Article courtesy of TheBlaze, by Matt Walsh.
Donald Trump has not been alone in his crusade to make a grotesque mockery of conservatism. He’s had a lot of help, and most of that help has come from the supposed “leaders” of the very movement he seeks to destroy.
A whole host of prominent figures made enormous amounts of money pretending to be spokesmen for the cause, only to sell it down the river when the sentient pile of driftwood known as Donald Trump came floating by. These past few months have been a horrific bloodbath, as many famous and once-respected conservatives have gutted their credibility for a chance to latch themselves to Trump like barnacles on the Titanic. Some of these ideological hustlers may have, at one point, truly believed in the principles of which they’ve so handsomely profited, but when the principles finally jeopardized the profits, they did not hesitate to choose the latter over the former.
Donald Trump was able to co-opt conservatism and slap his name across the front of it, like he’s done with so many hotels and casinos and dozens of other defunct companies, because those entrusted with defending and protecting it retreated at the first sign of resistance. They hid from the populist mob or grabbed their pitchforks and joined in. And when conservatism suffers the same fate as so many of Trump’s bankrupted ventures, we will have these cowards to blame.