The death of individual thought: All or nothing views on Trump must end

The entire country was thrown into a firestorm last week when hip-hop artist Kanye West came out on Twitter in support of Candace Owens, a popular YouTuber under the moniker Red Pill Black and current communications director for Turning Point USA. Kanye followed up those tweets by tweeting out his affections for our current President Donald Trump and a picture of his signed MAGA hat. In reading the comments and subsequent tweets Mr.West received, it was clear that America had become unhinged. Former Obama campaign members were calling West an attention seeker. Cenk Uygur, the owner of the popular progressive news website The Young Turks called West, “an empty celebrity who is dumb, narcissistic, and shameless.”
It hasn’t just been the left that couldn’t believe one of their heroes who was once famous for stating that former President George W. Bush “didn’t care about black people” in a video for the Red Cross after Hurricane Katrina decimated the Gulf Coast, but it’s been the right as well. I have seen so many on Fox News and in talk radio speaking as if West had come out quoting Milton Freedman in economics. It has become apparent to this writer that conservatism is increasingly being defined not by your positions on the issues but by how intently you support the president.

This point was confirmed when conservative talk radio show host Eric Erickson posted an article from his website, The Resurgent, detailing the most recent round of firings at the popular conservative website RedState. In his article, Erickson makes it clear that many of those targeted such as Caleb Howe and Susan Wright were targeted partly based on their opposition to the president. This idea was reinforced when Kimberly Ross tweeted “1. I’m still (for now) employed by RedState. 2. If I’m told to forsake principles and bend to Trump, I won’t do it.”

Erickson went even further when he posted an article detailing his experience during the 2016 election cycle. After disinviting Trump to the RedState Gathering in 2015 and being extremely critical of Trump in both print and radio, Erickson was savagely attacked. He detailed how people were calling his seminary asking that he be removed, calling his radio station requesting he be fired, accosting his family in stores, and how he received emails from people cheering the idea that his wife had lung cancer.

Erikson’s story isn’t unique. Yellowhammer columnist and WVNN radio show host Dale Jackson has been very open about the emails and tweets he has received for his criticism of Trump. He has stated that he has lost advertisers, radio stations, money, and career advancement because he has been critical of the president. I saw this in my own life after the 2016 primaries when I came out openly among my friends and family stating that I couldn’t in good conscience vote for Trump. I was called a traitor to my country. I sat in awe wondering how people who I have known since I was a child who had never done a thing for this country, outside of living their lives, could look at someone like me with two deployments, a Combat Action Badge, and over seven years of military service and question my patriotism all because I refused to support their “Cheeto Jesus.”

Those of us on the right are quick to point out the rampant hypocrisy of those on the left who claim to be champions of diversity and critical thinking, yet riot and shut down college campuses when speakers such as Ben Shapiro or Ann Coulter are invited to events. We rightfully recognize this as the creation of echo chambers designed to indoctrinate and proselytize those within their sphere of influence into thinking and believing one-dimensionally.

However, we often refuse to see that when we harass, insult, or call for those to lose their jobs simply for expressing opinions critical of the things and people we like we are no different than the mobs on our college campuses. By creating echo chambers where we surround ourselves with only the points of view we agree with and condemn any ideas, arguments, or opinions that are critical of the people we believe in, we are guilty of creating the same “safe spaces” that we mock.

We need to realize that it is perfectly acceptable to praise Trump for his work on North Korea while also condemning him for his lies about paying off a porn star with which he had an affair. We can walk and chew gum at the same time, and this type of all or nothing view toward our president must end if we hope to have any credibility left when he isn’t in office.