I can understand why conservatives like Jonah Goldberg, David French and Bill Kristol remain anti-Trump. They are the literati. Trump in their mind is a hardly literate buffoon.
Jonah Goldberg is General Omar Bradley. Trump is General George C. Patton. Goldberg and Bradley are colorless, polite, courteous, reticent, gentle, dull, dependable, and respect the chain of command. Trump and Patton are colorful, cussing, outspoken, impulsive, independent, flamboyant, glory-seeking and victorious.
Bradley and Patton were polar opposites personality wise and it is widely known that Bradley did not like Patton either personally or professionally. While Bradley was concerned about gaining a good press, Patton did not trust the press. Patton slapped the cowardly soldier; Bradley reprimanded Patton for doing so.
It took Patton, not comparatively low-energy Bradley, to win the presidency and to be victorious over two political dynasties, Bushes and Clinton’s. Trump was the street fighter, willing to get down and dirty with Hillary.
No other Republican could have carried Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania but Trump. Bill Kristol encouraged the genteel David French to run on a Conservative Party ticket against Trump and Hillary. Such a campaign would have gotten nowhere.
The National Review represented by Goldberg and French has been the primary magazine influencing conservatism since the mid-fifties. The Weekly Standard published by Kristol has been in thick of the battle for neo-conservatism since the mid-nineties.
These literati were battling while Trump was building a crass business empire, entertaining millions with a TV show and often supporting liberal causes. They must see Trump as an upstart and Johnny come lately to the conservative cause. Trump is philosophically more of a pragmatist than a conservative. Yet, he may end up doing more for conservatism than Ronald Reagan.
Brietbart News flashed on the scene in 2007 and eventually supplanted the National Review and Weekly Standard as the loudest voices on the right. Upon the death of Brietbart in 2012, Steve Bannon took over the Brietbart website and last year Bannon became instrumental in Trump’s victory.
Now Steve Bannon is chief strategist in the Trump administration! The National Review and The Weekly Standard no longer have the influence these publications once had. The literati are polar opposites tactically compared to Bannon and Trump. The literati operate as critics of our culture. Trump is a leader determined to Make America Great Again.