New Republic Conservatives

   When Estase was an undergraduate, he noticed a difference in the attitude of the Nation and New Republic towards President Clinton.  Nation saw Clinton as an unprincipled opportunist--someone who couldn't be trusted to stand on principle for anything.  Clinton's iffy environmental record and support for DOMA bear out the Nation's view of Clinton.  New Republic had the Tabitha Soren view of the Clintons.  Assuming that the antiwar generation was infallible, New Republic happily overlooked Whitewater and other signs of the Clintons' dishonesty.  Blind adulation was the New Republic's attitude toward Team Billary.
       If anyone wants to see what he Republican version of New Republic looks like, they need look no further than AM radio, Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News.  Loathe to say anything critical of Orange Blatherskite, these news sources come up with tu quoque on a scale never formerly thought possible.  Trump's inability to pick staff who hold their post for more than a year is of no concern.  While O.B. is in trouble for seeking dirt on Joe Biden from Ukraine, the oblivious Trump doubles down by repeating his impropriety with China!  The response of the New Republic right is to act as though Biden's potential abuses of power absolve Trump from misusing Executive power!
     Never before have Republicans had so low a bar for their office-holders.  Pointing to Democratic malfeasance is now a cover for open defiance of the public trust. 
       While it may be proper to pressure foreign governments for information about terrorists, this is of use of Executive power for public protection.  What O.B. is doing with Ukraine and China is entirely different.  This is use of Executive power for Trump's PERSONAL BENEFIT.
       By this time, the response of the right-wing Outrage Machine against the legitimate qualms of Mitt Romney (whose conservative bona fides go further back than 2015) are a sadly predictable response.  As are the memes claiming that attacks on our lawless president are attacks on conservative America.  This is just how much of a stranglehold New Republic Republicans have over the conservative movement.