On September 5, 2016, Michael Anton wrote an essay that was seismic in its domestic effect.

It was “The Flight 93 Election.” Published under the nom de plume Publius Decius Mus (Anton was later revealed to be the author), it asserted that the election of Donald Trump was a national imperative. Not a guarantee of any sort. But a Hail Mary pass necessary if we had any hope of saving the nation:

“2016 is the Flight 93 election: charge the cockpit or you die. You may die anyway.

“You - or the leader of your party - may make it into the cockpit and not know how to fly or land the plane. There are no guarantees.

“Except one: if you don’t try, death is certain….

“One of the paradoxes - there are so many - of conservative thought over the last decade at least is the unwillingness even to entertain the possibility that America and the West are on a trajectory toward something very bad. //

I wish I knew Mr. Anton. Because I would love to discuss with him this IDENTICAL conservative cognitive dissonance on display right now with regard to Trump Trade. //

The Globalist trade status quo has been AWFUL for the United States. For many, MANY decades. DC has happily served as the world’s butcher. Slicing up the US and selling it by the pound to the rest of the world. Via multinational corporations with ZERO loyalty to the nation that made their beyond-avarice wealth possible.

Aren’t Conservatives supposed to be the patriotic ones? Anton’s Cognitive Dissonance Conservatives have spent these decades…defending this titanic US sellout. In defense of a fake “free trade” that exists only in their minds.