For the past seven and a half years, I have been a regular contributor for The American Spectator.
That is until yesterday and hence why I have now started this blog.
If you are unfamiliar with The American Spectator (TAS) it is a conservative/libertarian journal which was founded in 1967. As I mentioned, I have been a contributor to its online edition since the early days of the Obama Administration in 2009.
During that time, I have been a very strong critic of the Obama Administration. But I have also written about a variety of other subjects particularly baseball and music. After all, man cannot live by politics alone.
But yet what is a political magazine without political commentary? As critical as I have been of the Obama Administration and Hillary Clinton, I have been equally critical of Donald Trump's candidacy for the White House. Indeed, when Trump announced his candidacy in June 2015, I wrote, "God help us if our two choices for President are Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump." Well, it looks like God has told us, "You're on your own."
My stance against Trump has put me at odds with several TAS contributors including Jeffrey Lord who you may have seen advocate for The Donald on CNN. It has also put me at odds with our publisher R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. (who most people call Bob).
These problems began in July 2015 when a column I wrote objecting to Trump's comments on John McCain's POW captivity was spiked. At that time, I was told to lay off Trump by TAS editor Wlady Pleszczynski. In time, however, as Trump continued to say stupid things I was able to write columns and blog posts taking him to task for various indecencies.
In January 2016, after National Review declared itself "Against Trump", Tyrrell wrote in The Washington Times:
At The American Spectator we have always been a big tent magazine. We have writers who favor Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Marco Rubio, Gov. Chris Christie, Gov. Jeb Bush — the whole lot of them. We run criticism of Donald Trump by the likes of Ross Kaminsky, Aaron Goldstein, Larry Thornberry and others. We have run the pro-Trump writing of Jeff Lord, Esther Goldberg and Frank Buckley, and, of course, me. It is a big tent at The Spectator, as big and wide-open as this race for the presidency.
But now that Trump is the GOP nominee, this big tent has receded. Last month, I would have yet another article critical of Trump spiked, this one focusing on his boorish treatment of The Khans. At which point, I confined my criticisms of Trump to my blog posts.
Despite the fact that I have written for TAS for the entire duration of the Obama Administration, I never once communicated directly with Bob Tyrrell. That is until yesterday when he sent me this e-mail:
Dear Aaron:
I consider you our culture gogue and all around expert at stirring up the animals. You even know more about culture than Wlad! It is always a joy to have you in our pages. I only object to one thing. Now that the presidential race is in earnest and HRC has a chance of winning we cannot frivol with the Republican candidate. Too many court openings and government regulations are at stake. Please lay off Donald. He has turned a page, and we cannot contribute to the unthinkable. A new and civilized Donald is heading down the homestretch. Do not be an Inadvertent Conservative for Hillary.
As ever,
ret
Sure, Bob pays me some compliments. But let's read between the lines. You would think he might have found the time to show his appreciation at some point over the past seven and a half years prior to yesterday. As such I have to wonder if Bob would have bothered to acknowledge these contributions unless he was planning to give me a "Lay off Donald" ultimatum. Somehow I doubt it.
The idea that my anti-Trump writings will contribute to a Hillary victory is laughable. Trump is doing a good job of that on his own. How exactly does reading a couple of speeches from a teleprompter constitute turning a page? How does it make him "new and civilized"? It doesn't change the fact that he made fun of a man with a physical disability, it doesn't change the fact that he questioned a federal judge's humanity nor does it change the fact that he took a Gold Star mother to task for not speaking about the death of her son.
As for Bob's claims that too many court openings and government regulations are at stake, what makes him or anyone else think that Trump will stick his neck out for a conservative jurist if Chuck Schumer is the Senate Majority leader? The only government regulations that Trump is interested in is having the FCC fine any journalist who criticizes him.
I loathe what Hillary Clinton stands for just as much as any other conservative. But that doesn't mean Donald Trump is entitled to my vote. Honestly, I don't think anything good comes out of November 8th. I'm not sure how I can justify my continued presence at The American Spectator if this view is out of bounds. How can I write for a political magazine if I am rendered unable to express my political point of view?
Of course, Bob is the publisher and he can omit from it anything he sees fit. Because of this development, I informed Bob that I could not continue contributing to The American Spectator. While I am grateful for the seven and a half years I've spent writing for The American Spectator I told him I thought it best to go our separate ways.
So where do I go from here? For now, I'll write my thoughts here. If I can hook up with another conservative publication that would be great. If not, c'est la vie. But whatever I do, I shall do on my own terms.
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