I regularly read columns and op-eds in my effort to provide you with political views you may not see. This special includes my observations on views published by two Wall Street Journal columnists.
THIS IS A TALE OF TWO WOMEN, both Wall Street Journal columnists. Peggy Noonan writes under Declarations and Kimberly A. Strassel writes under Potomac Watch; both are excellent writers, however, with divergent views of President Trump and the changing political landscape.
PEGGY NOONAN (lonely conservative.com)
Regular readers may recall that I have occasionally been critical of Noonan’s columns, while recognizing her excellent work as a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan. Earlier this month, we were reminded of her line in Reagan’s famous June 6, 1984 speech at Normandy – “these are the boys of Point du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs.”
I found her Saturday column, “My Sister, My Uncle and Trump,” quite interesting as she recalled conversations with relatives who were excited about Trump entering the race in 2015, and their continued support of him.
Noonan warned her uncle with, “I think we have to think twice about putting the American nuclear arsenal in the hands of a TV host,” while citing in her column that she “meant screwball.” Noonan referred to the “unreadiness of the White House for a sudden, immediate and high stakes crisis.”
The speechwriter in her came out with her criticism of the president’s recent Orlando speech in which she complained that “in his speeches he rarely tries to persuade the uncertain, he only tells the certain they’re right.” It is the “uncertain’s” who Noonan believes are in play in 2020.
While Noonan is considered a “conservative” columnist, I see her as part of the Republican establishment, what I call “Old Washington.” She refuses to let Trump be Trump; constantly citing “his embarrassments and crudities” while fretting over his “unpresidential” practices.
How could a woman of her intellect write, “Americans would respect the Republican Party if it gave the impression its leaders are actually noticing America and a farsighted sense of its real plight,” when that’s precisely how those sick and tired “deplorables” elected Donald Trump.
Noonan writes that her sister and uncle “wanted me to be jolly too, to join them in the rebellion.” It’s too bad that she felt the need to use her column to shoot down the excitement they shared with her over the Trump presidency.
KIMBERLY A. STRASSEL (realclearpolitics.com)
MEANWHILE, Strassel, who was still in grade school when Noonan wrote for Reagan, has perceptively written on the political scene since joining the Wall Street Journal after her 1994 graduation from Princeton. She is a member of the Journal’s editorial board.
While she occasionally fires a shot across the bow of the Trump administration, she is more objective of Trump, the man, than Noonan.
In her June 21, 2019 column, “Make America Even Greater,” she reviewed the president’s reelection launch in Orlando, in which he pointed out that supporters there were “Happy the president is pointing out conservative achievements. They like that he’s contrasting those victories with the threat of liberal governess.”
Strassel noted the need for an agenda to go along with Trump’s “Give me four more years to protect and finish the plan,” pointing out the need to make the tax reform permanent as he discusses the success of our economy.
SHE GETS IT – “Americans elected Mr. Trump to tread where other presidents would not. He’s a disruptive choice, and his success rests in promising more (positive) disruption. Mr. Trump claims to know Americans well, which means he knows that Americans aren’t satisfied with being great. They always want to be even greater.”
May God bless the United States of America.
