Let me start off by saying that I have long detested Bret Stephens, the conservative columnist for The New York Times. On top of him being a super-jerk, over the years I’ve disagreed strongly with just about every column he’s ever written. He often makes biased, lazy, bogus arguments based on lies, distortions and/or general Republican BS, and somehow keeps getting paychecks from the Times. But like a lot of conservatives these days he’s apparently drawn a line when it comes to Donald Trump, and yesterday he revealed for the first time, in a written conversation with fellow NYT columnist Gail Collins, that he is voting for Kamala Harris. Yes, this is not a normal election and pigs do indeed fly.
Here’s how he put it (and he couldn’t help being a bit of a jerk even with the reveal):
Kicking and screaming, I’ll cast my ballot for Harris.
I really would rather have just sat out Election Day. But Jan. 6 and election denialism are unforgivable. And as my friend Richard North Patterson likes to say, “Donald Trump is literally bleeping crazy.” And what crazy brings in its wake is JD Vance, whom I find worse than Trump, because he’s just as cynical but twice as bright. And what it also brings in its wake is Tucker Carlson and the Hitler defenders he likes to platform.
Aside from the “kicking and screaming” bit, I certainly agree with Stephens on all of that (can’t believe I just wrote that), and I’m glad that he pointed out that Vance is even worse than Trump, because there are some Republicans out there trying to assuage conservatives leery of voting for Trump by pointing to Vance as somehow being more acceptable. Stephens then goes on to make some completely bogus and unfounded concerns about Harris’ competence (we can’t expect miracles here) , and then says something that I think is an argument that could appeal to many conservatives still on the fence about this election (although I admit that it’s hard for me to get inside the mind of a conservative):
I won’t fear that (Harris will) refuse to recognize the result of the next election should she lose it. And I won’t fear that Tim Walz is a cunning stooge who will always do the boss’s bidding, no matter how unconstitutional it might be. And I won’t fear learning that an Arnold Palmer is now a reference to something other than lemonade and iced tea and a big golf swing.
I have to say that I like that “cunning stooge” bit. As I read what Stephens said, I couldn’t helping thinking about the clips I just viewed of Kamala Harris and Liz Cheney speaking together to conservative voters in some key swing states this week. Stephens brought up something that Cheney also brought up in those conversations — that January 6 was a BIG game-changer for her and for many Republicans in terms of no longer being able to support Trump. I watched a discussion on Jen Psaki’s MSNBC show last night where a reporter who covered Nikki Haley’s primary campaign noted that January 6 was a line too far for many Republican voters — including a lot of Haley voters — and that this is not necessarily being reflected in the polling.
Among the many, many reasons why I’m looking forward to Kamala Harris winning the presidency, is that I can go back to detesting Bret Stephens. But if his published support for Harris sways any other conservative voters to also vote for Harris, for the time being I’m grateful.
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Written by Daily Kos member davidkc. Cross-posted from Daily Kos.
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