I’m not sure how many her know, but a conservative publication, The Weekly Standard, closed its doors today. For 23 years it has been a stalwart of conservative thinking with excellent writing and commentary. But, things happen. There has been a lot of wailing and wringing of hands today by other so-called conservatives, and a lot of blame placed on the owner for not attempting to find a new owner.

The Trump era doomed them because every single writer there, and every single article written, was essentially anti-Trump. Now Trump is not a classical conservative, if he’s a conservative at all, but this magazine went out of their way to offend those 63 million people that did vote for Trump. Not that their circulation was very high, but they had to know that at least some of their subscribers were Trump supporters.

This magazine never made money, which is not unusual for a publication that is primarily politically oriented.   It’s unusual for a publication, which is a business by the way, to turn a deaf ear to their readers, which is exactly what this magazine did in the last two years. They alienated their audience, which became the final knife.

No one owns the mantle of conservatism as TWS believed they did. There’s no person or publication that speaks for all of us (conservatives). In fact, the primary issue with conservatism is that we are not people that anyone may place into a single slot that we all think the same – unlike those that are liberals. We’re mostly independent, and do not succumb to party ideology.

That’s why TWS failed. The leadership didn’t recognize that many of their readers were in fact Trump supporters and although he doesn’t come close to their definition of a conservative, those same people were looking for someone different, someone that would shake up the elitists that believe they are better than we, the people. He’s done that. Not that I personally approve of his tactics, but everyone has to agree that he has the attention of the entire world.

So a conservative publication dies. Maybe it was time. Maybe, just maybe they didn’t represent the views of their readers.  Although anyone that loses their job, I have empathy for, but then those same should take a step back and ask themselves who they speak for? I speak for myself as a conservative and don’t pretend that what I write about is policy, or should be policy.

Maybe, just maybe, journalists, liberal or conservative, should do the same.