NYT's Ross Douthat Sees Donald Trump as an Opportunity

By Charles Pierce, Esquire

24 August 15

Here's some stupid for lunch.

is Eminence Ross Cardinal Douthat, primate of the Archdiocese of Dorkylvania, has become intrigued with the current Republican frontrunner.

But just as, watching the debate, I wasn't persuaded that having Trump in the field was necessarily making the entire G.O.P. field look bad, I'm not persuaded that his rise spells doom for my favored policy reforms either. From a reformocon perspective, Trumpism is a problem and an opportunity at once — which, at the very least, is a lot more than you could have said about what the rise of a Michelle Bachmann or a Herman Cain had to offer reformers at this time four years ago.

Most recently, the current Republican frontrunner was lecturing the pope, so I think the idea that he will render himself malleable to the likes of His Eminence is something of a longshot. I also think the idea that Douthat and his fellow ideological Mouseketeers believe they can use Trumpism to control the future of modern conservatism is a very funny concept that I would like to see turned into a sketch one day.