Dear readers,
We hope you are having a great weekend.
You will not hear us say this often, but credit to outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russia’s de facto opposition leader Alexei Navalny for speaking out against President Trump’s ban on various big tech platforms. While repealing Section 230––the legal provision which grants big tech platforms liability protections––would only stifle free speech online further, the consequences of big tech dominance in politics are grave, which Niall Ferguson details in the cover story for The Spectator.
Michael Anton’s (in)famous 2016 essay, titled “The Flight 93 Election”, became a signature argument in defense of Trumpism. At Politico, Rich Lowry calls out the fallacious argument and how such a mentality led to the Capitol riots. In the latest issue of The Economist, Adrian Wooldridge notes how throughout history, complacency from the ruling classes has sowed the seeds of mob rule. The solution, then, is for us to rediscover the spirit of America’s republican values and demand better from our elected representatives as is argued by Thomas Koenig at National Review.
President Trump became the only President to be impeached twice earlier this week, and the prospect of a Senate trial perfectly encapsulates the polarized state of politics. At the Financial Times, constitutional scholar Vernon Bogdanor argues that a Senate trial with an uncertain outcome, certain to take place in the first few weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency, would only divide the country further and could end up emboldening a disgraced former President by making him a martyr. However, Ramesh Ponnuru at Bloomberg Opinion makes a strong case for a quick conviction and disqualification, as that would safeguard the American republic by deterring future would-be demagogues of all stripes.
As the Trump era comes to a conclusion, Gerald F. Seib at the Wall Street Journal writes the Saturday Essay on the rise and fall of the Trump movement, and on the path forward for conservatives and the Republican Party. Also, In another column for the Journal, Peggy Noonan pays an ode to the leadership of Liz Cheney, and career officials who keep the country going despite a vituperative partisan climate.
From our pages, do check out:
Tolerance for Me, Not for Thee
In Defense of Continuing Concealed Carry for Congress on the Hill
The Capitol Riots Were Hypocritical
Impeachment Would Be An Incendiary Mistake
A House Divided Falls: We Fell and Now We Need to Rebuild
Warmly,
The Newsletter Team
The views expressed in this article are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Lone Conservative staff.
