The “Never Trump” movement is still a thing. While some on the right who didn’t like Trump have decided to let the guy do his job and hope for the best, some are still actively opposing him no matter the results of his actions.
However, it seems Democrats are shocked that opposition to the president doesn’t automatically translate into support for the Democratic Party.
New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait promoted a story he wrote with this tweet:
Why aren’t more Never Trumpers willing to support the opposing party? https://t.co/xs6bNOuQpG pic.twitter.com/wuYh1J4h0n
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) April 16, 2018
The title of Chait’s article is: “The GOP’s Never-Trumpers Are Really Just Never-Democrats.” In other words, they’re not really opponents of Donald Trump because they aren’t on the Left.
Of course, being on the Right doesn’t mean that internal disagreement is impossible. The Left, however, is rapidly purging its ranks of all dissent.
Take Never Trumper Tom Nichols. He’s said a lot of things that rub his own side wrong, yet he still considers himself a Republican. Here’s his take on Chait’s op-ed:
Jonathan, I invite you to spend a few days in my TL. I voted for HRC, wrote pieces saying so, and openly advocate for Dems to win in 2018 and 2020, and yet regularly am lectured on my sexism/racism/ism-ism by purity-testing Dems who have no interest in your proposal. https://t.co/IX8ui0qS8g
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) April 16, 2018
At the end of the day, Never Trumpers are not necessarily the Left. Paul Ryan was essentially a Never Trumper. He’s not going to wear pink hats and suddenly support abortion just because he doesn’t like the guy his party put in the White House. He’s not going to be a social justice jihadi because he finds Trump boorish and unlikeable.
Chait writes: “The nomination of a candidate who refused in advance to accept defeat, who encouraged violence at his rallies and called for the imprisonment of his opponent, did lead some prominent Republicans — Mitt Romney, John McCain, several Bushes — to withhold endorsements of their party’s nominee. But none of them later supported the only candidate who could have defeated Trump.”
Of course, Chait leaves out that the “only candidate” he speaks of held positions far more repellent to them than Trump’s positions.
The Never Trumpers were never going to side with Hillary simply because she was the alternative. Only the progressive elite, in the process of radicalizing their party, would think such a thing.
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