Michael Ramirez Essay: Still Conservative

From America's Premier Editorial Cartoonist

STILL CONSERVATIVE

By Michael Ramirez, September 10, 2023

A reader recently asked me if I had changed. He implied that I had become a liberal because I had targeted Trump. I thought my response was worth sharing with you. There are some things I have written before, but I think for the upcoming election, they are worth repeating.

I told him to take a look at my cartoons again. There are literally hundreds of anti-Biden Administration, anti-progressive, and anti-wokeism cartoons for every one Trump cartoon.

I told him the cartoons are focused on issues, not personalities.

I used to joke with one of my dear friends, a Republican governor, that I would stop doing cartoons against his policies if he stopped doing things I disagreed with.

I am still the same constitutional conservative, free-market capitalist I have always been. I will always follow principles and defend the truth, even at the risk of being unpopular. I have a 40-year-plus record of supporting constitutional conservatism and free-market capitalism, and I have never deviated from that.

I have not changed one iota.   

Unfortunately, the Republican Party has navigated away from our founding principles towards a shallow conspiratorial populism and away from success at the ballot box. 

These are challenging times, I know, but it is during these challenging times when core principles become important. 

Some readers have called me a R.I.N.O... I freely admit it. I am a Republican In Name Only.

I am not tied to any party. I am tied to conservative principles. I support those who will preserve our liberty, defend our Constitution, and preserve the fabric of America.

The Republican party has traditionally been the best vehicle to do that, but that is changing. You see, you have to WIN to implement your ideas. 

My job is to defend liberty, the constitution, conservatism, free market economics and not to be popular. I get paid to read, research, and find the truth, not to buttress some argument. The truth matters. If you cannot substantiate your point of view, then you have no business trying to influence others to do the same.

Far too many pundits are already using social media to reinforce conspiratorial nonsense for fame, fortune, and a following. I choose not to be one of them. They have abused your trust for their gain.

Social media is a breeding ground for nonsense and uninformed acquiescence. I can’t tell you how much garbage is passed around, circulated, and recirculated without people checking to see if any of it is actually based on factual information.

The media shares some blame for this by corrupting content with a political agenda rather than being an objective witness to events. So, it is important during these times to closely examine everything carefully and objectively and remove the static and social media echo chamber that accompanies it.

AMERICA WANTS CONSERVATISM

The shame is that America is ready for a conservative revolution on the scale of the Reagan years, one that will last for 20-30 years.

Biden is the best thing to happen to the GOP since Lincoln. He has shown that progressive policies are a disaster. But this is being undermined by Trump and the GOP looking backward instead of forward.

America needs a true conservative.

AMERICA NEEDS A REAGAN NOT A TRUMP.

Republicans should be selling a constitutional platform instead of nutty conspiracy theories.

This class one Senatorial election cycle is an opportunity for Republicans to pick up the Senate. There are 33 seats up for grabs. Only ten are Republican seats. There are 20 Democrat seats plus three independents (that caucus with Dems). With the right person at the head of the ticket, Republicans could pick up the House, the Senate, and the Presidency and put America back on the right path. With the wrong person at the head of the ticket, the down-the-ballot GOP candidates lose because Republicans skip voting and Democrats who are energized show up. It is what turned the 2022 “Red Wave” into a red tide.

In 2020, 43% of Democrats did not vote for Biden or his liberal agenda; they voted against Trump.

Because of Trump, the Republican party has shrunk down to just 24% of the electorate. Die-hard Trump supporters constitute about a third of the party. 41% of voters are independents, and most of those are Republicans, former Republicans and conservative Democrats. 33% are Democrats.

Do the math.

You might be able to win a plurality of the vote in a primary, but you can't win a general election with just 8% of the vote...  While those Republicans and Independents (who are actually Republicans) will not vote for Democrats because of the slim majority that allows the GOP to win, they will stay home, which is enough for the GOP to lose. If this continues, 2024 will repeat the Tea Party disaster in 2010, when we should have swept the Senate, and last year’s election, when we should have gained the House and the Senate but lost it because we nominated unelectable candidates.

I'm not anti-Trump. I am anti-stupid. 

Trump is a loser. He lost the House, the Senate TWICE, and he lost the presidency to a borderline dementia patient who has been on the wrong side of every major issue in his political career.

Trump was unreliable. The largest deficit under Barack Obama was $1.3 TRILLION. The largest deficit under Trump was $1.3 TRILLION BEFORE COVID.

Trump was anti free-market. Biden has continued the Trump trade policies because they are liberal policies. While I oppose China and think they should be penalized and held accountable for many of their misdeeds, the ill-conceived trade war did nothing but increase our trade deficit with China and, with the trillions in government handouts and giveaways, started the inflationary cycle that exists today.

There is a better free-market solution. China has an overwhelmingly export economy. America’s GDP constitutes one-quarter of the world’s economy. We should utilize our Western allies instead of alienating them.

The China tariffs don't hurt President Xi. China is not a democracy. Xi is unelected and doesn't care if his people starve or if businesses are negatively impacted. It's a communist authoritarian government.

It was a tax on Americans. The Chinese did not pay those added costs; you paid it and I, the American consumer, and American businesses that are globally integrated into the supply chain.

It was $900 billion of trade regulations. It is why DEMOCRATS STILL SUPPORT THE TARIFFS.

Trump’s administration did some good things. He was better than Hillary.

• Shut down $1.3 trillion in Obama regulations and unleashed the American economy. 

• Cutting taxes and making our corporate tax rates globally competitive

• Conservative Supreme Court.

But all these things would have been done by ANY Republican.

The good things that happened during the Trump administration happened in spite of Trump, not because of him.  

Trump can't get out of his own way. 

64% of Americans wanted a wall built. 58% still want it today. Trump had a Republican majority in the House and the Senate, and he still couldn't get it done.

Trump almost lost Kavanaugh's SCOTUS seat because he alienated the very people whose votes were needed to get Kavanaugh through confirmation on the eve of the Senate vote.

Reagan assembled a conservative revolution and passed the largest tax cuts without a Republican majority in the House. The GOP controlled the Senate for six years while the Democrats controlled the House throughout his presidency, but Reagan’s conservative influence lasted over two decades.

Why? Reagan made it cool to be a Republican.

Trump lost the election in 2020.

Trump and his acolytes went to court over 61 times, courts with conservative and Trump-appointed judges, and a conservative Supreme Court, and could not provide a shred of evidence of substantial voter fraud. Five of the six contested states had election systems set up by REPUBLICAN legislatures, and all had paper ballots. All recounts, including the ridiculous “Cyber Ninjas,” showed gains for BIDEN.

Which brings us to two conclusions:

1. All those judges, Republican legislatures, Republican election workers, the Republican cyber security czar appointed by Trump who certified the election, 11 of 14 of his cabinet members that are now opposed to Trump, and many more conservatives are all lying and in on the largest conspiracy in history… and all the paper ballots were rigged.

2. Or maybe it's Trump?

Trump is a liar. 

Trump claimed a “massive landslide victory” in 2016 and characterized it as “one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history.” Nope. It was Reagan who was truly elected by a real landslide… TWICE.

In 1980, Reagan was elected with 489 electoral votes, winning 44 states and 50.7% of the popular vote. He had an even bigger victory in 1984 with 525 electoral votes, winning 49 states and 59% of the popular vote.

Reagan wasn’t the only landslide victory for a modern Republican president in recent history. President Nixon won reelection in 1972 with 520 electoral votes, carried 49 states, and 60.7% of the popular vote.

Trump was elected in 2016 with 304 electoral votes. He won 30 states.

Trump only got 232 electoral votes in 2020.

Trump never won the popular vote in either election.

To put it in perspective, Obama won in 2008 with 365 electoral votes and 52.9% of the popular vote. He was reelected in 2012 with 332 electoral votes and 51.1% of the popular vote.

Both Obama's election victories were larger than Trump's.

Biden won in 2020 with more electoral votes than Trump had in 2016. Does that mean Biden won in a landslide? Uh, no…

I don't care if Trump is obnoxious. I'm obnoxious. But I do mind when he impulsively undermines the conservative agenda.

What used to separate Republicans from Democrats are the cold, hard facts. For Republicans, principles matter. The truth matters. The means are as important as the ends. In my view, liberals deal with things emotionally, and conservatives deal with things factually and intellectually. 

Republicans should stand for:

• God

• Family

• Freedom

• Fidelity to the Constitution

• Adherence to the law

• Knowing the difference between right and wrong

• Individual liberty

• Individual responsibility

• Less government

• A strong national defense

• Low taxes

• Free market economics

• Fiscal responsibility

• A beacon for freedom for the world

• Truth, justice, and the American way.

Just because one side plays dirty and lies, it doesn't mean the other side should lower themselves into the quagmire. We're not five-year-olds.

America needs some adults.

Conservatives can win easily with the truth. Conservative ideas prevail because they work. Just look at the disaster of the last two years. Republicans should run on those ideas, not the past.

Trump is neither a conservative nor a Republican.

Trump acts impulsively rather than intellectually.

Because he is dishonest, which should concern conservative voters, if reelected, he will be unpredictable because he is untethered to any philosophical foundation.

It’s funny how no reasonable person would buy a used car from a dealer if he lies about one thing, but there are still those who will buy whoppers repeatedly from Trump.

Trump uses America like a grifter to funnel money into his pockets. Money can’t buy class. Of the $250 million dollars he collected to promote GOP candidates and prove election fraud, he spent very little in either case. He has spent most of his PAC money on his legal issues, of his own making. He's a billionaire and misspending the money hardworking people have contributed to win campaigns.

George Washington said for a Republic to survive, it must be built on a foundation of morality.

Our moral standards should not be sacrificed for political expedience. 

The truth is as important as winning. The means are as important as the ends.

We don't need to lie or deceive ourselves to win. 

The truth is conservative policies work, and progressive policies do not. 

Nutty conspiracies, lies, and half-truths may serve some of the political goals now, but they will eventually undermine the party's credibility and everything it stands for. The truth will eventually find its way to the surface. 

In 1980, America was 45% Democrats and 29% Independents. Republicans constituted only 23% of the electorate.

Reagan won 85% of Republicans, 27% of Democrats, 56% of the Independents, and the election.

Independents matter. So does the truth.

I haven’t changed. Neither has the truth.

America is ready for a conservative Reagan Revolution. Find a real conservative to lead the charge.

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