What Happened to McMullin: An Observation

Dan

Evan McMullin isn’t a bad guy. In fact, I would say he’s a good one. We should be grateful we have people like Evan who have served this country in many capacities. I respect Evan. When no one else stepped up to give voters a choice, Evan did. It was an honorable and respectable thing, and we should applaud that. There are a few reasons people have grown weary of McMullin. It’s not that he’s wrong. I don’t think he is. His criticisms and concerns about the right are mostly fair. I think the core of it is McMullin has adopted a tone that resembles an approach of the left, if not outright embracing it. His relentless criticism of the GOP puts people on the defensive. "Yes, the GOP is rotten, but it is still our party" is the general feeling. Evan seems to remind people of the nightmare that was the election season. It was an awful, war-torn year, and people are at their limits. Right or wrong, they don’t want the reminder. I do think the final straw was Evan making, at least what was interpreted as, an alliance with Shaun King, the embodiment of anti-GOP and anti-conservatism. King is not a moderate, but a radical leftist, which the election effectively rebuked.

So, allow me to put this in perspective for a moment: Evan is the guy you took to the dance because the creepy guy asked you and you needed a way out. Evan was nice, but not really your type. After the date, he kept leaving messages on your phone asking you out. You told Evan you want to be friends, and he agreed, but then he started criticizing some of your friends. It made things tense, and Evan still wanted a relationship. The final straw was when you saw Evan high five Shaun, the guy who called you a slut at the dance. Now you’re not only pissed, you feel betrayed.

I don’t think Evan meant any harm, I believe quite the opposite, but tactically he’s not running the best operation. I do think people should listen to his concerns, particularly on foreign policy, and I hope he invents a more wide-reaching strategy. ​