It's indeed an excellent piece. A bit one-sided at times, but very sharp and insightful.
A couple of months ago, I had already read the Elmers essay published by Claremont that the article is talking about (
https://americanmind.org/salvo/why-the-claremont-institute-is-not-conservative-and-you-shouldnt-be-either/ ) and was shocked by how dark and radical it was. That one was an ill-concealed call for a coup. It really soured me on Claremont in general.
In particular, I just don't get the doom and gloom sentiment on the American right that your article investigates.
I mean, we only need to take a sober look at the 2020 election:
Republicans were headed into battle by a historically polarizing, unpopular and inept standard bearer who committed unforced error after unforced error and had no fortune whatsoever throughout the year before the election; had to run against the backdrop of extremely disadvantageous external factors; against an opponent who had nominated his strongest possible candidate as his figurehead; outraised them by lopsided margins and was backed by the country's intellectual, cultural, bureaucratic and media elites to an unprecedented degree.
The bottom line was that the GOP, in spite of all of this, still achieved the necessary result to hold the Senate*, came within 0.63% of holding the WH and within 2.2% of winning a
trifecta of their own. And they made significant (albeit overstated) inroads with voters of color, indicating that demographics need not be destiny after all.
The lesson from 2020 for the GOP imho is that they can absolutely still win elections without compromising on their conservative agenda as long as they nominate a candidate who doesn't trip over his own feet all the time. They just need to finally get their act together.
It's still time to reconsider the idea with the coup when it's 2036 and president Crenshaw was just ousted from office by senator AOC in spite of a roaring economy and winning white voters by 30 percentage points. :rolleyes:
*that Trump's selfish post-election antics threw the Senate is a different story
In conversations with conservatives I know, I've made the point for years that there's not really any happy warriors on the right. I suppose Tim Scott comes closest, but he couldn't come top 3 in a Republican primary, I don't believe. The base doesn't want to be inspired and lifted up... they want their resentment, anger, and victimhood tweaked.
You make a fair point about the electoral results and how the right should be grateful they did that well in 2020... although I'm really not sure how well they can do with Trump off the ticket. Does the removal of Trump's stench bring back enough suburban voters to make up for the diehard Trumpists that would stay home if he wasn't on the ballot? I'm skeptical of that.