Excoriating

I've written here before about how, when a conservative Republican speaks out harshly against Donald Trump, we should pay attention. I now have a corollary to that: when suddenly a previously silent conservative Republican speaks up, then that can mark a sea change in events.

Peggy Noonan is a longtime conservative syndicated columnist for The Wall Street Journal who previously served as Ronald Reagan's speechwriter and special assistant. You don't get much more mainstream conservative GOP than Peggy.

Until a few days ago, Noonan often spoke positively and supportively of Trump. But no more. Her latest column rips Trump a new asshole, as the expression goes.

"The president’s primary problem as a leader is not that he is impetuous, brash or naive," she writes. "It’s not that he is inexperienced, crude, an outsider. It is that he is weak and sniveling. It is that he undermines himself almost daily by ignoring traditional norms and forms of American masculinity. He’s not strong and self-controlled, not cool and tough, not low-key and determined; he’s whiny, weepy and self-pitying. He throws himself, sobbing, on the body politic. He’s a drama queen."

Unfortunately, the whole column is behind a paywall and cannot be linked. The Hill published a piece with some highlights (link here). And a regular at Daily Kos more extensively quotes Noonan's piece (link here).

Historically, once Noonan has turned against someone, she will continue to lob darts and cannonballs. She's widely read on Capitol Hill and in conservative circles so her conversion won't go unnoticed. Let's hope she keeps it up on a regular basis.