Now that Trump got the second term he richly deserved, are diehard anti-Trumpers lamenting their years-long “Never” stance?
I don’t know about you, but one of the first thoughts I had when it was certain Donald Trump had completed the ultimate political rebirth and would be legally sanctioned to govern the greatest nation in the world for another term, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to all the holier-than-thou Republican types who’d stayed irrevocably married
to their anti-Trump positions during the past eight years and woke up on November 6th with a dodo-sized egg splattered all over their obstinate faces?
Where was Chris Christie recently when you actually wanted to hear from him? Heck, even 2024 GOP runner-up Nikki Haley had appeared to throw-in with Trump in the heat of the battle. But there was a small collection of stalwarts who stuck with their opposition to the bitter end, not boasting they would vote for Kamala Harris yet refusing to “just say it” and revel in the Trump win like everyone else?
Is there any coming back from such disgrace? What if the outcasts, gulp, acknowledged they were wrong to be so intractable this whole time?
In an article titled “NYT columnist throws in towel on 'Never Trump' label: We 'never quite got the point' of the MAGA movement”, Joseph A. Wulfsohn reported at Fox News last week:
“New York Times columnist Bret Stephens appears to be giving up on the ‘Never Trump’ identity he embraced during the first Trump era, realizing that he and his media colleagues missed the mark following the 2024 election...
“’Could his second term be as bad as his most fervent critics fear? Yes. Is it time to drop the heavy moralizing and incessant doomsaying that typified so much of the Never Trump movement — and that rendered it politically impotent and frequently obtuse? Yes, please,’ he conceded...
“’Let’s enter the new year by wishing the new administration well, by giving some of Trump’s cabinet picks the benefit of the doubt, by dropping the lurid historical comparisons to past dictators, by not sounding paranoid about the ever-looming end of democracy, by hoping for the best and knowing that we need to fight the wrongs that are real and not merely what we fear, that whatever happens, this too shall pass,’ Stephens said.”
Very rational, no? One speculates a good number of NeverTrumpers have traveled a similar path as RINO Bret Stephens, but here’s guessing a great many haven’t, either. For the gaggle of former Bush Republicans who now find their livelihoods linked to MSNBC or CNN – or who’ve taken to penning columns for The Bulwark (or whatever their publications are called) – there’s no going back. It would be career suicide, since the small slice of the conservative/Republican electorate that still tolerates a NeverTrump mindset would not likely be so forgiving.
Of course, as would be expected, Stephens spends a significant portion of his contrition column by justifying why the NeverTrumpers weren’t necessarily wrong to oppose Trump in the beginning, them being the “principled” ones who recognized what Trump was (supposedly) about and stumping on a soap box to stand up for what conservatives had always believed.
Like yeah, sure, everyone else is a political sycophant who fell for the big orange man’s spiel, while me and that guy over there and the good dudes and gals at The Lincoln Project can rest easy knowing they stuck to their pop-less guns all along and didn’t fall for the populist fury that enveloped those tens of millions of MAGA-wearing J6-in-waiting folks in their lonely quest to cling to Trump.
And while one is tempted to let dead dogs lie, and not kick a political observer when he’s down, there are still a ton of NeverTrumpers who’ve yet to make the journey and admit fault like Stephens did. Where are they now?
The nobodies in media that no one cares about – well, they can persist in their inane opposition and hardly a citizen would notice it. But what about the George W. Bushes or Paul Ryans of the world? Or George Will? Or John Kasich? Or Jonah Goldberg? The ones who’d made a career and a livelihood out of representing mostly-good constituents and now face permanent banishment to the outer reaches because of their lack of loyalty?
Heck, even Mitt Romney was on a Sunday show a couple weeks ago gushing about how Donald Trump “won convincingly” and had a much better finger on the pulse of the nation than he ever did. What else is Mitt supposed to say – that he was right all along?
Still, the few NeverTrumpers like Stephens who’ve had the bravado to come out publicly and say “Uh, maybe we did assess it wrong all along” and are seemingly asking for a new chance to join the good guys and pretend to like Trump on a few of the issues… should they be welcomed back under the tent roof?
Who knows, there are probably some families out there on the Fruited Plain where Christmas dinner was saved from certain ruin by the crazy uncle or outcast grandmother who suddenly experienced a fit of regret and fessed up to no longer being against Trump. It’s kind of like being in church when the “official” position taken by the congregants is to pray for the success of our political leaders no matter who they are.
Knowing the ideological predilections of some of those folks in my former church, there’s no WAY they would ever pray for Trump.
Don’t lie about it, NeverTrumpers. If indeed you’re inclined to jump aboard the MAGA bandwagon, you’d better stay on through the tough times ahead. And there will be plenty of moments where Trump looks to have lost his post-election mojo. Trump won’t be perfect. He’s not a grounded, principled conservative. But this isn’t a one-time thing.
NeverTrumpers who “repent” like Bret Stephens deserve to be given a pardon. The rest? We’ll see.
To primary or not to primary, that is the question
With the new congressional term set to begin in just the next few days, the focus on Donald Trump’s administration nominees will be intense. Not on the appointees themselves. Trump backers don’t really even need to recognize their names or what they’re being tapped to do. We know we trust Trump to isolate those he wants to help him in the mission to Make America Great Again.
Instead, the concentration will be on the holdouts in the Republican congressional caucus, specifically the news headline-craving senators who seek to exhibit their “independence” by expressing doubt in the bona fides of such and such hoping for confirmation to position X and Y.
As has been repeatedly pointed out, these same senators held their tongue when such-and-such Biden nominee’s turn was to run the gauntlet, yet they’re claiming being “principled” now by waffling over a Trump designee.
For showing such lack of support – and it makes a difference on whether the appointee successfully navigates the interrogators – should the naysayer face a primary challenge when they’re up for reelection?
Blindly supporting Trump is one thing; playing the Benedict Arnold on the agenda is quite another. For example, many conservatives objected to voting to pass the bloated budget proposal recently. They were simply tired of the runaround on Capitol Hill that always takes place when politicians need to agree on anything – especially cutting or reducing spending.
To make a long story short, Rep. Chip Roy won’t lose a primary battle for opposing a Trump directive.
But those senators who make spectacles of themselves by lodging objections to a Trump nominee because of personal reasons? Who are they to judge?
Senators like Lisa Murkowski only threaten to vote a nominee down for personal reasons of their own. It’s not a fit of principles – it’s a vendetta. And the fact they appreciate being adored by the establishment media. Nothing else.
Yes, they deserve to face primary challenges. Bring it on.
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