When you listen to most Never-Trump “conservatives” they sound an awful lot like liberals. Their politics seem to have morphed from the original position—that they wouldn’t vote for Trump because they didn’t believe he was a genuine conservative—to becoming anti-Republican Party on almost everything. I’ve seen several Never Trumpers regurgitate Democrat talking points in the media, or gleefully cheer on left-wing candidates, to become whatever it is that Jennifer Rubin has become.
The dramatic shift of Never-Trump “conservatives” going from simply anti-Trump to full-on left-wing wackadoodle has been fascinating, indeed. But even more fascinating is how several Never Trumpers, who have otherwise bought into all things anti-Trump and anti-GOP, have broken with their new friends in the cool kids club on the left
But now the left has tried to flip the script and accuse the Republican Party of trying to pack the court by filling the vacancy left behind by Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
S.E. Cupp, CNN’s resident anti-Trump “conservative,” who hasn’t sounded anything like a Republican or a conservative in years, actually refuted former DNC chairman Howard Dean’s insistence that the GOP has packed the court and that the Democrats will simply “UNpack” it.
“This isn’t how this works. This isn’t how any of this works,” Cupp insisted.
This isn’t how this works. This isn’t how any of this works… https://t.co/wgIsF8H2rh
— S.E. Cupp (@secupp) October 12, 2020
Never Trumper Liz Mair, a communications strategist who has worked for a number of Republicans and served as online communications director for the Republican Party, has also broken with her new friends on the left on the issue of court-packing.
“I’m really done with hearing from the left about court-packing. First of all, no, it’s not OK, and I don’t care whether the Constitution bars it or not. We don’t need more erosion or dissolution of norms. Second of all, keeping Merrick Garland off the court isn’t court packing,” she tweeted.
“Words have meaning and just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean it is literally equivalent to another thing people are complaining about,” Mair tweeted.
Mair was also critical of Biden’s refusal to answer questions about court-packing, saying, “I expect better from Biden than from Trump.”
I’m really done with hearing from the left about court packing. First of all, no, it’s not OK, and I don’t care whether the Constitution bars it or not. We don’t need more erosion or dissolution of norms. Second of all, keeping Merrick Garland off the court isn’t court packing.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) October 11, 2020
Politicians are lying hypocrites. Quit pretending otherwise and life makes a lot more sense. There’s a reason Congress has a shit approval rating. But also, two wrongs don’t make a right. I expect better from Biden than from Trump. And so should you.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) October 11, 2020
Matt Lewis, a Never Trumper and senior columnist at The Daily Beast, went a step further, arguing that Democrats are “abandoning the moral high ground at exactly the wrong time.”
Filling vacancies = packing the court? Dems are abandoning the moral high ground at exactly the wrong time. And…why???? https://t.co/M2dSzhX4yD
— Matt Lewis (@mattklewis) October 11, 2020
Lewis, to his credit, has been concerned about the Democrats’ inevitable efforts to pack the court once they’re in a position to do so, and back in August, despite his otherwise Never-Trump positions, argued that if Democrats take back the Senate that “our democracy is in a new kind of danger.”
I’ve been warning about court packing and killing the legislative filibuster for months now (because Dems have been threatening to do it for months, now)… https://t.co/cgbjpfg6bq
— Matt Lewis (@mattklewis) October 11, 2020
So this begs the question, if there are Never Trumpers who aren’t buying the left-wing talking points on court-packing, and even acknowledging the dangers posed by a Democratic majority, will this have an impact on the November election? Will independents on the fence break for Trump in the hopes of preventing court-packing or adding new states to the union? Will this hurt Democrats in their quest to retake the U.S. Senate?
I refuse to guess, but make no mistake about it, the Biden campaign has handled this issue poorly, and with the Amy Coney Barrett hearings underway, this isn’t an issue that’s going to go away.
Even Jake Tapper of CNN called out the Biden campaign for their handling of this issue, and ripped them for suggesting that filling a vacancy is unconstitutional.
BRUTAL. Tapper takes Biden's deputy campaign manager to task on Biden's accusation that filling a judicial vacancy is 'unconstitutional'
"That's not what the word constitutional means. [It] doesn’t mean I like it or don’t like it. It means it’s according to the US Constitution." pic.twitter.com/8mYgmo9sit
— Abigail Marone 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) October 11, 2020
It seems the Amy Coney Barrett hearing will serve as the backdrop for this debate, meaning that this issue is not going to go away any time soon.
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Matt Margolis is the author of the new book Airborne: How The Liberal Media Weaponized The Coronavirus Against Donald Trump, and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
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