Trumpsteria: Dislike!, by Aaron Wolf. Chaos dominates the political scene today thanks to the success of Trump:

…everyone appears to have two choices: Oppose Trump with all your might, or try to glom on, hoping that his successes will become yours.

The Trump Opposers take two basic tacks.  One is to hurl screaming liberal epithets at him based on tired old clichés, and thereby damn everyone who supports Trump as equally deserving of those worn-out labels.  … The other approach of the Trump Opposers is to insist that he’s not a conservative. …

Alongside the Trump Opposers are the Trump Glommers, whose rhetoric suggests that there is an essence of Trumpism that validates some larger mass movement or sociopolitical goal, which just happens to be theirs. This is our moment, they declare, and we must carpe diem! …

What fascinates me about both sides of this Trumpsteria, the Opposers and the Glommers, is the fact that they are unmoored from reality. Trump and his supporters are not actual people, only examples of airtight isms. …

Conservatives embrace reality. As I wrote last month in this space, quoting Russell Kirk, conservatism is the “anti-ideology.” …

Conservatism has fallen on hard times in America today because ideology rules. Our media-driven, instant-communication, highly centralized, managerial society makes this easy. Today, the carefully written essay is ruled by the unmoderated and immoderate comment. Few are unfamiliar with the experience of “sharing” an article electronically, only to see comments appear instantly, long before the time necessary for any human being actually to have read the piece. Indeed, no one has the time to read all of the things “shared” by his “friends.” So just skim it, get the gist, and weigh in—cast your vote! What matters is not the truth conveyed by the speech or article, but who said it, and whose side he’s on.