It blows my mind every time a conservative voices an opinion that’s deeply unpopular with their audience and then gets accused of being a “shill” and a “sell out” for it. Whether they’re right or wrong, taking an unpopular stance is the exact opposite of shilling and selling out.

Of course it’s different if someone pulls a Lincoln Project and becomes a full time promoter of leftism. That’s selling out because they’ve traded one audience for (they hope) a bigger one.

But a conservative who veers from the right wing consensus on one particular issue, and takes enormous blowback for it from his own audience, is really bad at selling out if that’s his game. Most likely, he’s just being honest. You should respect that even if you disagree.

If you want to know who the sell outs and shills are, look for the conservatives with platforms who have never once said anything that was likely to earn them a rebuke from their own audience.

Either this is someone so dumb and empty as to have no unique perspective of their own, or they’re hiding their own perspective in order to pander to you. Whatever the case, they’re useless and boring and should be the ones earning your rebuke and dismissal.