and now we're in a place where we depend on the good graces and generosity of those who govern to survive a crisis. This temporary financial assistance, a UBI light, proposed by the administration will wet the pallets of an increasingly desperate America as the economy dries out. Moreover, we have a generation of millennials that regularly flirt with the idea of socialism and guaranteed income. Maybe they found their first true love who will give them a taste of what they always fantasized about.

When has the government ever shrunk? This malignant cancer of government grows without restraint and consumes the citizen as its host until we become a statistic, a number that must be managed. Let's be honest, Trump hasn't shrunk the government, and in all likelihood, the government will have a much larger footprint when his presidency ends. I am concerned that the left will point towards moments of crisis and need, utilizing an already accustomed citizenry to paternalistic government, to command private industries during peacetime, rather than reserve such action for times of crisis. The seal will have been broken.  We know this, the left expands government. The best the right has ever done, at least in recent history, is to slow its rate of growth. Either way, it grows, and the left wins.

I do not blame Trump, and in fact, one may say I agree with his bold actions to save the republic as the threat of recession looms upon us—unordinary times do call for extraordinary action. As of this week, all the economic gains under President Trump has been erased. No one, not even a Trump-hating leftist, should be happy about this. And yet, we have leftist like Bill Maher wishing for a recession: "Can I ask about the economy because this economy is going pretty well? I feel like the bottom has to fall out at some point. And by the way, I'm hoping for it. Because I think one way you get rid of Trump is a crashing economy. So, please, bring on the recession. Sorry if that hurts people, but it's either root for a recession, or you lose your democracy," Maher said in 2018 on his HBO show Real Time.

Well, the left finally got what they wanted. It was Trump's unleashing of the American economic engine that was his saving grace. Even liberals couldn't refute this achievement. It was his go to claim," the economy is the best it has ever been." Perhaps, the victory was declared too soon, and now he must save it – for all our sakes.

Although summer seems to be in arms reach, strangely, it appears that it is winter that is upon us. The blame resides with the People's Republic of China, a communist regime that misled the world by stifling the truth about the coronavirus and its rapid spread. Now, we're all paying for it with lives lost and a massive spending bill that will likely burden generations to come.

Americans will suffer unless the federal government extends a helping hand, much like the paternal figure the left always wanted. Although the action to provide financial assistance to every American comes from a place of compassion and necessity forced by crisis, the general public will become addicted to the tender care of big government. It is this warming up to the idea that frightens me. History proves that the hand that feeds today may be the hand that makes us bleed tomorrow.

Already, I hear many who are jubilant about the idea of a coronavirus virus check, even joking that they "will blow it on hookers and cocaine."  It's possible that many are unable to fathom a scenario much worse than the current state of affairs that would necessitate assistance. Or perhaps, many who don't need the check will receive it anyway. Who turns down a free lunch? Again, this is the problem with relatively blanket financial gifts, it's virtually impossible to discriminate effectively between those who need and from those who simply want.

Consequently, the low-calorie option of UBI doesn't seem so bad at the moment, but I fear that a Bernie Sanders type won't have to look too far and long for a blueprint. The socialist will only have to look at Donald Trump. In the end, the government continues to expand while the individual contracts. The right must change its tactics because even we give them what they want, regardless if it's a crisis or not. Do we honestly believe that we can shrink the government at this point? I'd venture to say, we're passed the turning point, and it’s going to happen no matter what.

The left has it easy. They just need to be patient.