As both a political philosophy and a matter of character, conservatism has many advantages over competing ideologies. Foremost among them is its comfort with contradictions and trade-offs. There is a cost to all that we do and don’t do. This fact of life discomforts those who refuse to accept the existence of consequences and the politicians whose careers thrive on the delusion that compromise is for the weak.
With that outlook in mind, it’s hard not to sympathize with Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich and what may prove to be her prescient warning. On Tuesday, the Trump White House announced that it would strip the White House Correspondents’ Association of its traditional prerogative to select “pool reporters” — a rotating cast of journalists who monitor and report on the president’s movements. That selection process will henceforth be the exclusive province of the president’s staff. The president’s supporters were jubilant over the maneuver, but Heinrich was having none of it.
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