Yours is a pretty pathetic party if it's a challenge to find four Republican Senators who won't support the obvious corruption of the Trump administration. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if Collins, Murkowski and Romney chicken out too. Republicans have become the party of amoral cowards. I used to be a Republican but will never vote for any Republican for any office ever again. Anyone respecting the US Constitution should do the same.
228
Hugh Hewitt is a prime example of someone who criticized Trump before the election and now is a fawning supplicant. He'd sell his soul for another Extreme Court Justice. No principles. Utterly pathetic.
119
Imagine for a moment what might have happened if Donald Trump had been president during WW2 instead of FDR. No doubt he would have allied with dictators like Hitler and Mussolini and deserted our allies England and France, given his pattern of behavior in trashing our alliances and deserting the Kurds, and his affinity for strongmen like Putin and Erdogan. How far we have fallen at the hands of the Trump cult within the GOP.
125
There is no such thing as a “never Trumper”, Bret. There are only conservatives who feel the slight sting of embarrassment at being a Quisling in this social media generation. They want everyone to know they are “against” Trump, but they did not vote for Hillary when it mattered. And they will not vote for a Democrat in 2020. In other words they are still with the Republicans no matter what treasons their leader commits. In a way Trump is right to call them scum, because what they lack is courage and not conviction. They do not have the courage to look treason in the face and say I will go to the other side. In the end the never Trumpers will not lift a finger to save us from this nightmare. All Bret can find to complain about is the vulgar tone of his leader as if that mattered at all. We are long past caring about the dainty complaints of elegant Republicans who clutch their pearls while Rome burns. We are at war now and our country is on the line. Which side are conservatives on?
103
who you gonna believe? the guy with the purple heart or the draft dodger with bone spurs?
139
What's not a "badge of honor" is to still call yourself a Republican in the face of what that party has become. Shame on you and all who consider Mitch and Lindsey anything but despicable at all times and in all ways. Shame, Shame, Shame.
107
While I can’t stand Trump as a person, his antics and his lack of leadership, I would still vote for him over Warren and her insane policies.
10
Anyone with an ounce of critical thinking ability would have seen right through Trump as soon as he rose from the gutter. He was blatantly vulgar, incredibly ignorant, unabashedly and even proudly racist. He never displayed any attachment to an ideology and glorified in self.
Trump survives because of the Republican Party.
141
When your opponents fight dirty as the Democrats and MSM have for 3 ½ years, you must fight back... at times just as dirty as them. This isn't a cricket match Brett.
7
I respect and admire the Never Trumpers. They have modeled a principled commitment to democracy and the constitution that I would hope many of us on the left would follow if we found ourselves with a liberal nut job demagogue as President.
339
"Human Scum" carries the same weight as "Nattering Nabobs," the phrase used by Spiro the Crook to describe those of us in the news media at the time. Regrettably, the process of getting tee shirts imprinted with that hilarious attempted put down was too high for people earning $2.65 an hour to afford.
17
At last. Opinion column which describes how I feel as a NeverTrumper (aka “human scum.”) A lifelong Republican, I changed my political affiliation to Democrat yesterday. There is no GOP; only the party of Trump. I will vote in the Florida Democratic primary in March. I want to have a voice in who the next president will be. I will register voters. I will canvass for whoever is selected. I have already sent contributions to my favorites and will donate to the nominee. We knew who Trump was when he announced. I became a NeverTrump after Trump’s (first) McCain comment. Trump is MUCH worse than even imagined. He is a menace and a monster. He must resign, or be impeached and convicted, or be defeated. Whatever. Trump must go
1123
”There were also those conservative policy and political victories. Regulatory rollback. Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and all the lower court judges. Increased military spending. The tax cut. Withdrawal from the Iran deal. An expanded G.O.P. majority in the Senate. The Mueller fizzle.”
But “being scandalized“ and called ”human scum” is the line. Good to know.
45
The fact that we can only depend on a man like Lt. Col. Vindman to do what’s right and ethical, and that we cannot expect any Republican House members and Senators to do the same, is emblematic of what’s wrong with our nation.
2029
@Jack Sonville
EXCELLENT
105
@Jack Sonville
It's emblematic of what's wrong with the Republican Party, and those led by Fox News to believe in them
156
@Jack Sonville You nailed it. Thank you!!
101
This article is a mea culpa in disguise from Mr. Stephens and his ilk who supported Republican victories at all costs and are now seeing what all costs really looks like.
Bravo for Bret coming to see the world as reasonable moderate Democrats and Independents see it: you don't separate children from their mothers, you don't give a $$ trillion tax cut to those who need it least and just after another $$ trillion cut under the GW Bush period has expired and you don't betray those who have given their lives along side us in fighting religious tyranny.
But those are values I and any reasonable person who was brought up in a decent household during the mid 20th century (after seeing what materialized in WW II) would have know by the time we finished grade school.
64
Don't flatter yourself, Bret.
There's a "YUGE" difference between unconditional "NeverTrumpers" and "NeverTrumpers/Unless-Hillary's-the-Option" climate-denying/xenophobic/misogynists like you.
Thanks for getting us into this mess.
81
"Save the country from Hillary Clinton" hasn't aged well.
82
In Trumpworld there are no facts, there are only "NeverTrumpers" who are always wrong in what they say because they are either stupid or they are liars, and "AlwaysTrumpers" who are always correct in what they say because, you know, they agree with Trump who is himself always right no matter what.
This current political situation is appalling and untenable. Impeachment or not, this is what will bring America down.
34
Mr. Stephens,
Sorry. Your republican party created and birthed trump. You own him. Please go write at Fox news. Those of us who voted against your man don't trust you at all. We are in the morally correct position; the republican party is not.
A lifelong democrat
73
What Trump fails to recognize is the reality that his incompetence has resulted in many "Trumpers" turning into "No Longer Trumpers". More active and more of a danger to his Presidency, the No Longer Trumpers have learned that they have been taken advantage by a master con man. While a sucker is born every minute, some suckers manage to learn from their experience and are reborn. This is a lesson unlearned by Trump and will result in his ultimate defeat.
22
Trump is the result of the Republican Party being bought out by right wing extremist billionaires: the Koch family, the Wynns, the Adelsons, the Mercers,etc. The dark money corporate money that acquired the Republican Party and drove out any moderates as RINO has corrupted our entire political process.
Any Republican with a shred of intelligence knows Trump is a mentally disturbed, lying fraud who only cares about himself. Republicans are afraid to stand up to Trump because they know they will be attacked by the extreme right wing owns the GOP.
Trump is a symptom of our broken democracy. The only way to restore decency to our government is to get out the vote of on a massive scale everyone who cares about the future of our country and vote out Trump and the cowardly the Republicans who stand with him against the interests of the American people
66
This is what happens when a "party" entrusts and capitulates to a malignant narcissist demagogue--one that is clever but truly not intelligent or insightful beyond perceiving threats and opportunities to attack others. Abetted by technology ("social media") and a destructive, "free" platform ("Twitter") and propaganda outlet ("Fox News"), this philistine you euphemistically label as a 'libertine' has imparted fear with 6th-grade bullying into all the so-called "conservatives" that attach themselves and identify as Republicans--now the party of 6th grade bully patsies. Since Day 1 of this never-ending race to the bottom, the USA is on a steady path to Idiocracy, led by the most profoundly destructive, unqualified, and repulsive figure in modern history and his band of sanctimonious followers--the Republicans. Everybody in the world knows it--except the Republicans.
68
The only column you should write is the word Impeach 750 times, period. conscientious conservatives is a euphemism for survival of the fittest. For the least among us, eh, tough luck. You should have been born in Sweden. When our great and unmatched wisdom king is gone you do not get to claim the moral high ground. For you lack standing.
33
To scandalized Republicans from a lifelong liberal/ Democrat: I am too polite and forgiving to say “I told you so”, but.....
13
“The coarseness of speech and crudeness of character that were supposed to be his central flaws became evidence of his gutsy indifference to liberal reproach.”
Coarse, crude, vindictive, self-dealing and immature, with an alarming lack of empathy or understanding of world events — anyone who thinks there were “very fine people” on both sides at Charlottesville isn't fit for office, given the millions of lives lost in WWII. President Obama pointed out the obvious, in a speech to college students last year, “how hard can that be, saying that Nazis are bad?” It shouldn't take a “liberal” to know Trump endangers our country and defiles our Constitution — we Americans need to step up and hold him accountable, members in Congress and citizens at the voting booth. Democracy is at stake.
500
If you're going to wear a shirt that says "human scum", I'm going to wear one that says "there are good people on both sides." (I'm not sure the quote is quite right.)
2
A "Human Scum" Tee Shirt -- Wow! That is absolutely the most fabulous idea I've heard in 'forever'. I'm going to be checking on-line until I can get mine! Thank you Bret.
13
This discussion of the many "Never Trumpers,' who -- faced with his victory -- are choosing career over their own fundamental beliefs, delivers a powerful lesson. And it's one that I, on the left side of the political spectrum, should have learned years ago.
As a young man beginning in politics, I felt an incredibly powerful pull toward winning and power. The result was what I now see were a series of ethical compromises that I easily could have avoided with virtually no damage to my ambition.
But I also remember just how much the powerful, prevailing ethos in that world was that you could never do enough -- enough flattering, enough fund raising, enough keister-kissing, enough worrying about whether you had done enough.
That is why my loathing of those who seem hell-bent on supporting Trump until the bitter end will always be tempered by my own vivid memories of how easy it is to hang on until the last moment when the kool-aid arrives.
13
Republicans and consciences DON'T mix. They're too rich to care.
20
Just wanted to point out that "conscientious conservatives" is a self canceling phrase.
The quality of serving republicans today is in direct proportion to the republican party's use of the communistic tactic of campaigning against any member who thought for themselves to punish them. They even invented a new fake word for it to, primary'd.
21
While I agree with the sentiments expressed in this piece, I find it disturbing that we continue to anticipate, analyze, and act befuddled over every tweet that this so called president shoots out to the point where it's like a daily national obsession. And what has become so obvious during the last three years is the extent of ignorance, corruption and polarization in this country, which seems to have only gotten worse. Trump and the Republicans have managed to turn their own lies and bottomless rotteness into a tool, wielding it at every turn whenever those who try to fight lies and corruption with truth and decency attempt to stand up to them.
21
I don't know: the sole evidence that Never Trumpers are an influence is one hateful mention in Trump's twitter account. Considering the number of subjects of a Trump hateful tweet, that's not saying much.
4
Even if Trump escapes impeachment and conviction, his criminality and sins will be laid naked. However, the ensuing election could generate a 2-fer : a total defeat for both Trump and the Trump Party. There are many a slip ‘twist cup and lip, but at least there is a road to national salvation.
13
Notice how Trump has colonized all minds, and all conversations.
We have to accept Biden, because Trump is worse.
Pelosi deserves our support, because Trump is worse.
Rachel Maddow is marvelous, because Fox is worse.
etc.
Trump is the standard bearer. He has won, he will win, even if he loses.
Trump's corruption is practically beside the point. Of course he's corrupted. That's his schtick and he barely even tries to hide it.
The problem is that we need an alternative. "The Dems are slightly less crooked than Trump, so you have to vote for them no matter what" isn't going to get anyone to the polls.
The Dems have to start looking at and rooting out corruption in their own ranks.
They can't just pretend that "B-b-b-but Trump" is going to cut it if they hope to win in 2020 (which I'm not at all certain they do plan to - I think they'd rather see Trump again than risk Bernie).
Never Trumpers are just pack of rabid neocons, clamoring for tactical nuclear strikes against other countries.
“Foreign policy advisers” and the only thing they advise is eternal war for Israel.
These clowns “advised” war in Iraq since 1996 with PNAC and “a clean break.” Their 2003 Iraq war was a disaster built on total misinformation. Hence in 2006 the Democrats were swept back into power in Congress, because of the disaster from their Iraq war.
If Trump's election proves anything then it must be the moral bankruptcy of both the neoconservatives and neoliberals, especially the Never Trumpers.
8
Trump will be removed from offIce by impeachment, and the GOP will become a regional party, lacking power in DC. In 2021, Progressive Democrats will control the Presidency, Senate and House for the first time since the 1960s. Alternatively,Trump will move to Russia, resign as President and share USA top secrets with his hero Vlad Putin.
20
Notice that there is no mention in this entire article of the morality of the Republican Party and their leaders who have allowed Trump and his criminal behavior to run rampant. Bret will constantly attack Democrats' character. But not the Republicans who condone and enable Trump. Why the double standard, Bret?
Notice there is no mention in this article about how Robert Mueller, a Republican, was trashed by his own party and what that says about the total abandonment of morality by the Republican party.
Bret trashed Elizabeth Warren last week -- insisting that readers shouldn't "trust" her and therefore even Trump was better. But apparently the trust and faith Bret Stephens has in the Republicans means that they are always to be trusted even as they cheer on Trump!
The Republicans are immoral. They are unethical. They worship power and money over doing what is right and speaking out against Trump.
Why isn't Bret Stephens saying that? Because deep down, he is one of them.
When Stephens writes a column like this where he intentionally fails to point out anything immoral or unethical or dangerous in what the Republicans do, his hypocrisy is rampant.
Remember, this column isn't really criticism of the Republicans. It's simply an attempt by someone who knows how corrupt they are to try to pretend that a "tut tut" by Collins means she is far more moral and ethical - far more "trustworthy" - than a Democrat like Elizabeth Warren.
Shameful double standard here.
38
Whenever a republican "changes their mind" it is always because they see money.
Money can mean support, votes, good PR, anything that lets them keep taking a taxpayer check and collecting gifts from lobbyists.
16
Susan Collins always pretends to be thoughtful and weighing both sides of a dispute or a bill or a judicial nomination but then always votes with Trump. You cannot count on her to break ranks.
43
I'm not a conservative, by a long shot. This is a good article by someone I respect for his insight and opinions, though I often disagree with him on specific stances. He has given thought to this, is correct that we do need the balance of intelligent conservative planks in our political system. I just do not accept a full conservative platform, and abhor the current GOP in its entirety.
10
Right now, the only thing keeping "on the fence" members of the GOP from supporting impeachment is their wavering confidence in Trump's ability to "fix" the elections in 2020.
In the face of such corruption, the democrat members of congress would do well to also push very public votes on measures that could sure up our elections.
I'm curious where public opinion might go if members of the GOP have to to rally against both a clear attempt to corrupt our electoral process and new laws to protect it.
18
"What despots and demagogues fear most is their followers developing a conscience."
I believe that most who do not support Trump are confounded as to why or how supports can walk around without such a conscience. I am somewhat fearful of what else they are capable of when pushed. A mindless robot is less frightening.
14
Mr. Stephens needs to recognize that the traditional conservatism he would like to go back to has been rejected by rank and file Republicans as much as Third Way Clintonian neo-liberalism has been rejected by Democrats. The big news of 2016 is that the entire electorate, left and right, are bridling against the bi-partisan establishment-cum-oligarchy.
Trump put a stake through the heart of Reagan's "small government" cult. The spell had already been broken, but it took a predatory demagogue like Trump to recognize it, while his GOP opponents blathered on like robots about "setting the market free to lift all boats."
Of course, being a soulless abyss of a man, a boob of an entertainer who found himself the head of state, he for the most part immediately capitulated to establishment Republican instincts.
Where is that trillion dollar infrastructure investment? That was a good idea. Instead he gave a trillion dollars away to the filthy rich.
Trump doesn't fear a critque from the ossified Stephens-style conservatives, but that of a competent, decent, mature conservative populism.
14
The conservative movement ceded their morality the day they adopted Lee Atwater's "southern strategy" and recruited the Dixiecrat racists and bigots into what is now almost entirely a whites-only political party. Ronald Reagan's decision to open his political campaign in 1980 in Philadelphia, MS, where Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner were murdered by the KKK was icing on the cake, particularly his crowd wooing statement of "I believe in states' rights."
It has been all downhill since, morally speaking, and together with hate radio, Fox News, and the internet conspiracy lunacy, has rotted the American political system into a collection of unrecognizable detritus.
Check the polls, Mr. Stephens. Trump enjoys somewhere between 80 and 90 percent approval among your fellow and former Republicans. They are going nowhere, just like the gasping "never Trump" remnant.
25
There is a lot of time spent cataloging Trump’s outrages. Although they can’t be ignored, his provocations shouldn’t be given any more weight than the ravings of very sick mind.
7
"a nativist party led by a libertine" is an amusing quip, but a tad mild, even misleading. Change "nativist" for soft-edged Confederate, or Racial Evangelical. Change "libertine" for mobster. Change 'conservative'for Fox Late-Nite consumer; or, Twitter addict. The so-called Republicans are a hollowed-out brand, & a voting bloc (for keeping their own seats to keep the Leader in power).
15
'We the People' expect the president to be an intelligent adult who cares about national security, not a bleached blonde in a clown suit "uniform" designed to hide gluttony and bad taste while he has illiterate "tantrums" (the closest he gets to intellectual engagement) as a spoiled malignant narcissist on Twitter for his Basket of Deplorables. I think Trump needs to be both cancelled and fired -- and that 'We the People' will do what the impotent Republicans cannot do: remove The Clown from an office he never deserved.
21
Hypocrisy is so deeply engrained in Republicans that even the "never-trump" faction are still unable to be honest. Republicans are fundamentally party over country. They will seize on any crackpot theory that supports their bias and then claim an intellectual basis for pure bunk. Sure, the just like the Tea Party, the left has its own whackos, but the GOP is rotten to the core. Any bunch of disingenuous snivelers who can continue to tout multiply failed economic "principles" for no better reason that that their donors want to pay less taxes deserve no empathy and certainly no respect. Not saying any of these people need to be Democrats, but anyone with real conservative principles is now an Independent. At least they aren't required to belong to a cult.
15
Bret, yu still live in the fairytale world of the honest, conscientious conservative. Get a clue they are all gone. The "conservatives" have wholeheartedly thrown in their lot with Trump's fascism. It will not be the conservatives that dethrone Trump but the energised liberal youth, assuming that they vote for the Democrat. The conservative have become fascists.
21
Neocons love Trump. A big mouth vacuous monstrosity. The problem on Ukraine and Syria Stephens and his team are worse. Never ending proxy wars 100,000s of dead civilians. Aiding and abetting violent nasty sectarian jihadists. All for naught. Assad is going to remain in Syria and Zelensky, along with Germany and France, want to find peaceful solution in Ukraine. Where are the neo cons with their nihilistic hate of Russia. Lots of hot air about Russia, heaping mountains of unproven nasty accusations. Stephens is the one who wanted to play Poroshenko's game in Ukraine. Have the US break the Russian blockade and land the marines. Brilliant.
2
You can pile up John Bolton, Rex Tillerson, James Mattis, Bret Stephens, and all the remaining Never-Trumpers and the pile will not come up to Lt. Col. Vindman's shoe laces, so stop patting yourself on the back, Mr. Stephens.
37
Get his tax returns and show he is a tax griftter and Trumps popularity will fall some more.
21
"Moral traditionalism", eh Bret"? For the record, note that, in contrast to Edmund Burke, today's (R) "moral traditionalists" are all about castigating and denying "Unalienable Rights" to any and all who they deem to not fit their narrow version "moral" and "traditional". Just sayin'.
Anyhoo, the (R)s now have as much out of The Fat Man as they're gonna' get and they know it - "Regulatory rollback. Gorsuch, Kavanaugh… lower court judges. Increased military spending. The tax cut. Withdrawal from the Iran deal. An expanded G.O.P. majority in the Senate. The Mueller fizzle" (which was only a fizzle to those too "fizzled" to actually read his manuscript).
These (R)s might be craven, but they're not totally blind (Matt Gaetz/Jim Jordan, etc. excluded). Lots of 'em despise their Prez' for a multitude of reasons, but they don't want to get primaried, so for now, they're hunkered down and watching how the wind blows. The vast majority of (R) voters still support their Hero, but that can easily, and quickly, change.
Remember that, b4 The Saturday Night Massacre, only 19% of Americans thought Nixon should hit the bricks. As Nixon's various and sundry crimes were laid out, public opinion swung, which gave the latter-day (R)s more cover. By August, nearly 60% of Americans supported impeachment. In August of '74, the (R) power structure, led by Goldwater, handed The Trickster his walking papers and, a few days later, he threw in the towel.
Let's all just sit back and watch…
8
It is important when speaking truth to power to speak full truth. It boggles the mind that the 2017 tax scam would be included on a list of conservative policy successes. Seriously. It was sold, inconsistent with all existing evidence, on the lie that that it would benefit the middle class, stimulate business investment and stimulate very high rates of economic growth. Unsurprisingly, we now see the result. An explosion in the federal deficit during a period of economic expansion, declining business investment, declining manufacturing employment, weak economic growth, and ever-worsening inequality. That is NOT conservatism.
Bragging about the conservative successes in the judiciary is also disingenuous as many of the appointees are grossly unqualified, some even racist and some overtly homophobic. Just wait till this new Supreme Court issues rulings that directly conflict with RECENT other SC rulings.
There are substantive conservative policy reasons to oppose this president. Admitting this in this column would only serve to strengthen Stephens' argument that the GOP has willfully transformed itself into a "suck up to Trump" party, with no vestiges of values or integrity nor even conservatism remaining.
11
"The decency of being scandalized". A lot of Trump's support might fade away if people thought long and hard about what they will say to their children, grandchildren and great grandkids in the coming years.
4
Hopefully the Never-Trumpers in the Senate will rediscover their conscience and vote to remove Trump from office.
4
The problem with Never Trumpers is that they think Trump is the problem, the cause of our current malaise – he is an aberration. What they don’t acknowledge is that even if Trump is removed, the conditions that produced him will still be there. Those conditions can be found in the “classical liberalism and moral traditionalism” which are rife with vulnerabilities which make them an inadequate foundation on which to build a diverse modern society.
For one thing, classical liberalism and moral traditionalism run on secular religious myth and abstractions like the Enlightenment notion of “natural rights,” individualism. and religion itself. Those kinds of absolutes (eternal, self-evident) are static and inflexible and don’t accommodate change. And being “self-evident,” they are immune from examination – their justification is that they exist. They are a conclusion posing as an explanation.
Furthermore, in privileging individualism (faith in the capacity of individuals to make rational choices and run their own lives) classical liberalism fails to factor in human nature with its tendency toward self- interest and self-preservation (Hobbes) if not greed, status, and power.
It’s a utopian vision that runs on magic – that somehow it will all work out and come together in a common social fabric.
Donald Trump is the product of classical liberalism and moral traditionalism under the banner of conservative policies that have ruled America for decades. That’s the root problem.
2
Possibly the Democrats could convince Romney to run as a Democrat against the current President. Hr might enoy the challenge.
2
As always, my question for Mr. Stephens is: Donald Trump is not the disease. He is clearly, clearly only the symptom of the disease. You say that his support has been reduced to only 74% in the Republican party, so only 74% support and individual so disgusting, so corrupt, so contemptible, so lacking in morality, ethics and integrity that it is literally hard to believe. So Mr. Stephens, what kind of person remains in a party that so clearly has not one iota of honesty, integrity or morality?
22
There are no "never Trumps". There are Bret Stephens-type Republicans who are complicit with Trump and enable his worst policies.
Remember, Bret Stephens would rather Trump win that have what Stephens believes is MORE dangerous: Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders. Why? Because Stephens doesn't like their FDR-type policies. Rich people would pay more taxes. Stephens' beliefs that he'd prefer Trump to Sanders or Warren is based on his belief that FDR and Truman policies destroyed this country. Anyone think that happened?
Remember Bret worships those Republicans who said Medicare would ruin this country when Truman supported it and that's why he feels free to claim an expansion of Medicare is more dangerous than Trump!
Stephens isn't a "never Trumper".
Stephens is a "never Medicare", "Never Social Security", "Never Truman and FDR because they ruined this country" Republican.
And that makes Bret a good representative of the Republican Party. Racist, xenophobic, preachers of hate leaders are fine as long as it prevents evil Medicare from expanding.
19
Trump barely squeaked by with a win in 2016 dues to a number of factors, but since then he has picked up no new voters while certainly losing some, even among his base. He will lose to any democrat that runs against him, unless he somehow manages to rig the election with Russia's aid.
Dems need to focus on the integrity of the election itself. Paper ballots please.
17
Bret, the problem is that the "never Trumpers" of which you speak are Republicans. So far, few Republicans, NTers or not, have exhibited the backbone to support the Constitution against a criminal president. The clock is ticking for them, to stand up and take their issues public. Meanwhile, Trump is busy buying Senators who, of course, will constitute the jury in the impeach trial. Is anyone concerned about the obvious jury tampering that is going on? Good on Susan Collins who has, as of today, taken a neutral position on impeachment because she realizes she will be a juror. This, as opposed to the___-kissing going on among those Republican senators who, no doubt, will be taking money and support for their 2020 runs. Trump has worked political extortion as his "art of the deal." Never Trumpers? I'll believe them when I see them.
8
I am ashamed at the lack of integrity of the Republican politicians in both houses patently shows I am independent when it comes to deciding who to give my vote to. Given that there are Trump loyalists both among politicians and the voting citizens who are loyal to him. However I am sure there are Republican politicians who believe the evidence produced so far Yet they are willing to let this individual put our country at risk and make America the laughingstock of the world. Surely there are at least some who have consciences and integrity to stand up for truth and integrity. Is the oath of office just a meaningless ritual or the commitment to defend the constitution which the oath clearly and explicitly states?
Christopher Slevin.
11
This GOP cancer has metastasized to the point of near total destruction of democracy in America. Republicans have been working to demonize the “others” for decades, but they are now fully revealed as corrupt and without any decency. It’s time to own this, Bret and David, you’ve both been major contributors to this assault on our country.
20
Has the US ever even remotely had a ‘leader’ like Trump? There have always been dictators, oppressors, tyrants and despots of all stripes, but never before in your country. This is what he is, and always was, a bully, just on a smaller scale. How could the GOP have even ever countenanced such a morally corrupt individual to lead their party? Oh, wait, I know why – winning at any cost. Sadly and disconcertingly there are very few in the GOP, among them John McCain, who have had the scales fall from their eyes. I never watched Trump's ‘The Apprentice’ show, but did see clips where he would crudely bark, “You’re fired”. He is the self-same man now, but sadly has been given a colossal arena to wreak his mayhem.
20
Maybe you could write a column some time on what conservative policy victories there have been under Trump in relation to regulation roll-back. Diminishing consumer protection, environmental safeguards and the like hardly seem like policy victories to me.
12
I remember it very clearly. It was his ninth day in office and his numbers never recovered. It took only nine days to figure out what trump was and what he really stood for. What happened after those nine days was a coalition of the people whose dislike and distrust of trump intensified to such an extend that there is no turning back for him. Does he speeches change that? No! Does his lies change that? No! Does his insults change that? No! What we have here is simple. About 55% to 60% of the American people view him on a scale from distrust to hate. Yes, hate. I wake up each morning and am disappointed that trump is still alive. I never had that feeling toward any other human being. So trump can spend billions. It won't make any difference. Nothing will make any difference. It is the intensity of feelings about him that will end his presidency.
27
The bottom-line is that "conscientious conservatives" will in the end, vote for Trump as the lesser of the two evils. They will never vote for someone like Warren, the most likely Dem candidate, now that the SS Biden is taking on water and sinking fast. The fantasy of Trump being thrown out of office even if he's impeached is just that, a fantasy. The Republicans who control the Senate will never find him guilty. As Bill Maher observed last night, Trump may not be the astute businessman he claims to be but his political instincts, timing, and yes genius if you will, will carry him to victory in 2020. When all is said and done in the House and Senate, and Trump is still president, he will claim that he was the victim of a liberal Democratic kangaroo court in the House despite the recent vote which came way too late, under the leadership of a thoroughly biased Schiff with his immense personal hatred of Trump. Bad timing and wrong guy on the part of the Dems. Once vindicated, Trump will make a believable case for the Dems attempting a coup to unseat a legitimately elected president. Yes, there will be whining that Trump did not win the popular vote in 2016 but as Maher pointed out and I agree with him, Trump's genius was in focusing on the Electoral College which is the only thing that counts.
101
I disagree. The reason people voted for Trump is because he promised big change along the lines of what Warren promises, like a great healthcare program, and looking out for the working class instead of Wall Street for a change. People wanted a President like Warren and now they have a chance to get the real deal, not what turns out to have been a fake.
168
@Sherry I guess we will see what happens next November. A lot can happen between now and then. There's talk of Clinton running again which I think would be a mistake - she's got too much baggage at this point. Still, and unfortunately, if nothing changes, my money remains on Trump as a practical matter. Maybe things will turn out better in 2024. I appreciate your optimism, though.
13
@Mike F.
Conservatives will hold their nose and vote for trump en masse. There is a truism that Republicans only need one thing to cast a vote for a candidate, whereas Democrats only need one thing not to vote for a candidate. That is, as long as there is an ‘R’ next to the name, conservatives will vote for the person regardless of who they are or what their policy is. Democrats, on the other hand, look for the perfect candidate and will withhold their vote if they believe the candidate is not worthy.
The only way trump will not win is if enough independents vote D, or enough people who sat out last election feel a call to action this time around.
As for the Republican Party of yesterday, it is gone. There is only trump. The Christian conservatives hitched their wagon to a walking version of the 7 deadly sins. Fiscal conservatives who howled over the debt under Obama have said nary a word at it ballooning under trump. Military hawks have turned their backs on allies and shown capitulation to Russian intelligence operations. The hypocrisy of the religious right, fiscal conservative, military hawk wing is astounding, and it took less than 5 years for them to abandon every single principal they preached for decades.
And none of it matters. Everyone on the right will be at the polls to cast their vote for him regardless of what he says, does, or what policy he has, because Republicans believe in party over ideology or country.
210
I give up. There is no principled support of Donald Trump. And it's not even a close question.
15
AND noone even talks about the deficit disaster anymore!
There's so much grifting and incompetence 24/7 that throwing our children's economic futures in the garbage is not even a priority issue.
15
I do not believe there are any Republicans, at all, anywhere in this country, who will not vote for Trump if he runs in 2020. Republicans have demonstrated time and again that they are Trumpians and have no ability to say "no" to anything he wants.
10
Keep dreaming, Bret.
Until one Republican congressman - JUST ONE - comes out and publicly states that this man has clearly violated the Constitution, all of this blather about the "Never Trump-ers" is just wasted words. There is no "Never Trump" movement. He has taken over the party.
All that is left is for you, Brooks, and the make-believe Republican opposition to try to convince the Democrats to elect the most Republican candidate possible and sabotage the actual alternatives.
7
Mr. Stephens wants to stay squishy and to be taken seriously.
The "Never Trumpers" got caught in a branding crisis the way Pepsi and Coke got flanked by energy drinks. Trump's Conservatism lists the same ingredients as the Never Trump recipe, just different proportions. Theirs was sweeter with a subtle kick of telelogy, denial, nullification, hypocrisy, and rationalizations, delivered craftily so as not to embarrass those who indulged. Trump's formula for Conservatism lists those in large type right under "Pride". Trumpers aren't embarrassed by blatant lies and hypocrisy. They celebrate them. They swallow Trump neat.
Now Stephens and his colleagues in exile are in impossible positions: defending their tattered credibility in the real world, feebly claiming the mantle of authentic Conservatism, and wanting back in. Republicans like Perry, Graham, and Mulvaney who attacked Trump were realists: they ate their offal and bent the knee. Others like the National Review toadies have come around to Trumpism as fast as their dignity would permit. On these pages David Brooks and Gail Collins retired from politics to make vapid observational standup comedy. A few brave outcasts such as the fearless Jennifer Rubin declared war against the GOP. And the adrift would-be Conservatives--the Squishy Trumpers--like Stephens reiterate their credentials and play both sides.
No, Bret. You don't get the badge of honor. You weren't there when you were needed and you aren't honorable now.
14
I greatly appreciate the fact that nearly all conservative intellectuals are never/anti-Trump, it is a testament to the fact that they live by their ideals. On the other hand it is shocking to me that every single Republican member of the House voted against impeachment. The Republican party has no ideology other than win at all costs, which means supporting Trump no matter what he does.
13
We all know by now that Trump is a totally predictable one-trick pony: Take credit for every positive event of the day, while Projecting onto others his own scummy sins.
P.S. Well, maybe one other trick: Always be vague, and take both sides of an issue, and you can never be wrong. We'll see what happens. Believe me.
6
Politico published this scary article.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/10/31/regime-cleavage-229895
It suggests that the fight we are in is much more damaging than we are aware. Our division is almost complete and it is based on either a lack of rational thought or visceral fear or religious fervor and well satirized by Jonathan Swift's tale of the Lilliputians in Gulliver's Travels. We are losing Americaness to tribal hate. I may be overly terrified, but I wonder what would happen in the periphery if Trump gets removed from office? Would those MAGA people who cheer when he calls some Republicans "Human Scum" actually tolerate a Corey Booker for president? or would they riot? I don't know but it would be ugly.
I am more firmly of the opinion that this is the most important problem we have to face now. The Republican Senate must try to diffuse the situation. They can threaten to remove T from office unless he a. resigns or b. refuses to run 2020. This would be the best outcome. It may require T to be a patriot, and go back to his business and declare victory, but I doubt he is and that is the problem with his presidency. Nixon was 4x better than Trump.
8
My T shirt will read, "I was once a Republican. I am now Human Scum". Just have to figure out how to get it all on the shirt. Maybe front and back.
257
@Victoria Parker- Unless you also add a blurb about how you will be voting for Trump’s Democratic opponent, your nevertrumping won’t matter at all
45
As one who has never officially joined a political party but will never vote for Trump, can I be an honorary human scum? I've long regretted not having made Nixon's enemies list. What does one have to do? It's all very unfair.
12
There are some stunning, informed and intelligent responses here certainly, but the key issue is fear. Although I hate to quote Oliver Stone, "Hell is the impossibility of reason."
PBS offers on YouTube the complete interviews they use for their Frontline documentary series. For Zero Tolerance they interviewed several key Trump people and Trump advocates such as Ann Coulter and Steve Bannon.
What I found both interesting and terrifying, especially in the case of Bannon, is his ability to make fundamentally unsound reasoning appear like the salvation of uneducated working-class people while worshipping Trump as their savior, all the while acknowledging that "He may be an imperfect instrument." This same phrase is echoed by the others too, this flawed but heroic champion of the downtrodden nonsense.
But when you see how utterly that resonates with so many people, you just want to dig a bunker and hide. You can't argue with them. You certainly can't reason with them. Every fundamental principle of ethics and decency once held dear across the entire political spectrum is not only irrelevant here, they're viewed as shopworn tools employed by corrupt oppressors - signals that the person evoking them must not merely be dismissed but annihilated.
How do you fight a zombie nightmare like this? Evidence has no effect. Daily outright lies and the crudest savage barbs from the president's own thumbs make no difference either. What do you do?
19
I am thoroughly unimpressed by the stand of Never-Trumpers. They are personally offended by Trump who defiles their perceptions of their ideology when in fact he may be the most accurate face of their intentions. The reason why there isn't more protest by the Republican party is because Trump is doing the job they really want done. But the Never-Trumpers prefer the cleaner image of Reagan who was just as racist (with his Welfare Queens and harsh punishment for drug crimes done by blacks), homophobic (AIDS denial), religiously intolerant (Moral Majority), elitist (tax rates favoring the wealthy), and destructive of the image of government (The nine most terrifying words). He blew a hole in the budget while selling his fiscal responsibility by cutting programs that helped actual Americans. It is only style which really differentiates the two and Reagan with his pretty language made them feel better about themselves even though the policies are just as vile. Remember Iran-Contra which was just as criminal as Ukraine but at least Reagan didn't do that for personal gain like Trump.
27
Very well stated and the absolute truth. GOP will support Trump all the way because he is boldly one of them, hook, line and sinker. The rest of us better have a life jacket handy because 2020 is going to be a Titanic year of upheaval!
8
The greatest aspect of this essay is that Trump wouldn't understand a word of it. From a foxhole, its hard to understand what is happening.
5
I think this article would have been interesting or given people hope that the GOP was a party of morals, conviction, truth, etc. a few years ago. After three years it is obvious that when push comes to shove and elected GOP leaders and voters have to act, we see that these qualities were just window dressing. Nice thought Bret, but it needs a dose of reality and some updating.
11
I am proud to be “human scum” as defined by Trump.
4
Fine with me if trump would call me "human scum", means he'd have someone to look up to.
6
It is just beyond believable that our President of the United States of America would call anyone, much less members of his own party, "human scum".
What kind of out of control, vicious monster have this GOP created?
18
I'm glad for you, Bret. You fought "the good fight," as it were, until you realized that the good fight only abetted evil. Welcome to the fold. We human scum are all in this together now.
4
Before Mr. Stevens and all those never trumpers were never trumpers they were the people who made it possible for trump and the Republican party to become the party it is to day. In other words the party of hate, ignorance, lies, and hypocrisy.
15
The Never Trump Republicans just don’t get it. The GOP is Trump, and Trump is the GOP. Even before he became President. The GOP has been a bigoted belligerent nativist anti-intellectual tribe since Nixon. Trump is just the scales falling from your eyes.
15
We rightly fault congressional Republicans for being morally bankrupt.
But what does it say about our country when so many of us either don’t see the problem or worse, find a kind of glee in the sneering acts of defiance that Trump embodies?
There can be a blue wave in 2020, but I the underlying fear and desperation that drives this kind of ugly, hateful ignorance won’t magically go away.
8
Republicans are responsible for trump. These never trumpers do not work from a moral position, they are only trying to jump a sinking ship that they helped to create.
Brooks, Stephens, Will...these people were proud republicans when their party took the wrong moral position on every single issue in the last 40 years.
Now they are outraged at the president they have helped to create.
I say, why aren't you writing your column over at Fox news?
Or Brietbart?
You guys really belong over there.
13
The difference between Never Trumpers and pre Trump GOP vs now is
1. They joined the democrat elites to destroy middle class jobs and race to the bottom by allowing unfair trade practices disguised as free trade. I saw Jeff Flake going around in his farewell tour and telling audience of his believe in free trade. How is it free trade when China imposes much higher taxes on american goods than what we impose? And forces us to part with our technology to do business there.
2. The never trumpers believe that it was too late to do anything about China and the cart is out of the barn. Just like what Obama said in the 2016 campaign. What magic is Trump going to pull to bring jobs back? Trump can't force jobs back as he is not a dictator but he can even the playing field and make it easy for them to come back. Exactly what he did.
3. Never Trumpers passed the no negotiation Medicaid Part D drug pricing policy under Bush. A shameless give away to the big pharma. And anti competitive and anti free market. And would never entertain talking about drug prices which Trump does openly and has made attempt in that direction.
4. On foreign policy Never Trumpers and many GOP lawmakers are more hawkish for sure.
5. The only place where never trumpers have a axe to grind is on deficits. The democrats dont mind spending either but would like to tax more. If Trump had his way he would cut the spending much more in the Deep State. Which scares the DC swamp. Thats why they chant "lock him up".
“... the political humiliation will be thunderous...”
Trump is incapable of feeling humiliation, and at this stage of things, I think it fair to say that so is the Republican Party.
7
Focus on Donald Trump‘s corruption instead of his odious behavior - focus on his hypocrisy and how in spite of his claiming to be a champion for everyman he has in every single day of his presidency been looking out for himself and his political survival . The bad behavior and the obnoxiousness is merely a distraction to keep us from seeing his truly corrupt and nefarious intentions.
Focus on getting his tax returns ; that will be the beginning of the end of this cancer which has held our country hostage .
10
I heard on the news that Republicans are saying the quid pro qou Trump did was nothing impeachable.
In my educated opinion, it definitely is because he threatened Ukrainian's lives by threatening to withhold Congressionally approved arms for defense against invasion by Russia.
Threatening people's lives is what Trump does. For example: Children in detention camps: Kurds lives in danger: Indicating the White Nationalists are OK: making sick children leave USA medical care.
Trump's quid pro quo (s): ' I will seriously endanger your body if you do not do what I want ! '
13
Bret writes: "... conscientious conservatives ...". Quite telling because it does require asking the question, is there another kind? Where is Bret's world heading?
So, Mr. Stevens, He conned you and you voted for him. Nothing else is left to be said.
10
Remember what happened to Trotsky? Yeah. Was it an ice pick? Trump is Stalin in this analogy, so Bret got that much right at least.
1
The chief problem with “conscientious conservatives,” it seems to me, is that they think they’re the only ones who are conscientious. It’s a lonely world unless you, not just hear, but listen. We live in an ad culture where everyone wants to be a b-rated lecturer, noone wants to be a student.
4
“The Never Trumper Republicans, though on respirators with not many left ...."
That's because they no longer identify as Republicans. They are still conservatives, however. It is no longer possible for a conservative to be a Republican.
"Some became ex-conservatives."
No, they became ex-Republicans. That's the only way to continue being conservative.
5
So some Republicans who think of themselves as conservatives may now see that what they have gotten from Trump -- staggering tax cuts, profitable deregulation and near immunity from all laws -- may not be enough.
The oceans of money they've gotten just aren't enough anymore to offset the mild embarrassment they sometimes feel at parties when some fool mentions Trump's alleged shortcomings.
Just when they were enjoying the foie gras, a low voice expresses concern about Trump's admission that he asked a foreign government to help him get elected, his obvious ties to Putin and the Russian mob, lifelong tax evasion, rampant corruption, and deliberate destruction of the foundations of representative democracy.
So now only 4 out of 5 Republicans think Trump is just fine, and having McConnell rule the entire legislative branch while Barr refuses to prosecute Republicans but fabricates investigations of Democrats is also just swell.
And this is commendable progress for conservatives.
Oh.
12
Note to Republicans: In 2020 you can vote for your Republican representatives and Senators and NOT pick Trump. You can leave it blank or god forbid cast a vote for the Democratic candidate, just don’t waste it on Trump or a third party. That helps no one. You can still maintain your majority in the Senate but it’s time to get back to work instead of stonewalling.
2
This column describes an critically important idea: A small, very small number of the most influential Republicans can bring this national nightmare to an end simply by standing up together and saying “Enough...!” History would record them as the patriots of the age. That this has not yet happened in the face of overwhelming evidence of treachery, high crimes, and behavior most vile, Romney being the exception, reveals a party craven and corrupt beyond all words and measures.
13
I do wish you and other pundits would stop calling the Trump/Giuliani/Thugs actions in the Ukraine a "shadow foreign policy". Their crimes and maneuvers do not constitute "foreign policy", just simple extortion, self enrichment, bribery, and campaign finance law violations. The only thing that one can argue is "foreign policy" about any of Trump's actions is his concerted effort on behalf of the Kremlin to weaken the U.S. and enhance the position of Russia. This "foreign policy" has been remarkably successful. It will take a long time for the U.S. to recover, if ever, from this disastrous "foreign policy".
24
Sadly, the main message I get from this essay is that NeverTrumpers are an endangered species, possibly to become extinct by November, 2020. RIP. Your work will not be forgotten.
What is so astonishing and shocking is that the awfulness of Trump has far surpassed the fears of his severest critics in January of 2017, yet he stands a better than even chance of being reelected now that Biden has fallen by the wayside.
4
I suspect I'll never agree with most conservative ideology, but I've always been able to respectfully disagree--until Trump. To support Trump is to support the destruction of America as we know it. It is to support a man who is so far from being fit for the office, on every level, that we may as well be living in some grotesque, dictator-led version of a dystopian America. The existence of Never Trumpers provides some definite comfort, though, and although as a Democrat it might be disingenuous of me, sign me up for a T-Shirt (in solidarity). I can live with, respect, and vehemently disagree with most conservative positions, and politicians, but we as a nation cannot survive much more of Trump.
15
"There were also those conservative policy and political victories. Regulatory rollback [Seriously? Is that what we need? Less protections for workers, consumers and the environment? Really?]. Gorsuch [ Stolen seat. That's an abomination, not a victory], Kavanaugh [Unfit for the highest court], and all the lower court judges [Seats stolen by McConnell from Obama]. Increased military spending [It wasn't enough to spend more than the next 7 countries combined?]. The tax cut [Major failure - increased inequality and federal deficits with little economic impact]. Withdrawal from the Iran deal [A major blunder; who is going to trust the U.S. now in international negotiations? Certainly not Iran. We gave up nothing (put sanctions in place, then lifted them) and Iran was complying]. An expanded G.O.P. majority in the Senate [More bad politicians is somehow good?. The Mueller fizzle [Hardly. Trump tried to fire Mueller! If not for the fact that he's the president, he would have been taken away in handcuffs. That's a fizzle? If it would have been a Democrat, it would have been seen by Republicans as the biggest scandal in U.S. history]."
I've placed in brackets my thoughts on these "victories." With "victories" like those, who needs failures?
1612
@Jon Spot on. Brett Stephens does not accept responsibility for the fact that Trump did not just happen. The Conservative movement and the Republican party over a period of time got here slowly corrupting themselves.
If you had Paul Ryan or Mike Pence or Rick Perry in Trump's place you'd be no better off. Except that they would be better behaved.
669
@Jon - Excellent rebuttal to Bret Stephens embrace of Republican orthodoxy which facilitates the will of their Corporate patrons. The party of limited government has increased the budget of Homeland Security by 7.8%, Bush enacted the No Child Left Behind pushing federal bureaucracy down the throats of states & local municipalities to this day, pulling out from the Iran Nuclear Agreement has blown up Middle East security so Trump then sends troops to Saudi Arabia to protect "the oil", reduces regulations & redirects FEMA's budget to ICE so when climate change disasters increase at a staggering pace in the future the government thanks to the same deregulation which GOP loves, there will be inadequate funding by the government & supports tax cuts for the wealthy & Corporations so the budget will explode & there will be no choice for the GOP but to cut Social Security & Medicare & Medicaid because that's what the so called limited government GOP party believes in. Stephens list of so called "wins" for the GOP are all the more reason to vote for Democratic Progressives in order to return power to everyday working Americans from the greedy control of Corporate backed GOP politicians.
120
@Jon I was about to write a response to this article and then I saw yours. It is exactly what I was thinking. When friends tell me they don't like Trump but they like his policies I have to gag. And in the long run it is the policies that really matter. His policies are an abomination . Your response to this column is perfect..
157
I grew up reading National Review only to become first a squatting anarchist then a pretty standard NewDealer /DSA member. I have respect for real conservatism. We need people to point out the danger of un intended consequences and remind us that costs are real. The present 'conservatives' fail in this completely. When was the last time you heard a Republican warn of un intended consequence? Not under W Bush when millions protested warning about the Iraq invasion would de stabilize the region (!!!!!??). Not under the Donald who just trashed the USA's credibility internationally with one tweet. We do need a real conservatism. The present Right is not doing its job at all.
7
The "debasement of presidential speech" is minor compared to Trump's lying, stealing, and malicious bullying. Trump is immoral. Anonymous's forthcoming book will most likely be the umpteenth time Trump's "amorality" is documented. And, like Bret, Anonymous supports Trump's policies. So hear! hear! Conservatives! unite with Progressives against this moral monster covered in "turpitude and infamy," incapable of performing the duties of his office with "integrity and honor," a "grotesquely unethical" man. He must be impeached and removed on those grounds.
1
The Trump Republican Party is not a conservative party. The only thin veneer of glue holding them together (and echoing the Republican Party of a generation ago) is the trifecta of tax cuts, deregulation, and conservative judges.
Beyond that, the Trump Republican Party is an unholy alliance of anarchists and nihilists on the one hand, and fascists on the other hand.
The Bannon wing of anarchists and nihilists seeks "deconstruction of the administrative state." They want to tear down our government. Many traditional Republicans just don't like paying taxes. But when you take that sentiment to its extreme, this is what you get.
Then there are the evangelical conservative activists who wish to inflict their version of Christian Sharia Law upon the rest of us. That is the fascist wing of the party. This includes people such as Bill Barr and Mike Pompeo, with their support of the unitary executive theory -- meaning the president is a king. American tyranny.
16
Stephens writes:
"There were also those conservative policy and political victories. Regulatory rollback. Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and all the lower court judges. Increased military spending. The tax cut. Withdrawal from the Iran deal. An expanded G.O.P. majority in the Senate. The Mueller fizzle."
Anyone who considers putting a rapist on the Supreme Court a "political victory" is deplorable, regardless if they're a Never Trumper.
Anyone who considers the "fizzle" of the Mueller Report (which uncovered clear evidence that Trump obstructed justice, but let him off on a technicality) a "political victory" is deplorable, regardless if they're a Never Trumper.
Stephens and the rest of the Conservative Cabal laud themselves as "moral traditionalists." Bogus! If you cheer the "political victories" even though they're attained through cheating and unethical actions, then you're far from any sense of morality.
Let's remember that Gorsuch (whom you're gleeful about) was illicitly installed on the Supreme Court only after McConnell stole the seat from Merrick Garland.
Cheering for a "victory" that was only attained by stealing it, while claiming to be a traditional moralist, shows that you're actually just an immoral hypocrite!
19
"The decency of being scandalized is what being NeverTrump is centrally about"
Pretty low bar! Bret writes at least once a week that it's on Democrats to nominate a presidential candidate that is palatable to him and other "squishy" conservatives, and it's on Nancy Pelosi to give House Republicans a chance to save their souls (which, notably, not a single one of them did this week). You guys should be out denouncing Trump constantly. People like Colin Powell and even W get a headline once in a while, but where is the sustained push back against Trump's "movement"? Honestly, it's pathetic how spineless all you "conservatives" turn out to be.
10
I suspect there isn't a Republican in Congress who does not despise Trump as a lying, corrupt, chest-pounding blowhard embarrassment. And I also suspect that they will turn on him like a pack of wolves when the time is right.
They remind me of a realtor who was showing my brother a house he was interested in buying. There was a huge banana plant growing by the pool. My sister was the first to see it and said, "I hate banana plants," and the realtor responded, "Aren't they awful?" When my brother arrived poolside a few minutes later he said, "I love banana plants," and the realtor didn't miss a beat, "Aren't they wonderful?"
Some people just want to make a deal.
4
Don't you mean Revenge Of The Never Trumpers?
Amusing that "conscientious conservatives", having backed the RUSSIA! hoax for three years (do you think we have forgotten the perfidy?), now prefer Warren to Trump using the Ukraine hoax as their excuse.
Establishment Rinos backing the latest Democrat witchhunt will spell the end of the Republican party. Which is exactly what Democrats and "conscientious conservatives" actually want.
Mr. Stephens is a climate change denier, ex Republican.
Why should we listen to anything from his mouth?
13
So does that mean that you and your fellow NeverTrumpers would vote for Elizabeth Warren if she's nominated (which you have shuddered at in previous columns)? And even publicly encourage others to do so?
Because the only one with a chance of taking Trump out (barring his impeachment and removal) is the Democratic nominee. And if you're not willing to pull the lever for that person, then you're a RatherNotTrumper, or whatever the name would be - but you're not an actual NeverTrumper.
9
Every single American should be a Never-Trumper. The sadistic moral rot of a man who victimizes helpless immigrant children by separating them from their families and withholding aid to the point that children die on his watch is sufficient to know the hideous nature of his character.
8
While I feel your pain, Mr. Stephens, let's not try to make "never Trumpers" heroes. Never Trumpers are, au fond, cowards, who saw what a disaster Trump is, and what a destructive president he would make, but didn't have the moral character to vote for their country--they stuck with Republicanism and didn't vote for Hillary Clinton.
So, because "never Trumpers" put party ahead of country, we are stuck with an increasingly demented and dangerous man at the helm of our country.
478
@Elizabeth Bennett Just so you know, there were plenty of Never Trumpers who still are Never Trumpers. I was a Republican de souche ('de souche' inspired by your use of the French 'au fond'.) Et je ne suis pas un lâche - I was against Trump from the giddy-up. I saw him for the monster that he is. And I voted for Hillary - something that I never would have dreamed could happen until Trump won the nomination. I won't be voting for Trump this time around either. And when I say I was a Republican de souche the use of the past tense is deliberate. At this point it is obvious to me that what was once the party of Lincoln is morally bankrupt.
94
@Elizabeth Bennett
They made the same kind of choice many of us made. We voted for the least “bad” candidate. After 20 yrs of bad publicity and conspiracies about the Clintons, a court jester seemed like the better choice than what they saw as corrupt evil. I sympathize because i picked an unpopular, uncharismatic woman with a long tenure of questionable decisions over a self professed racist idiot. It is what it is.
12
Trump becomes the first president impeached and convicted In US history if and only if his base in Ruby red states desert him as the unimpeachable facts about his corrupt use of presidential power are clarified by public hearings in the House.
The only thing that terrifies the codependent Republican senators is their defeat in the 2020 election. If Red State republican voters desert him, those Republican Senators will by their pragmatic personal survival calculus suddenly follow the judgment of the only power in America they fear—the sovereign electorate.
There are 22 Republican Senators up for Re-election but only 11 Democratic seats are at risk. At last count Republican voters favoring impeachment and removal is nearing 50%.
What seemed impossible 4 months ago—Trump’s removal by constitutional process—is now a long-shot but no longer a delusion.
6
From the practical political side, the Never-Trumpers, AKA actual principled conservatives, may inherit the shell of the GOP. Look, Trump is 74 years old, maybe impeached, may not win the election, and after Trump? The angry masses will quickly tire and forget the red hats. Remember, how the Tea Party died?
So, being anti-Trump may be an advantageous strategy in the medium- to long-term as a conservative.
3
As a non-Trump voter I remain disappointed that a reasonable alternative has not been offered to centerist voters. The Democrats have only themselves to blame for the mendacious Clintons' failure and Trump's success. Now were will probably have to choose between Trump or the 1984, Brave New World left.
2
The fault here is NOT with the Democrats...Trump is in office because of who voted for him and because of the Republicans who would not vote for him, but who didn’t vote against him.
7
Any R Senator who wants to salvage her/his legacy would be wise to vote for conviction. But the chances of even four doing the right thing are slim and none. That's the shame of it all.
10
@Bret Stephens - I don’t even know where to start. The fact that you claim praise for the never-Trumpers who you seem to think are still out there (but who apparently lost the ability 3 years ago to speak, tweet, post, protest or in ANY way make themselves heard) is rich. There is MUCH blame to go around among Republican voters—for those who voted for him surely, and also for those who did not vote at all. But the blame lies heaviest on the alleged never-Trumpers who claim to have appreciated the risk his presidency posed and poses, but who never mustered the voice or courage to DO anything to get in his way, stop his rise, or (now) to call real sustained attention to his misdeeds. No...you and the few who still attempt to claim the “Never-Trumpet” label do not deserve to wear it when none of you, individually or collectively, have done or said anything to bring “Never Trump” to fruition. The never-Trumpers will share a place in history with all of the other republican voters and congresspeople who enabled this horror every step of the way.
12
I’m sorry Mr. Stephens, but I can’t believe that you didn’t see this debasement of our nation coming. Even ninth graders figured it out. Your revelations are late. Do your duty and give your words to the mad 20 and let us start to heal.
7
When Trump was elected, I dubbed him "The Tangerine Titanic", and it is vindicating to see you use a similar reference in your first paragraph.
The reason I called him "The Tangerine Titanic" is because, just like the real Titanic, he was going to sink to deep depths, and those who willingly bought a ticket on that doomed voyage were going to have to sink with him to defend their decision.
And defend they will to the end, even if it that means going all the way to the bottom of the Atlantic, for you see, times have changed. It is no longer about being right... it is about never admitting you were wrong in the first place.
That is why Republicans and Trump Supporters do the indefensible... to admit they were wrong, would be to admit that others were right, and their egos can't do that.
Why do the right thing when you can just turn on Fox "News" and they can tell what you want to hear?
7
“Trump’s G.O.P., whatever its political fortunes, is the opposite: a nativist party led by a libertine.
At some level, conservatives know this. Trump knows they know it. Which explains why he has turned his sights on Never Trumpers: What despots and demagogues fear most is their followers developing a conscience.”
Read that last sentence again; it’s truly significant.
8
What should happen is, since it's fairly certain that Trump won't be removed from office as a result of impeachment, Never-Trumpers actually need to act on their conviction and vote against him in 2020. This means voting even for Elizabeth Warren, if she's the candidate. Will they do that? Will Romney and yes, even Bret Stephens do that? The answer is no, they will not. And, neither will most of the Never Trumpers in the voting public. Their conviction will melt away when the time comes. Never-Trump is just a catch phrase, and in the end, most of those who claim that slogan will surrender.
10
Having seen the capitulation of those Republications who clearly understood what Trump was is the clearest possible picture of what kind of people you are dealing with in the Republican party. Personal benefit over country every time.
14
Mob bosses maintain control in a variety of ways, sometimes through fear and intimidation, sometimes by compromising their subjects. Those players who were complicit in the scheme are in the wrong themselves, even if they didn’t realize the treasonous breadth of the enterprise. It’s hard to give up campaign funds, and even more difficult to admit that you were conned.
9
The statistics Mr. Stephens provides are the reason the Democrats are so desperate to keep Trump off the ballot. But there are other accomplishments a well. In a previous
Opinion Trump was given credit for defeating The ISIS Islamic State in Syria. Now he's killed the leader in less than 3 years. Trump did the right thing he pulled the troops out of the Kurdish area. Now the shooting and killing has stopped. The Kurds moved their military 20 miles back from the Turkish boarder. Russia is going to patrol the areas between. The Kurds have plenty of firepower to go after ISIS. Trump has achieved a lot for us and the Democrats knowi and that is why the see impeachment as their only choice.
1
@Ron
Right! So it's a good thing for the U.S. to abandon our allies after they have made a good part of our objectives a reality? Hmmm No it's back stabbing a critical alliance snubbing those who have backed our goals and had taken on a major part in accomplishments to achieve said goals.
As far as Mr Trump defeating ISIS really? The network that Mr Obama's administration established made those accomplishments a reality.
The Kurds moved back 20 miles because they had to as their main support pulled out leaving them exposed to genocide. That's not a good look for the U.S.
The above combined with the destruction of the agencies rules and guidelines made to protect us tell a story of unbridled greed and a lack of caring for the common folk.
So I tend to dispute your comment.
Just an old white man's opinion.
8
Trump hasn’t killed any terrorist. The US military was responsible guided by the intelligence agencies Trump despises and constantly undermines. And that’s not my opinion- that’s almost a verbatim quote from Trump about President Obama after he sent Seal Team 6 to kill Osama bin Laden.
8
I would not call it a vindication. It is, at best, the first, halting step towards repentance, still really, really far from forgiveness.
Never Trumpers treat Trump like some sort of cosmic phenomenon that just happened to them, the "True Conservatives", rather than what he is, namely a logical conclusion of the long road of the Republican Party, led by these "True Conservatives", into political nihilism, now smoothly transforming into Fascism, crossed with Putinist corruption.
If you are old enough, you realize that the Republican Party was always the party of political corruption. You simply have to think back to past administrations. In every one of them people would go to jail, or at least be prosecuted. Reagan did not mind treason as long as it served him politically, same for Nixon. Bush jr took the country to war on a flimsily fabricated casus belli, accompanied by a neo-stalinist propaganda campaign that pretty much destroyed the international credibility of the US as a pillar of the "rules based" international order.
But then, in 2008, the economic flagship project of the "True Conservatives", so called neoliberalism, collapsed into a horrifying rubble. It had to be rescued by an unprecedented intervention of the State, led by a Democratic president. The "True Conservatives" could have paused and reflected. They doubled down instead, going from dog whistles to full bore hate campaigns ,which spawned Trump.
And now, welcome to Argentina with nukes.
9
Never Trumpers probably are traitors to the Republican party, not just Trump. Any principled conservatives should be because the Republican party has not been motivated by principled conservatism for decades. Rather it has been the party that most looks after the interests of big-money contributors, using racism to get votes from white working people who are actually harmed by Republican economic policies. The only question is, if principled Republicans actually exist, why has it taken so long to become disillusioned? What exactly is it about Trump that is really different from what Republicans have been since the days of William F. Buckley? Perhaps there is a difference in foreign policy, but Trump does not represent anything new in terms of reliance on racism and division.
8
So what takes conservative Republicans to reflect on their immoral, exclusive, racist , environmentally destructive policies and beliefs, is to have the majority of their followers blindly support the most vile and divisive leader elected as President. This Republican party, with the likes of Mr. Stevens is a long time in coming, and his ilk is responsible for its growth. Feinting shock and horror on what conservative Republicans have built and nurtured over the past 50 years doesn't absolve them from their responsibility in what the've created.
8
With a very few honorable exceptions, most of the remaining NeverTrumpers—whose objections to begin with were largely less about the man’s actual policies than his demonstrated inability to refrain from saying the quiet parts out loud—are at best, in Roy Edroso’s memorable phrase, “Just the Tip Trumpers.”
1
Your column appears to extol the "integrity" of the Never Trumpers, but where's the integrity in staying virtually silent while Trump tears our system of laws and the Constitution into pieces, thumbing his nose at morals and fairness and decorum?
Crickets.
That's what is heard in the silence that surrounds the Never Trumpers when Trump and the Republicans do more to damage our country than Putin and all of our enemies can dream of.
You want to be proud of you and your fellow Never Trumpers Brett? Then start being loud and visible in your efforts to remove him from office. THAT'S integrity.
9
It is just so rich that Bret is calling himself a never Trumper when he has made it clear that he will not vote for certain Democratic nominees and in so doing ensure that Trump will be reelected. His must be the most hypocritical stance I have read in a while.
12
@CTMD
Only if he lives in PA, MI, or WI. Otherwise, he can't make a difference and might as well cast a protest vote.
3
I want to be sympathetic to your argument, but there are some real whoppers embedded in said argument. "Moral traditionalism", Republican-style, is a code word for exclusion. From the "Moral Majority" onward, moral traditionalism has been cynically used as cover for what, voila, has recently been outed as the same old fight for good ol' white supremacy. "Classic liberalism", in the mouth of a conservative, simply means no-rules capitalism, the very thing which has resulted in accelerating upward redistribution of wealth. This combination is actually exactly what we are getting from Trump, it's just that you use different terms.
The truth is that the Republican party fed and watered the swamp which gave rise to Trump, cynically profiting along the way from the hate-mongering of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Matt Drudge et al. The few, like you and Peter Wehner, who act all horrified, should first look in a mirror. I did, and I left the party, long before Trump came along and pulled the curtains off the charade.
8
The only system worse than a two-party political system would be a one-party system. We need about a dozen political parties in this country. That way at least some of them would be forced to work together. Maybe they would have a little time left over to work for the benefit of the people.
3
There is no such thing as a conscientious conservative. You sir helped create Trump so please issue your mea culpa and leave the stage.
10
Wishy, wishy, hopey hope. The Republicans checked their moral values at the Trump White House door. Other than McCain, no other Republican has stood up to the Trump policies, policies to degrade the environment, destroy an already bad health care system, bulge the deficit with tax cuts for the wealthy, and worst of all, climb in bed with the enemy, Russia'a Putin and others not known for their democratic deeds.
I predict one Republican will break ranks, that being Mitt Romney, who holds the safest Senate seat in Congress. The named others may shimmer a bit, but in the end, they are Trump loyalists. They need those corporate dollars.
6
You're counting on Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Mitt Romney to convict? Right. Because they've been so courageous in their previous moral-issue choices, such as the Brett Kavanaugh vote, approving dubious Cabinet choices, approving the GOP tax cut for the wealthy. You'll be waiting a long time for moral clarity and conscience from them.
1836
Collins and Murkowski were on the right side on the AHA vote, and Romney can’t stand Trump (and has staked a position as standing against Trump lately). This isn’t a vote on a tax cut - it’s a much bigger statement on their moral legacy, and they know it. All 3 could politically survive (maybe thrive) standing against Trump. If the public testimony is compelling, I think those 3 (at least) will vote to convict.
63
@Matt I hope you're right. But power and privilege often defeat morality.
112
@Matt
They will draw straws to see who gets to 'appear' moderate or bipartisan this time as they always do.
55
I would be happier about a remnant of conservatism surviving except for the litany of "conservative policy and political victories" that Mr. Stephens cites. Shall we talk with the families who have benefited from a loose regulatory environment? Boeing? PG&E? People with wells poisoned from poorly regulated chemical use by industries? People who lack access to drugs that are not profit centers for business (it's not just the children's cancer drug vincristine.) Children addicted to nicotine because someone enabled putting 100 times the nicotine of a cigarette into a efficient electronic delivery system and making it candy flavored. What will nakedly partisan judges who are, for example, happy to violate the establishment clause to control women's bodies, do for respect for rule of law, which I had thought was a cardinal American virtue. What respect for the military and their families is shown by moving their appropriated funds to build the wall? Did you read the Mueller report? Is corruption and incompetence now a conservative value?
My professional background required I look at outcomes, not belief in what would happen even if it never did. Based on the observed outcomes of these " conservative victories," if Trump wants to put the last nail in the coffin, on the whole I think I will be happy with the current lot expiring.
6
The conversation regarding Trump rarely touches on the why. Volumes are written on the results of his election. Why did Trump get elected? The truth that no one seems to face is that, like any populist, Trumps got elected because the Congress refused to take care of the basics of governance. Congress abdicated to the other two branches; that is why presidential elections and Supreme Court nominations have such importance today. It matters little if you are left or right, a Never Trumper, or a politician of greater or lesser moral fiber. Separately, Democrats or Republicans are not going to solve the nation's problems. When our national legislature stops legislating, as it has for 25 years, expect populists. If, for example, Ms. Warren gets elected, do you think any of her pipe dreams will become a reality? Solutions depend on bipartisanship yet the divided nation drifts further apart. The rot in our democracy is Congress which puts party over country every day.
6
Great column. I disagree though with the belief that impeachment will hurt Trump’s re-election chances. I think it’s irrelevant. I think the country has decided and we’ll find out on election night. A simple question. Does anybody out there know even one person who has no opinion about Trump, good or bad?
5
With news that trump will be attending a cage fight, the similarities to the movie "Idiocracy" only increases! What's next, hosting that event somewhere inside the Whitehouse?!
Still, I take heart at the fact that we are too busy thinking about the next election to think seriously about what will happen when the planet warms another 3-4C degrees. In the grand scheme of things, Trump is but a bump in the road to the apocalypse of Climate Change.
If the science is accurate, our descendants will be sitting around the campfires in the year 2200, wondering what it was like back in our day when we had everything. They won't be debating the merits of the trump presidency.
7
When Mr. Stephens expresses his enthusiasm for regulatory rollbacks, I assume he includes this headline from today’s Times: E.P.A. to Roll Back Rules to Control Toxic Ash from Coal Plants.
I do not consider this rollback, and the expected health damage, to be a positive achievement. Were Stephens ready to write meaningfully about the specific actions, rather than as a partisan, I think he would dislike most of the rollbacks, too.
This is a problem we have. Republicans accept the top level claim - rollbacks enhance efficiency - without examining the real actions.
12
“If Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and one other Republican join the Democrats to convict, the political humiliation will be thunderous.”
What actually needs to happen is this: those four need to pull a Justin Amash and declare independence from the Party of Trump, and in doing so, would take away McConnell’s power as majority leader. Schumer presumably would then be in charge of the Senate trial.
Never Trumpers in the general population would cheer such a move and view it as a chance to give a rebirth to true conservatism.
818
@Corrie
The trial of an impeached president is presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, not the Senate Majority Leader.
29
@Corrie
I guess we can all dream, but then the alarm clock rings and...
24
@herzliebster
Yes, but technically he is the Chief Justice of the United States.
9
The decline of personal morals is a slow erosion of character. Each questionable action is only a minimal deviation from “norms,” resetting the baseline slightly more askew with each successive act. Self justification is an essential part of the process because we all must believe we are “good” and acting “properly.” Then, when someone is shot in the middle of Fifth Avenue, we are either shocked into awareness of our complicity or we argue “they needed killing.”
Far and away, the majority of the Republican Party is arguing the killing was necessary. The problem is the victim is the American republic. Those few conscientious conservative Never-Trumpers that declined to take the downhill path unfortunately declined to join with the rest of the citizenry to put a stop to this madness. Standing off to the side and dramatically wringing yours hands over the impropriety of the President and his enablers is not moral courage.
11
The moment I heard the epithet "scum" from the mouth/tweet of Donald Trump, I was reminded that this was precisely the phrase used by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to describe those he had locked up in his prison camps. History shows us that one of the first steps toward oppression is demonization. It is a pity that so many Americans have so little knowledge of history.
13
Spot on
2
Had any other Republican won the election,they would have received the same onslaught Trump has since entering the race. We saw what happened to McCain and Romney. Trump was the only one who could take on Hillary and beat the Democrat machine on their terms.
Since the 'Steel dossier' there have been incessant non stop weekly accusations which have all been debunked. Suddenly all Democrat hopes have veered to Ukraine, after 3 years of it.
This has been all about over turning a election. Any other Republican would have received similar treatment.
2
@Lane
"Had any other Republican won the election,they would have received the same onslaught Trump has since entering the race."
That is patently false. Mr. Trump is in a league of his own. And it has nothing to do with policy positions or partisanship.
Every prior president of either party has attempted to be the president for all Americans. Mr. Trump has not only not even tried, but has actively expressed contempt for over half of the American people -- not to mention the Constitution, the Rule of Law, and our American Institutions.
25
@Lane: Trump was only the baddest of a collection of choirboys running to abolish "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" and usher in theocracy.
5
This isn't about overturning an election. That can't be done. This is a about bringing as Lindsy Graham so eloquently put it, Bringing Honor and Respect to the office of the President. Trump has sullied both.
6
With Democrats looking like they will go with Warren, it's like a release valve lifting the political pressure off even these four senators to vote for conviction.
They know Trump will beat Warren with relative ease because she has positioned herself so far out of alignment with where the electorate is--taking health care from 200 million people and promising to make legal and cover tens of millions of illegal immigrants, decriminalizing illegal boarder crossings, etc.
And they know that Warren will make it nearly impossible for Democrats in down-ballot races to win, so they will easily be reelected as long as they keep their heads down.
We Democrats are in the process of creating a disaster that will resonate for decades and around the world.
10
@OrchardWriting As an independent who will never vote for a Republican, I totally concur with your assessment. There is a huge vacuum in the political middle that the Dems are failing to capture. Elizabeth Warren's vision and plan for America is as delusional as Trump's evangelical Christian base.
1
If the Never trumpers are on life support they have only their party to blame. For years the far right of the republican party has been indulged by the republicans. They've gotten away with murder and they've been abetted by the "establishment" republicans. Now they've lost control to a wing of their party that has crossed every possible line of what was once what the republican party held dear. Rather than educate its base the republicans accepted the fact that their base would always be with them. Well they are and the establishment republicans are not.
5
If the Never trumpers are on life support they have only their party to blame. For years the far right of the republican party has been indulged by the republicans. They've gotten away with murder and they've been abetted by the "establishment" republicans. Now they've lost control to a wing of their party that has crossed every possible line of what was once what the republican party held dear. Rather than educate its base the republicans accepted the fact that their base would always be with them. Well they are and the establishment republicans are not.
1
What a relief it is to know that some Republicans have a conscience. Before, when Trump's popularity never budged, one wondered. Perhaps his support at Fox is flagging and his popularity just follows suit. But hopefully it's an inherent increase in a sense of right and wrong because to have friends, family, and such a large percentage of the nation without being about to tell the difference, or dependent on a TV show for a conscience, is not just depressing -- it's scary.
5
Conscientious Conservatives still count: you mean like
actual practicing conscientious conservatives like
William F. Buckley or William F. Weld..:
As very conservative actual Republicans had been;
yes had been; but no longer are: fiscally conservative.
And where are the fiscally conservative members of the
GOP now..
Well, not in The US Congress or the US Senate...but perhaps
in the US Supreme Court.
Dig deeper ; and define what you mean.
6
I appreciate conservatives who are Never Trumpers. But the fundamental error among all conservatives was that we needed to "save the country from Hillary Clinton". This is a classic example of a movement believing its own lies. How does Brett Stevens feel about the hyperbole and assorted lies surrounding Whitewater, Vince Foster, the Clinton Foundation, Benghazi, and (gasp) her emails. What does he think of that long ago mysogonist slur about our "unelected co-president", now that Rudy Giuliani is acting secretary of state? I ask because I am trying to figure out whether Never Trumpers ever did the only sensible thing: vote for HRC.
18
Sorry, Mr. Stephens, you don’t get a pass on this. Aside from myriad comments so far pointing out the innate greed, incompetence, and dishonesty of Republicans going back to Nixon, here’s the kicker:
Republican intransigence on climate change will resonate as rapidly rising temperatures destroy our habitat, ability to produce food, and foment a thorough breakdown in society leading to a Hobbesian existence for humanity.
Imagine what could have been done if GW Bush hadn’t been selected in 2000. Imagine what a different society we could have had if Gore had been able to steer a narrative which could have made a difference. It’s too late now. And your Republican party is wholly responsible.
18
@Brynniemo: Bill Clinton didn't have enough party loyalty to resign and let Gore run as the incumbent in 2000.
1
@Brynniemo Sure would have been good if Gore had campaigned on Climate Change action. Gore did run a bad campaign, picking Lieberman and not getting Clinton to campaign for him believing the Republican lies that Clinotn was toxic. To Democrats ; when Republican talking heads give you campaign advice, do not take it. Unlike Democrats, who do tell Repubs exactly how to beat them Republicans are not giving this advice in good faith.
4
I've concluded, Bret, that it makes no difference to Trumpers whether or not he ever accomplishes anything. They adore him because he says what they feel and believe. Regardless of the impeachment outcome, we all need to prepare ourselves for the likelihood that he will be re-elected not on the basis of what he has done but rather on what he has said. The traditional accomplishment scoreboard (for him, anyway) has been thrown out.
The president blasts "Never Trumpers" because they don't have that emotional bond with him. They aren't drinking the Kool-Aid any longer because they realize there is nothing in the cup and have publicly declared that. They, like the rest of us, have chosen to believe our lying eyes rather than his lying words.
11
@Tom Q
Your last sentence is confusing to me or is it the double negative making a positive? That makes sense.
I never liked Mr Trump for POTUS I also never liked Mrs Clinton but and here's the major but you don't need to like a leader only respect them for what they stand for on that basis Mrs Clinton would have made an excellent POTUS. I know I know she has been reported as crooked however after all those investigations nothing nothing has been proven. Hmmmm maybe she is the Queen of evil? Uh I truly think not misunderstood? Perhaps...
So based on her history in government service she was eminently qualified for the top job in the country. I also have no idea why I never liked her I still don't understand why my gut reaction to her has been dislike. Maybe it was she didn't tell Mr Trump to back off during the debate or to bring up the obvious nastiness that came out of his mouth nor did she point out the contradictions of what Mr Trump said versus what we say we stand for. I don't regret my decision to support Mrs Clinton but I am sorry she is not our POTUS so much good could have come from her leadership.
Just an old white man's opinion...
4
Never Trump is believing in the Constitution with its three equal branches of government rather than an authoritarian "Imperial Presidency." Never Trump is believing in human decency and the "Golden Rule" rather than denigrating and demeaning others. Never Trump is about honesty and telling the truth and not lying incessantly. Never Trump is about obeying the law not breaking the law. Never Trump is about compassion not callousness. Never Trump is helping others and not hurting others. Never Trump is believing in our better angels rather than our darker devils. Never Trump is about "charity for all" and not charity for ones self. Every day in every way I try to walk toward the light of Never is and to give as much of myself to healing and helping everyone even Ever Trumpers.
7
I have written 100s of handwritten letters to GOP Senators imploring them to act decently. I am represented by two blue Senators and am pretty sure my letters were tossed unseen and unrecorded by even the lowliest staffers. If you have a GOP Senator consider it lucky that at least your voice might be heard. Please let them know. Daily. We are just asking for decent behavior.
6
@Jk: The Electoral College denies all of the people an equal say in the election of any public office in the whole US.
4
One day the Never Trump will have to take their responsibilities in the raise of Trump. In the past they supported the Southern Strategy of Richard Nixon, the Black Welfare Queen of Ronald Reagan, the Willie Horton add of GHW Bush. They supported the war in Irak, one of the most strategic blunder in the history of the USA. They supported massive tax cut for Corporate America, the rich and thev1%. They supported cuts in social program, and with they followed the leadership of President Clinton in destroying the welfare state established by FDR and LBJ. In other words they created the conditions which allowed a con man Donald Trump to channeled the anger of the working class and other victims of the conservative policies. And by the way the Never Trump do not object to the policies of President Trump: cutting taxes for the elites, deficits, nominating pro-big business judges,... In other words they created the monster Trump. But what is worst, they learned nothing and understand nothing. They want to get rid of Trump but want to keep most of his policies which created the monster Trump in the first place.
3
@Wilbray Thiffault The most dangerous aspect of Trump is not his policies, as bad as they are. It is the devotion he inspires is too much like what North Korea's Kim demands from the populace. That is why one can agree with Trump horrid policies but object to Trump himself. Advocating conservatism is not my preference but it is legitimate. Acting and demanding to be treated as a King is not legit in our system. Ancient Rome desiring to be king was the worst offense.
Mr. Stephens, it's going to be Trump or Senator Warren. Are you sure you want an anti-business liberal extremist to be our next president? I don't like Trump but I'm voting for him because I don't want the American economy to be destroyed.
1
@BobC you have no idea how our workers have lagged while corporations make billions. That is not how capitalism is supposed to work. We are actually reaping the benefits of Obama era fiscal decisions..
4
@BobC That is the problem; Trump is fundamentally un suited to the presidency because of power lust. He is worse than his policies. The republic will recover from a 'too liberal' president better than one who demands loyalty to his person. This is what Stephens is talking about.
5
Theo: "Democrats should welcome every last one of them with open arms."
I agree with and appreciate your post. But shouldn't it read AMERICANS should welcome every last one of them with open arms?"
1
Here's my crazy fantasy : Wells, Romney, Roony and a whole bunch of Never Trumpers let the GOP do their lock out nomination of Trump and then they cime out and annoince that they will support any moderate Democrat for president with a call to a bi-partisan spirit of inification and integrity. Dems can even promise them a fee posts to keep them relevant if they csn't be elected. Independents will flocjk to this new ''center'', Trump will lose, and a new GOP will be born of the ashed, and all Trumpers either eashed up or falling over thenselves to wash themselves of him.
Just a fantasy. Pass it round.
1
Lieutenant Colonel Vindman did not say White House transcript of the Trump-Zelensky phone call was inaccurate; he said it was incomplete. According to the New York Times, Vindman said it omitted “Trump’s assertion that there were recordings of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. discussing Ukraine corruption, and an explicit mention by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, of Burisma Holdings, the energy company whose board employed Mr. Biden’s son Hunter.”
If true, these omissions are immaterial. Trump has repeatedly directed public attention to the recording of Joe Biden’s boasting about denying Ukraine aid unless it fired its prosecutor general. It is clear from thew transcript that Trump and Zelensky were discussing Hunter Biden’s dealings with Burisma. Trump probably wishes these remarks were including in the transcript.
1
So, the 'Never Trumpers' scum are fellow politicians? At least they don't have to live with him, day in and day out, as their ultimate boss and manager. Can you imagine how these people feel, who have inherited Donald Trump as their supreme leader?
Our volunteer military. It must be very discouraging waking up every day knowing that the commander-in-chief is unpredictable and inherently weak.
Our intelligence services. It must be very discouraging waking up every day knowing that the president is unpredictable and inherently weak.
Our diplomatic corps. It must be very discouraging waking up every day knowing that the president is unpredictable and inherently weak.
Our federal civil service workforce. It must be very discouraging waking up every day knowing that their work is devalued by the president.
Our secret service agents assigned to guard the president. Knowing what they hear, observe, and learn daily, it must be very discouraging to constantly question one's career decisions.
There are many more non-politician 'Never Trumpers' than you can imagine. They aren't 'scum'....They're us.
9
Mr. Trump still enjoys strong support from Republican voters. But Republican Party membership is declining. Mr. Trump has a large piece of a shrinking pie.
Come Nov 3, 2020, Mr. Trump may well get "two scoops" from Republican voters. But the scoops will be replaced with teaspoons.
2
In the meantime, someone ought to print “Human Scum” on a limited-edition T-shirt.
"Human Scum" is the t-shirt equivalent of Hillary Clinton's every giving rhetorical gaffe/gift to the right: "Deplorables."
The Anti-Trumpers now have an equal.
1
My T-Shirt would read:
Human Scum? I've been called far worse by far better.
5
I’ve been registered to vote as independent since 2000. I voted for Ron Paul in 2008 and nearly voted for the Libertarian candidate in 2016 before holding my nose and casting a vote for HRC as my strongest defense against Trump.
The “new” Republican Party has forced me unenthusiastically back into the arms of the Democratic Party.
I long for the days of the NeverTrumpers, a Republican ideological movement, conservative intellectualism. Not this group that earnestly doesnt care if he shoots someone in the middle of 5th Avenue as long as they get their tax breaks and their “roaring stock market”.
Sadly, the old Republican Party is dead. At the end of this Trump era, a new Republican party will emerge but it won’t be the classy, thoughtful Conservatism of McCain. It will likely be a young opportunistic version of Mitch McConnell. One that hopefully at least acknowledges climate change.
4
What is a ‘conscientious conservative’? Conscientious about what, and conserving what?
Conserving toxic income inequality with regressive tax policy that favors wealth generating wealth over hard work?
Conscientiously stripping away regulatory schemes that hold back the tide of environmental destruction, consumer and financial fraud that comes with untrammeled plunder and profiteering?
‘Conserving’ a system of health care funding and delivery of services that is insanely expensive and inequitable, while life expectancy in the U.S. inexorably declines?
Maintaining virtually unregulated private ownership of over 300 million guns, resulting in an epidemic of over 30,000 violent deaths by gun per year, including over 20,000 gun suicides?
There is no such thing as ‘conscientious’ or constructive ‘conservatism.’ American conservatives have stood in the way of progress for the last century. They decried Social Security, wage and hour and workplace safety regulation, labor unions, environmental protection, racial integration, fair voting practices as the devil’s handiwork - for nearly a century by now. ‘Conservatives’ have been reduced to bible-thumping and fearmongering to distract and divide the majority of us who work and make the country go, the better to exploit and rob us blind.
Take that ‘conscientious conservatism’ and shove it where it belongs so the rest of us can get on with the task of creating a rational and fair society that maximizes the good for 99% of us.
1121
@chambolle Thank you, truly I thank you for writing this piece. Your words have expressed my thoughts better than I could have!
82
@chambolle
Dang, dude, your comment is the equivalent of a bases-loaded homerun.
If you can think and speak like that often, you must live the life of a wise man.
Thanks so much for this A+ effort.
62
A country controlled by conscientious conservatives is a country living under a fascist dictatorship that affords all control to the wealthy few and their servants. This clear and traditional ideal of the Republican Party is the thing that disgusts every American who still has a patriotic bone in his body. The only question that is still on the table is how far the rest of us are going to let this go? Will the people allow the next election to be stolen, and the next, and the next? Where is the point where a ground swell occurs that pushes back against this authoritarianism? Is there such a point at all? Are we all going to meekly watch as they steal our precious government away from us and give us a reality show in its place?
49
That treats Trump like he individually created the problem. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Trump and all his swamp-dwelling cronies came out of the morass to feast on what the GOP had been serving up for years - a doctrine of power that no longer cared about either a guiding political philosophy or basic respect for the rules of the game.
Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan (remember him?) Lindsay Graham, Ted Cruz - they care about three things: more power, making rich people richer, and gutting support for everyone else, in that order. All Trump did was to rip off the thin veneer of decency they tried to maintain. So-called moral conservatism was already long gone.
The GOP as a whole is the problem, and the GOP as a whole needs to be thrown out with the trash if this country is ever going to be a functioning democracy again.
9
I suspect there will be a lot more than four Republican senators voting for Trump's removal. I have come to learn that in the Trump era, when Republicans say nothing, it means everything. And I count only five to ten vocal Republicans in the Senate going out of their way to defend their President. Most are remaining silent, because they know (and Trump knows they know) that these charges against Trump in the Ukraine affair are real and indefensible. Watch for those in the Senate trial who sit silently and listen with heads bowed. The vote to remove might be a lot closer than people think.
3
Question for you: Were you for Bush Jr and Cheney (they came as a package as you know)?
Trump is nothing else but their continuity. Necessary continuity, not contingent.
1
Who has President NOT offended and/or insulted? The think the most likely answer is his own family...but if Melania attempts to speak her mind...
2
This sobering and informed analysis does not address why there are so few Never-Trumpers.
Maybe it is because there are so many future "Forget-about-Trump"ers.
If really damning revelations are yet to come out of the subpoenaed but not yet released unredacted Mueller Report or unexpurgated Ukraine phone call transcript, that could flip the Senate impeachment vote, or the outlook for GOP primaries challengers, or -if too late for either of those- alter the support line up in the general election.
Even without additional evidence, what is already known is much worse than what the GOP used to impeach Clinton. Not all voters have forgotten that.
There are of course wild cards of possible future blunders by Trump, other Republicans, and Democrats to throw into the mix. Economic and international developments ditto.
All tolled however, as it now stands, Trump looks hard-pressed to retain the razor-thin margins in midwest swing states crucial to his 2016 election.
Once he is out, or on the way out, one way or another, the GOP will need new tricks to win votes. Given its lack of originality, Trumpism without Trump looks likely. Being previously anti-Trump would, however, complicate that sales pitch. So the lemmings in Congress instead line up 100% to defend the indefensible with monumental hypocrisy, hoping that voter hatred of do-nothing except be-arrogantly -politically-correct Democrats will prevail.
Ergo, never talk about Trump tomorrow instead of Never-Trump today.
2
"The decency of being scandalized is what being NeverTrump is centrally about"
A bit like blue-stockings, tee-totalers and spinsters.
2
I hope the Republican Party is destroyed. Forever. Period.
11
Ballard pluming the bottom? It’s just too deep.
You can’t call yourself a Never Trumper until you commit the one thing that will bring an end to his reign: vote for the Democratic presidential nominee, no matter who it is. No more rending of garments over Elizabeth Warren. Stand up straight, look at yourself in the mirror, and promise yourself you will vote for Bernie Sanders if it comes to that. For extra credit, write a column about it.
Until then, by definition, you aren’t “Never Trump.” You’re “Never Trump Unless It Inconveniences Me.” If you’re the latter type of Republican, then you have zero grounds to criticize toadies like Lindsay Graham. You want him to give up his career, but you won’t even give up your vote for one cycle. His moral cowardice is simply writ larger than yours.
To my knowledge, only three prominent conservative writers have committed a Democrat, any Democrat: Megan McArdle, Jennifer Rubin, and Tom Nichols. The rest of the writers Stephens lists act like they’re being asked to give up both kidneys. I’m tired of reading these columns about how Trump is rending the fabric of our democracy, but on the other hand, you don’t want higher taxes.
Signed, A Former Republican.
19
Oh Mr. Stephens! You and I are so far apart on so many fronts. I think I was NEVER a conservative--I do mean a deep-dyed-in-the-wool conservative. And three months ago (after years of dithering) I changed my party affiliation. I became--sorry, Mr. Stephens! I know it'll be a dagger to your heart--
--I became a DEMOCRAT.
Enough of that!
I loved your column. I look (as an outsider) at all these conservatives that--forgive my Biblical language!--"have bowed the knee to Trump and kissed his image"--
--and I wonder, "DO you guys have anything RESEMBLING a conscience? Did you EVER have anything resembling--GUTS? Or a SPINE? I do mean a REAL spine--not a piece of licorice."
And then I read columns like yours just now. "They DO have a conscience. AND a spine. AND some good, old-fashioned guts."
I think we'll still be far apart on many issues. That's fine. We can talk about it. For what you may think it worth, I can talk to people like you.
To the moral neuters, the gutless wonders--the spineless wonders--that constitute so much of Mr. Trump's ever vociferating, ever gesticulating base--including those supinie prodigies in the U.S. Senate I can only say. . . .
. . .sorry! Forget it! Better NOT say it.
Thank you, Mr. Stephens, for your column. I can hardly say it enough.
Thank you.
3
Good morning Brett!
Even though it is slipping - imagine 74 percent of them approve of this raging dumpster fire of a president.
8
So Brett will you show up and vote for a Democrat to get him out of office? That is what a true never Trumper must do.
9
Where are they?
2
thanks, bret, for revealing the collective relief of the gop that one with 6 bankruptcies, an on air video / audio tape of his bragging of his entitlement to grope women, 3 marriages, never having run for any office, rarely deigned to even vote, blatant and unashamed racist, dictator sycophant,individual saved the nation from the potential disaster of Hillary Rodham Clinton winning the 2016 election. heaven only knows what disaster our nation would be enduring with that (nasty woman) label, as donald trump impolitely insulted her with in one of the debates. The GOP has its supreme court, and its federal judges, to roll back progress for the many, to continue to benefit the few. And we're left with this odious individual in the oval office, diminishing our nation's value daily. Anyone but Hillary Clinton, right, Bret?
8
Steve Bannon, the beguiling serpent, has reentered the Garden offering his fetid apples to a greedy old party.
2
We are all here looking on as you and David Brooks slowly piece reality together.
6
The most common right wing retort is to call the opposition insignificant and dangerous in the same breath. This is not new and we on the left have been laughing about it for years. Guess you are just starting to listen to your own party, Bret.
2
Susan Collins? Hahaha! Thanks for the laugh.
5
This oped reads like a student bragging about a “C.” Sure, you passed. But perhaps a little humility towards those who saw this coming from a mile away. Splitting hairs between birtherism and climate change denial is not the path of the sage.
3
Ha ha, good column Brett. I hope you join the Democrats and toss this supporating administration out.
1
I am a “ never trumper “ human scummed. !
I am so very close to organizing local support groups for advocacy in my community. After next Tuesday’s municipal elections I am going to have my first announcement printed up in our local paper. It is our mistake and our responsibility to our constitution to remove criminals from elected office. The trumpers here are rude and white in majority. They call themselves “ the base “ at caucus meetings. I stood up in a room full of them in August to introduce myself and tell them “ I am a never trumper”. After meeting I was shunned by “ the base” and some elected officials .... women only came up to me and hugged me and whispered in my ear “ don’t worry we aren’t all like them. They’re crazy”
Recently I sent one executive committee caucus member the article about trump using never trumper dog whistle. The woman is totally disgusted with “ the base” at meetings. They wanted a platform paragraph in support of the NRA and we live down the road from Newtown. So the atmosphere is very “strange days. “
I plan on voting for any of these democrats....Warren , Klobuchar , Gabbard , Harris , Buttigieg , Yang.
Every dem. Candidate is great stuff for a useful cabinet position.
We need more than two major parties and we do not want or need the electoral college. Workers are not slaves .... which the electoral college promotes by taking our right to vote away. That is the essential problem with the election primary setup and voting suppression now.
2
Instead of crocodile tears why don't you start backing blue candidates. how about a little canvassing this weekend. We are out there every weekend since 2017. Join us.
3
What Republicans have to fear is fear of being labeled "human scum".
To be alienated from Trump's authoritarian followers by failing his loyalty test.
To be alienated from those whose have chosen to abandon democracy and the rule of law in order to win by 'I Alone'.
Never to turn and admit any shame for subjecting this nation to such turmoil and division. Never to admit that the Republicans did this to America.
How will they all hide their uniforms when Trump abandons them?
1
Wonderful column!
William Kunstler had it right when he spoke with Bill Buckley many years ago and pointed out that Buckley's high triple digit IQ did not match up with the double digit IQ of his followers.
People like you who use intellect and values to explain your position are the counter opposite of the average Trump voter who attends his rallies.
IE conscientious conservatives are a distinct minority and always will be.
2
Lieutenant Colonel Vindman testified,“I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen,” but that’s just an opinion. The Treaty With Ukrainian on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters requires the United States and Ukraine to assist each other by sharing evidence in the conduct of criminal investigations.
Ukraine has twice started and twice shut down investigations involving alleged Ukrainian interference in the U.S. 2016 election and Burisma, the Ukrainian oil and gas that paid Hunter Biden $50,000 a month to sit on its board of directors. The transcript of the Trump-Zelensky phone call shows that the president asked newly elected Ukrainian President Zelensky to “look into” these investigations and share information with the U.S. attorney general. Zelensky, in turn, asked that the U.S. attorney general share any information he might have,
Ukraine followed up by the phone conversation by asking the United States to submit a formal request for assistance as required by the mutual assistance treaty.
https://www.congress.gov/106/cdoc/tdoc16/CDOC-106tdoc16.pdf
Bush 43 gave us the oxymoron “Compassionate Conservative”, and now Stephens gives us the equally oxymoronic “Conscientious Conservative”. As a former lifelong member of the GOP, who left the second Donald (John Barron) Trump won the Party’s nomination, I have written my Republican U. S. Senator innumerable times pleading for acts of conscience and basic human decency in standing up to Trump, to no avail. This game is all about power for the Republicans, conscience and the Republic be damned.
5
"What despots and demagogues fear most is their followers developing a conscience."
Something to think about. One wonders where the white evangelical Trump supporters have buried their consciences and when, if ever, they will retrieve them.
3
I have always been mystified by his behavior. I was fairly close to him for about the first ten years of the 2000s as the publisher of a society magazine in Palm Beach.
When I first met him we were having lunch (as a guest of a member) at Mar-a-Lago and Donald came strolling in after a round of golf. Red hat, white polo, and tan slacks. He was smiling and greeting all the folks table to table. He came to our table and we shook hands. He was pleasant and down to earth.
Later I looked out the window and there was Trump and Melania walking hand in hand through the garden. That is something one doesn't expect from a guy who was known for playing around. In fact, I don't recall ever holding hands with my wife and strolling through a garden. But, that's me. I have been married and divorced one more time than Donald.
By the time I retired from publishing and moved from Palm Beach to a cabin in the mountains of North Carolina, Trump did the birth certificate number on Obama, but I let it go since it was so obviously ridiculous. I loved President Obama and still vividly remember how he so beautifully handled such a nasty charge.
I knew it was just a carnival act so I overlooked it and was thrilled when he came down the escalator. Wow, I could be on a first name basis with a U.S. president!
And then he imitated the New York Times reporter and I became a Never Trumper. Instantly. He became human scum to me.
6
The fact remains that Donald Trump is not an aberration of the Republican Party he is the result of were that party has been going for the last 40 years. You guys may try to wash the stink of it off your hands Bret, but that dam spot will not go away. You are as pitiless as Macbeth.
3
I find it interesting how the ineffectual and irrelevant "never Trumpers" are shocked by the phrase "human scum" being hurled at them. Here and elsewhere I have seen it described as the absolute nadir of Trump's invective. His entire, loathsome public career has been based on just these types of insults. I suppose it just doesn't hurt as badly when you've been insulated from most of them by your gender and your race. Welcome to the rest of the world.
3
Do nothing Democrats are gearing up to Do Something. Unless they screw up royally Trump has a something coming..
SDNY is not going to stop investigating trump family finances just because Mr and Mrs are moving to Florida..
Just because Trump’s older sister retired as a federal judge, does not make her immune to investigations of financial irregularities.
2
I want to add something to David Leonhardt's points about Democrats hurting their party by supporting Clinton during his impeachment:
Republicans helped themselves by abandoning Nixon.
After Ford lost, they regained the WH for 12 years after just one Dem term. And it likely would have been for 16 if not for the brief 1990-91 recession, given H.W.'s popularity after the Gulf War.
Wise republicans see the danger in supporting tRump to the bitter end. And while they'll never vote to remove him from office prior to the election, if he is re-elected and the senate trial is delayed until after that we very well could see enough votes for conviction and removal.
4
Actually all it would take would be one Republican to break Trump's grip on the GOP. Mitch McConnell. Once the public trial begins and everyone can hear the testimony, all he has to do is make an inspiring, face-saving speech about the weight of evidence and the constitution and bringing us all together to save the country, etc. etc., and suddenly 20 or more GOP senators will throw down their Kool-Aid cups.
3
‘I doubt any of this will be sufficient to get at least 20 Republican senators to vote for Trump’s removal from office. But Trump knows that the number needed to spell his moral defeat on impeachment is four.’
I disagree.
The number needed right now, is the same number we have needed since his inauguration nearly 3 years ago.
We need ONE.
Not a Republican that is retiring at the end of this cycle, not a Republican that just lost a primary to someone coming from the right, not a Republican political analyst, past president, or journalist (sorry Mr Stephens and Mr Brooks).
ONE current Republican legislator with skin in the game, willing to admit what an egregious mistake it was for their party to trade in whatever veil of dignity or respect for the rule of law it may have once had, for a tax cut and Supreme Court seat.
That legislator would surely lose reelection, but he or she would go down in history as a patriot that chose country over party when no one else would. And maybe it would be the catalyst needed to inspire others to follow suit.
The fact that there are hundreds in Congress, each of them more interested in their spot on Capitol Hill than in the welfare of their country, becomes more depressing with each passing day and as each new crime comes to light.
3
I can see how being referred to as "human scum" is very offensive to "conscientious conservatives". It's hard to be debased by a bully. Not sure Trump's "plumbed new depths" here though. Remember when he called Mexicans "rapists and murderers"? Remember when he consider white supremacists as one half of the "good people on both sides"? It's not a good feeling when a narcissist like Trump finally turns on those who initially helped rationalize his existence, but neither is it the greatest offense Trump's committed.
267
@David G. Let's think about that. A president of the U.S. calling Americans "human scum." Good god, what has become of us?
22
Bret, I am glad that you have accepted the “human scum” epithet with such good grace! It is a badge of honor to be criticized by Trump-he only singles out the very best for his scorn!The weak principled , go along to get along crowd are his favorites-those who clap when he is uncouth and smile when they know they should frown.As a middle of the road Democrat I have been shocked at how much I have in common with you “ never Trumpers”.Get rid of Trump and there is a chance for cooperation between the parties.You Conservatives have always focused laser like on fiscal responsibility and working to lower the national debt-now that Trump has ballooned the debt by giving his cronies a big tax cut, I am with you fiscal conservatives.Hang in there,never Trumpers, you will be the core of a new responsible Republican Party.
89
@JANET MICHAEL Republicans have NEVER been concerned with fiscal responsibility or lowering the national debt when they are in control.
39
@Rob You're so right. But they have been ever so clever at promoting the big lie.
16
@JANET MICHAEL - You might be interested in what has happened EVERYTIME we significantly lowered the national debt. Then again you probably might not be interested in any data or historical facts.
The federal government has balanced the budget, eliminated deficits for more than three years, and paid down the debt more than 10% in just six periods
since 1776, bringing in enough revenue to cover all of its spending during 1817-21, 1823-36, 1852-57, 1867-73, 1880-93, and 1920-30. The debt was paid
down 29%. 100%, 59%, 27%, 57%, and 38% respectively. A depression began in 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, 1893 and 1929.
This accounts for ALL of our depressions (6 quarters of decreasing per capita GDP).
Perhaps it is time you learn that the finances of the federal government are far, far different than your personal finances if you do not have a printing press in your basement.
But then again, perhaps you like sleeping in a tent on the Mall in DC.
10
Will Trump label conservatives who oppose him deep staters even those who once supported him or stood by GOP policies which he embraces as political ploy? Trump believes in nothing but his own ego and political power. But the lie wears thin and eventually even his blind enablers will come to see him for the opportunist he is. but perhaps this is too much optimism in that they already know him and opportunism is what they now call a code of 'honor', their previous human values be damned.
1
I applaud Mr Stephens for boiling the issue down to its essential core; having the decency to be scandalized. That is apparently the line of demarcation between those who continue to support the Tweeter-in-Chief and those who understand that unless he is gone, our value system has changed for the worse, and irredeemably so.
3
"If Robert Ballard, who discovered the wreck of the Titanic, were given the job of finding Trump’s moral bottom, he’d fail."
This truly says it all.
God save us America.
3
@JM: If the 1953 legislation by Congress decreeing that the US is "under God" didn't anger this imaginary figure, it is hard to imagine what would.
You need to take a long hard look at your list of Trumps "triumphs". Kavanaugh will some day be impeached for lying under oath, god willing. Many of the lower court judges are unqualified political hacks, whatever their conservative "credentials" are. Withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal has made us a pariah and Iran desperate enough to bomb Saudi oil facilities. The "tax-cut" has had zero long-term positive effect , is borrowed from our children, and has widened the yawning wealth gap. And why do we need increased military spending if we aren't even protecting our vulnerable allies? Even to the Trump faithful, the positives are hard to spot, and the trade war and deficits will eventually crush them.
8
@dave: God doesn't will anything. People falsely claim it for their own authority.
"Every political system will always have a conservative faction, and every healthy democracy needs that faction to be rooted in some combination of classical liberalism and moral traditionalism."
Yes, we do need a thoughtful conservative voice in our political discourse. The only way to get there is to destroy the Trump Republican Party, which is neither.
Vote every Republican out of office, from president to senator to dog catcher. Perhaps only then can a viable and honorable conservative party can rise from the ashes.
4
I’m thinking I’ve got to get another t-shirt.
2
Where are the conservatives?
All I see are Republicans.
4
the never trumpers who have become trumpers are the people i understand the least... and i frankly cannot fathom how anyone still believes anything they say... turncoats should not be quoted, interviewed and taken seriously at all... they should simply be ignored... talking about people like lindsey graham
3
@umucatta: Trump typically entices or extorts someone to do something compromising that exposes them to blackmail. What Trump said on that telephone call with Zelensky was so second nature to Trump he didn't even know what he was doing.
4
I’m an older guy who grew up in Germany. In the late 60s, the post-war generation came to ask their parents “so where have you been” (during those Nazi years)? I understand situations are complex and best not judged from the sidelines.
However, I hope those conscientious conservatives in hiding you’re describing, Bret, will face their children’s scrutiny and the moral reckoning they deserve. The US Constitution is a fine piece of work and they chose to let others trample on it.
8
That is excellent insight.
What will they tell them when they ask what they did to save the environment or about migrant children being ripped from their families to punish their parents or the isolationist policy thats creating global power vacuums? Will they tell them that they sat back and happily counted their stock market gains during the latest economic bubble?
1
As if the firewall of GOP senators are perpetually in their come to Jesus moment embracing DJ Trump. He is their chosen one and they are his flock. His righteousness supersedes allegiance to defending the constitution. They have sold their souls to someone drunken on impunity, with no bottom to his well of self-doubt and self-destruction. They are no better than he is. Wake me from this nightmare.
4
It's very simple, really. As this newspaper points out, the Twitterati of Trump's followers include a vast array of the truly ignorant and a fair sprinkling of "conspiracy-mongers, racists and spies." No conscientious conservative with half a brain would want to be labeled as such.
2
Stephens,
Trump is wholly a creation of conservatism. Trump is the honest heart of conservatives in America; no window dressing, no pretense. If you don’t like Trump, try to look in the mirror for you and your ilk created him.
5
As a showing of solidarity I’d be willing to buy AND wear that Tee shirt with Bret.
You are just coming to this conclusion now? Nicolle Wallace stated it on her show in October 2017 that there is no bottom when it comes to Donald Trump...
3
53 Republican US Senators, and Stephens can name three that the thinks might vote for the most minimal step to remove the odious labile fool from the office he is not capable of executing. A step that should be easy, because Pence would be perfectly acceptable to most Republicans.
Instead of patting himself on the back for being a never-Trumper, Stephens might explore what is so deeply dysfunctional about Republicans that only a few percent are are willing to acknowledge the present problem.
5
So does this interest in getting the Senate out of Trump's pocket mean that we will soon see an movement of NeverMcConnellers?
2
Don't worry. Once Trump is somehow put out of the White House, he'll have his last revenge as every brat does. He'll kick the dollhouse of the American political estabishment to pieces by making the GOP follow his orders to destroy our civil fabric completely and we'll be in a state of class and race war. Just the way his Russian handlers have planned it. Chaos will emerge into the vacuum that Trump will leave behind.
2
Dear Bret,
You have spent almost three years writing to complain about democrats and how horrible we are. If you feel as strong as this week’s column, I invite you to use your new badge of honor in the next year to write about every enabler that has allowed the libertine to gain so much unchecked power.
Regards
3
I'm sure that Donald Trump doesn't know what "classical liberalism" or suppurating mean.
Trump's language and manner of speech wouldn't be acceptable in a Tijuana trailer park. Every word out of his mouth is a lie or an insult.
3
Great photo.
Conscientious and conservative [in today's sense] are mutually exclusive. The GOP is a band of cowards who only care about re-election and the gravy train it brings. They are all spineless blackguards who quail in the face of the demagogic horror they have suborned and elevated to power. Vindication? Forge it!
It's the difference between having a moral and patriotic center, like Lt. Col. Vindman, vs the cronies with their transactional, corrupting agendas.
3
Obviously, this opinion section has been taken over by extreme left-wingers. You should realize that you are is just this little click you have formed is just a small segment of the country. Of course, everyone here just agrees with each. Trump is indeed an incompetent. but a moderate would have have more of a chance to win the general election. And indeed be much better for the country than a left-winger like warren or saunders.
1
We knew who Trump was all along. Narcissistic, amoral, bloviating, lying, incurious, intellectually lazy, pandering and self serving.
What we did not know was how fully the Republicans in power would both exploit his outrageousness - yeah Mitch I’m looking at you and your stealth action on judges - and pander to it. Yes GOP congressmen and senators, I’m looking at you.
Anything goes as long as we cut our buddies’ taxes and set regulations to maximize corporate profits, and keep the cakes wedding cakes straight, the fetuses protected, and the guns golden. Who needs a President who respects the rule of law?
The GOP sold their souls and sold the country down the tubes for job security. Never Trump? Who’s left who takes that stand? The GOP are hollow men, taking us down not with a bang but a whimper.
3
No Republican Senator will vote to convict because they all know their party is dead. Once they're out of power, they won't come back. They're morally and ideallogically bankrupt. They'll hold on to power as long as they can.
1
I'm surprised Bret Stephens didn't mention George Will, who for many years has been arguably the most eloquent conservative voice in Washington from his perch on the Op-Ed page of the Washington Post and his commentary for NBC. Appalled by Trump and his team of thugs, Will (along with his more ambiguously conservative fellow-pundit Jennifer Rubin) has been writing some of the sharpest, most principled columns of his distinguished career. His moral indignation comes with lethal wit and deep alarm over Trump's threat to the Constitutional checks and balances that, lest we forget, are the bulwark of our democracy.
4
Though I suppose what might be classified as "very squishy", I'd wear that T-shirt as a badge of honor.
I've misjudged people and made plenty of mistakes, but I think the important thing is to choose who we think are the best people for the job, hold those in office accountable, and encourage others to do the same. If we did more of that, we may not get exactly who we want all the time, but we would not fret all that much about who has the job.
If Trump is finally kicked out in the '20 election and I never hear anything about the new president for a decade, I think I would almost be elated.
2
On Thursday what the population of the US discovered is that not a one of the Republican Congressmen that they voted for was willing to vote to “look in to or even to inquire about the facts” surrounding a phone call made by the President, the outline of which was provided by the WH and which pointed clearly to the President manipulating Congressionally mandated money for an ally to be used as leverage for an investigation of his personal political opposition.
It is hard to decide who is the least patriotic, the least courageous: the Congressmen or the voters who put them there. It is one thing to have tyranny imposed from outside your nation but it is another to have your representative accept it docilely. Talk about lambs to the slaughter. These reps voted to disempower themselves and their voters and to support a President who has lied to us daily for the past three years. Shameful. But then, of course, they seem to have no shame either.
16
@B. Rothman: Evidently all the states conspire to suppress Congressional power to create and enforce uniformly protective law nationally.
Republicans have made a Faustian contract . To get their wishes, deregulations, conservative judges and tax reform, thy have given away their souls. And like all deals with the devil, what Old Nick gives is deceptive and is the reverse of what it seemed to offer: deregulations bring about pollution and further climate change, conservative judges restrict freedoms and impose inequities, tax reform takes money from the poor and gives it to the rich. All these perceived short-term benefits will end up in difficulties and sorrow. As in the Middle Ages, the way to exorcise this nefarious influence is to cry: "Vade retro" Get back.
3
They should rename themselves "Never Republicans." At this point, Republicans and Trump are the same thing.
5
@Vote with your pocketbook
I'm sure many Never Trumpers still hold on to the belief they can regain control and reform the party.
But their "Bargain with the Devil" began before Trump when they embraced the 'Southern Strategy' during Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign an incorporated it as a election strategy in every campaign since then.
Trump is just the raw unvarnished version of American conservative ideology taken to an extreme.
2
How can a columnist who clearly recognizes the dangerous incompetence of Donald Trump if not by extension the incompetence of the party that nominated him, fail to grasp the value of the desperately needed, almost revolutionary reforms, not to mention the genuine decency and cheerful optimism, offered by Elizabeth Warren? We don’t just need to get rid of Trump and his treasonous enablers, we need fresh start all together.
3
There is no way to defeat Trump by working inside the guardrails of political parties. The Never Trumpers have to step up and take a bullet for their country. A credible politician with a good resume' and solid funding has to make a real third party run in 2020. It is the only way to peel enough votes away from the Republicans and to send Trump back to Mar-a-Lago for good.
It may mean four years of weak, uncertain rule by a Democrat with a tenuous grip on power. The again, strange things do happen. Lincoln was a dark horse, running as the nominee of a new party that had few seats in Washington.
3
The Republican Party has the president it has grown and carefully tended for years beginning with Ronnie. There is no conservation in the party, it cares only about amassing wealth and power. All paths lead to the detriment of the environment, the country, people of color, women, the middle class and their own descendants! The once disguised lies are now blatant and in your face even as in the next breath they are denied. Forget never-trumpers we need more never-Republicans before our beloved country is lost forever!
8
"It could motivate John Bolton (a born-again Never Trumper, along with John Kelly, Rex Tillerson, H.R. McMaster, Anthony Scaramucci and everyone else who made the mistake of working for this president) to deliver what may yet be the most devastating insider’s indictment of the president’s shameless shadow foreign policy."
Everyone who comes into close contact with tRump inevitably becomes either totally repulsed or utterly corrupted.
4
@Chris Manjaro: Trump's call with Zelensky was Trump SOP: extortion to cause another person to do Trump's own dirty work, and thus make themselves vulnerable to blackmail by Trump.
“The Never Trumper Republicans, though on respirators with not many left, are in certain ways worse and more dangerous for our Country than the Do Nothing Democrats." An obvious invitation to his base to offer up primary challengers.
"...the political humiliation will be thunderous." No, they won't. All Trump and his sycophants care about is whether or not he's convicted. That is the ONLY thing that matters. Do you think is constant anger will overshadow his crowing about being "completely exonerated?" The vote could be one shy of conviction, and he still wins. Seriously, where do come up with these naive ideas?
2
Sorry, I just can't get over someone thinking the Trump tax cut, increased military spending, and regulatory rollback etc are "wins". I know that's the Republican party orthodoxy, but show me the proof that these are beneficial. Which regulatory rollback has actually benefitted society? I just saw yesterday that coal firms will now be able to release more lead into the ground and rivers. How is that a win? The tax cut has us now facing a $1 Trillion (!!!) deficit. How is that a win? I don't see the economy soaring as a result either.
10
Lest we forget...Trump did not emerge from the half-shell as some new strain of malignancy. He FOLLOWS, not leads, public opinion. We the public rely on opinion-makers like Rush Limbaugh who stated over the airwaves to his millions of followers, on the day before the inauguration of our first multi-racial President, "I hope he fails".
I can't be sure, but I believe, Trump was listening.
8
It is only during such a turmoil we discover the fragile links of checks and balances built into our constitution. Oversight of congress on the executive power of our presidency is virtually neutralized when the country is divided in the middle and the slim majority totally abandons its moral values. Our current legal system has structural problems primarily arising from the lack of precision of the language to resolve subtle differences in meaning. For example, we can eternally debate what constitutes an impeachable offence. This is not a quantifiable commodity in terms of moral currency.
2
Important to remember- in 2016 53% plus were Never Trump.
That will be several points higher in 2020.
2
Indeed, some Conservatives recognized Trump's nature from the get-go and spoke to it. Their first impressions were lasting and validated by his abhorrent behavior.... too many examples to list. As to the cognitive dissonance crowd like McConnell, Cruz, Rubio (et al), we are all paying the price of their rationalized exchange of morality and decency for such 'benefits" as lower taxes enjoyed by the wealthy. Quite the "quid pro quo" - don't you think?
9
@logic
They are the “sell their own souls for votes” crowd.
1
I despise Trump - almost as much as I despise the whining warnmongering of Bret Stephens. That said, I'll have exactly zero problem voting for Trump if the Dems nominate Sanders or Warren. The destructive potential of those two chills me totally. They make Hillary look positively palatable.
2
Trump has always made Hilary look much more than palatable. For whom did you vote in 2016?
I don’t want Warren or Sanders either but Trumps enablers won’t even be needed if he wins again to do what havoc he reeks on our country.
1
@RJ
Sound like you are afraid of change. Yet, change is already here with this broken political system, the naked corruption, the imbalance of power between corporation and te people.
If you want to regain some political power you should want a Warren president (the least corruptible of the democrats). Think about that.
1
Othering is baked into society and the curricula of our military academies and elite schools. Othering is what allowed Evangelicals to hold their noses and vote for Trump. It’s what allowed for the smearing of Vindman by referring to him as a NeverTrumper. No one thinks they’ll fall prey to Stockholm syndrome.
4
Trump IS the majority of the GOP rank and file. The people who are the ones who hate the 'other'. Mostly, they are old, white people. Those folks are a declining portion of the US electorate. As white people become a majority minority, and not a majority, that party will continue its decline to irrelevance. Trump IS the last gasp. The GOP party is on life support, with gerrymandering and vote suppression the only factors keeping them relevant in elections at this point in much of the country.
4
Republicans who continue to bow to Donald Trump will never outlive the public knowledge of their subservience to a man who is neither a true conservative nor a patriot nor anything useful to the American people.
Regardless of a probable failure by Democrats to obtain removal of Trump from office by conviction for his high crimes and misdemeanors, the destiny of his knee-jerk Republican supporters in the Senate, as well as those G.O.P. Representatives acting out in Congress, is ignominy and irrelevance.
8
@sdw
Senator Rob Portman of Ohio:
I hope you read that constituent comment.
You have had a history of reaching across the aisle to stand up for many important matters. You are the national leader fighting opioid addiction problems, and fighting for the health of the largest freshwater system in North America: the Great Lakes.
Show character when the final impeachment evidence is in.
Use the tool do impeachment as our Founding Fathers expected it to be used to protect us from the worst examples of corrupt, selfish leaders who wish to rule like tyrannical kings did.
5
@Jean
As you know, Rob Portman is good at talking the talk, but he never seems to walk the walk on any issue which might cost him a few votes.
1
@sdw
He can lose a few votes and still win in a landslide.
He is precisely the type of Republican politician who could find 19 others and afford to vote for impeachment.
2
The never Trumpers should show some courage by supporting a Republican like William Weld for President. He is a moderate Republican, intelligent, ( actually an intellectual giant compared to Trump), who was a popular governor of Massachusetts.
Instead you stay on the sidelines whining about Trump and criticizing Warren and Sanders for not being more like moderate Republicans .
5
Having faith that Bolton, John Kelly, Rex Tillerson, H.R. McMaster, or that reformed mob lawyer Anthony Scaramucci will do the right thing is a fools errand.
Scaramucci has no credibility and besides he’s already squeaked all he could squeak.
The rest - these are people who signed up with Trump - this red flag #1 through #999, that is all you need to know about their character and judgement.
I’m not holding my breath.
8
Yet another rant about the indecency of Trump and the politicos who are (and were) under his thumb. We get it.
But this indecency starts at the bottom with the voters who delight in each moral outrage and whose life goal seems to be solely to hear a liberal whimper and cry, just like Baghdadi.
We know there are many Republican politicians who put their own survival above that of their country. But put blame where it belongs, with the voters who eat up Trumpomania just for the LOLs.
11
Never Trumpers like Brett have an identity problem. For years, they politely spewed Republican nonsensical, anti intellectual, anti science, anti safety net, anti choice positions. You gave us Mitch McConnell. Trump said the same things you did, but in a crass, mean spirited way and with a few more lies. Now you want to rescue the country from the monster you created. A little contrition would be a good start.
9
It was the Never Trumpers that declared Republicans to be intellectually bankrupt. It wasn't their policies that drove people to vote for them, it was racist dog whistling. Only conservative reformers could say it credibly.
If Trump's impeachment were followed by a secret ballot of Senators the vote would likely be ninety to ten to remove. Count the cowards: I'm at forty-three.
4
NeverTrumpers are a lot like Antifa - a loose collection of people with a certain opinion but not much organization and not much to say except they don't like Trump, so they don't get a lot of attention in the media.
Question: What have conservatives gotten for their seven-decade long love affair with the Republican party?
Answer: Judges
Question: What price did they (and we) pay for those judges?
Answer: McCarthyism, the racist "southern strategy" and the cold civil war, Nixon, the bombing of Cambodia, Watergate, Bush, neo-conservativism and the idiotic Iraq War, monstrous deficits, Trump and the TOTAL debasement of the office of the President, impeachment, withdrawal from the world, environmental catastrophe.
Think of all the blood the Republicans have spilled, the treasure they've lost, the good will they've squandered and the dignity they've forfeited. Were the judges worth it?
10
The problem with the Never Trumpers is that they focus their ire on Trump's behavior while at the same time agreeing with most of his policies. This gives his supporters cover to say, well, the man is grotesque, but he's doing what a good Republican should do.
This is starkly evident in the reelection ad his campaign just released, which doesn't hide the fact that he is a complete jerk but the kind of jerk the country needs.
His red state base eats it up because they're largely poorly educated xenophobes. And swing voters in purple states focus on the economy and their checkbook and, voila, you have a second term president!
5
Excuse me. This nightmare would never had gotten this far if Republicans of every ilk didn't rejoice in Trump's antigovernment, pro-business stance. Stack those courts, even with unqualified people? Check. Deregulate banking and business? Check. Invade public lands with private business schemes? Check. Trivialize the danger of climate change? Check. Deprive women of rights over their own bodies? Check. Work to undermine progress in gay rights, human rights, women's rights? Check X three. Trump is your energizer bunny. Don't pretend he isn''t.
7
You dislike Trump because he blows away the well mannered smokescreen of the National Review set and reveals the ugliness at the heart of their beliefs. They would prefer to sip their martinis in comfort without ever facing the dire consequences of their glib prescriptions. Take a good long look at the maga-hatted crowds, Brett. They're your people. This is on you.
5
How do you know when Trump is lying? His lips are moving.
How could Trump become even more dangerous than he already is? If he learns how to be a ventriloquist.
1
Trump may be exposed as an amoral shyster, but he still has wrecked our system of government. Among Republican senators the concept of a "loyal opposition" is an oxymoron. We may never be able to recover.
2
As a former Republican ( voted for W first administration) , I am disgusted by this that remain calling themselves anything but grifter, traitors, kleptocrats. There is no reason to support the existing corrupt GOP.
6
Trump took already awful Republican tendencies and grew them to gargantuan evilness. What is the surprise? Normal, caring, well adjusted people could see what was coming, and what has come to pass. Never Trumpers get no pass from me. Just go back to your caves and stay out of the way when the rest of us try to rebuild the country.
1
There are not fourteen plus Republican Senators who have the moral courage, honesty, integrity and love of this country to vote to impeach Donald Trump. Most are afraid of Donald Trump and the hatred that spews from his toxic mouth, and they adhere steadfastly to the POC mentality - Party over Country.
3
@minnecal
It is like the Biblical tale of Sodom. (...Could 10 righteous people can be found in that crisis?)
Can we find 20 Republican National Senators who will put above all their loyalty to the nation? Will they chose to re-establish that no one is above the law? NO ONE!
Will they uphold our laws, withno excuses about overlooking evidence “because soon the voters” will be in front of ballots.
20 honorable true patriots are all we need among the Republican Senators.
1
Don’t know why I read Stephens pieces. Maybe it is like the proverbial car crash where one just can’t avert their eyes. I never learn anything and just get tired of hearing the word “conservative” used as positive term. Brett the word conservative in the political sense now means liar, coward or cheat. The End.
3
Obsequious demagogues. What a sick twist of human nature. But this describes the great majority of Republicans today. Look to psychology to understand how childhood can decompensate to this abyssal level.
Tump's greatest service to the Republican party was destroying the Bush faction that gave us the botched Afghanistan, Iraq wars, the new cold war with Russia, the drowning of New Orleans, the Great Recession, and the rise of totalitarian China. Calling out Jeb and family in 2015 was the highlight, and its downhill from there,as Trump lacks many skills and almost no self control.
How many hot wars would the US be in right now if Jeb or Hillary were president? How many America kids would be dead. That NYT treats Bolton and associates as anything other than war criminals is staggering.
How many free trade deals would be in place with countries with labour cost 1/10 the US, or even slave labour?
Trump will be gone, but his diminishing of the interventionist wing was THE highlight.
"Moral traditionalism" is just another way to say "white guys rule".
And can we forever strip "conservatives" of that title? If they ever lived up to it, it was outside my memory. "We don't want government in some things (regulations) but insist on government elsewhere (wombs) because we're lying hypocrites" is the title they've earned.
1
Bret, IIRC, you were until oh like yesterday ‘Never Impeachment’ and probably still are ‘Never Warren’. Been working on the atrophying integrity muscle lately eh?
1
Ah so, a good conservative is a "classical liberal" with "traditional morals." What exactly are "traditional morals?" When did America have those? Back in the Fifties? The Forties? The Twenties? The 19th Century? Were those the "morals" that accepted discrimination, segregation, rank injustice, cruelty, warmongering, displayed not a whit of care about the environment or non-human creatures (except personal pets, of course), and carried itself with an air of haughty self-satisfaction and superiority? Just a bit further back, were these the same "morals" that embraced colonialism, slavery and genocide, witch-burning, book-burning, theocracy and the divine right of kings?
Just wondering what part of conservatism is worth keeping at all. Since American conservatives have run the full gamut from Tories to Confederates to perpetrators of the biggest scandals in American history as well as the most ferocious opposition to actual American ideals, why aren't more "Never Trumpers" soul searching why they were ever conservative in the first place? The melting away of those Republicans who held any regard for their own conscience is ample evidence that the entire ideology is a sham. There's still a place for your type, Bret. Admit, like Max Boot, that you fell for the selfish clarion call of conservatism, and come on over to the side that has always believed in America, the liberals.
2
Pepple can say whatever they want, but every single one of them has to live with the consequences.
If you decide for yourself that every witness that came forward so far with information about the Ukraine call is lying, and that all these people would actually put their credibility on the line (a credibility they've worked most of their lives to establish) to try to get the president impeached, even though they know they could end up in jail for it when their lies were to be found out...
Well, if you really think so, go ahead and keep supporting Trump, but dont come whining in 25 years or so when it's not Chinese factory workers anymore who are being exploited by their government and being payed joke wages to produce cheap goods for Americans, but the other way around!
If you stand for nothing, not even the constitution, dont expect anyone to come to help. Nobody likes a friend who says one thing today, and the complete opposite tomorrow.
You cant treat the constitution like a $2.99 coupon for a fast food restaurant: use it when you feel like it, gift it to someone when it furthers your interests, and throw it in the trash when you dont need it.
When a guy can trample on it, push everyone to the side who speaks up, and gets away with it, even through the evidence is completely out in plain sight for everyone to see... well, then, the constitution is not worth the paper it's written on anymore.
2
Trump was elected as the bad boy of politics to stop Liberalism and kick-start a sleeping Congress and to right the last eight years which they see as an aberration, just as we see the past three years as an unholy mess. The rally crowds who cheered Trump’s Colorado Border Wall are not the essence of his base. They come to see The Trump Show. To applaud his bad boy routine. His bad behavior licenses their inappropriate behavior should they decide to exercise it. His base is big business, the NRA, Evangelicals, and yes frightened White people of all economic strata.
But he also receives incidental help, liberal media (I’ll call all mainstream Media liberal, only Fox and WSJ didn’t make the cut) is making a fortune off the daily news cycles.
CNN’s AC 360 had Steve Bannon on. A disaster. Took over the segment, Cooper couldn’t get a word in and Bannon had the temerity to suggest several times he’ll come back. Night before a retired military advisor castigated Lt Col Vindman as essentially a traitor because ‘he disagreed with the President's Ukraine policies. No foul asking a foreign government to dish dirt for a political rival. Republicans have an opportunity to rid themselves of this albatross but they lack courage, integrity and would rather not cede power they drive from Trump but live like parasites.
2
A “moral defeat” for Trump? Impossible - the man has no morals, and no shame.
2
Consider myself center-right.
Didn’t vote for Trump in 2016 and have never liked him at all.
Dems and ‘progressives,’ though, are illiberal and intolerant of any dissent. And Dems are also now the party of personal, cultural, and societal dysfunction.
Looks like I’ll gag and vote for the appalling DJT next November — because Dems have demonstrated they should not be allowed anywhere near power — while praying for divine intervention
I need to take a shower...
NeverTrumpers are more upset that a glaringly crass, draft dodging showboater fed the GOP crow in the primaries than they are about Trump & Giuliani running a side-hustle from the Oval Office.
So now they're going to roll up their Armanis and Make America Conscientious Again?
After her usual endless dithering and feigned weighing of the facts, Susan Collins voting to convict on impeachment is about as likely as me becoming president.
2
With the trump regime, republicans no longer even have to pretend that they are patriotic
Americans: they can just come out and be full blown oligarchs who want total power while the rest of us can’t make ends meet, and worry every day that they will succeed in eviscerating what dregs remain of our democracy.
I keep thinking of my uncle Tony, army captain who fought both Battle of the Bulge and Normandy invasion, Silver Star, Purple Heart etc...he was a Republican to his dying day.
What would he say now?
1
If you have been in the USA for the last 40 yrs you would of noticed that in rural areas radio was the source for news. Usually only 1 channel. Listening to Rush for 40 yrs has made these people paranoid and hate city people. (liberals) Rural people feel they should be able to cherry pick change. It just doesn't work that way. Rural kids once they leave for school and broader thought. They won't be back.
1
The political humiliation will be thunderous?
Are you not paying attention?
Talking about conscience and reality check, a lot of people here in Maine are wondering where Senator Susan Collins is. Despite the ads on local TV promoting what she “ has done” for Maine I don’t see any crisis of conscience coming out of her office. Don’t count on her to speak out like Mitt Romney or as John Mc Cain would have done. Those few voices we need to uphold the law and incriminate this lawless, corrupt and inept President are silent right now because they are petrified of the wrath of this president and his base. How much more damning evidence to we need to put this man out of OUR misery? The worse thing that is happening to those few Republicans is that every day they are hiding and keeping silent, is a day added to their own demise. Refer to the Portland Press Herald last Sunday and tomorrow issues with two full pages of Mainers’ signatures asking Susan Collins to hold a town hall and speak to her constituents. She has not responded yet....
3
When Trump calls someone a "never Trumper" he is honoring that person.
2
To use a Paul McCartney line, “Try to see it my way”. That is, hearings will commence, albeit slowly, and testimony will be given. The clock will tick towards November and as John McCain, said, “this is like a centipede, shows will keep dropping”. And,in her infinite wisdom, as winter becomes spring, Speaker Pelosi will hold off a floor vote on impeachment. This will be the best thing for the Dems taking the advice to “not play nice”. Taking away the “martyr card” from Trump will make him crazy and may get him to resign.
This is an excellent straightforward piece of writing. It grabs the heart and our hopes and desires of once-again standing, hand over heart, to sing our national anthem to the point of prideful tears.
If the experiences of the past three years can do any good for us, it is to show us what America-Proud is really about and renew our patriotic beliefs and equally respect civility among all of us once
again.
What a blessed relief that would be.
1
My concern is that as impeachment process continues his conduct will become ever more flagrant to suck away from the media coverage of his past misdeeds against national interests and security.
2
You cannot be a reasonable conservative and a republican anymore because the Republican Party is no longer about reason (if it has ever been) or morality. Reasonable conservatives out there, it is time to form a new party if you want to have a voice.
7
The GOP will not vote against Trump because they fear him. They know he has no moral compass and will use a scorched earth defense. He knows where the bodies are buried and what he doesn't know he'll make up. He has backed the GOP into a corner and they have no way out but to defend him. The best we can hope for is enough voters see the truth and vote him out next year.
2
Trump just gave Hillary Clinton a tremendous gift — now the term “deplorable “ will fade into the background and people will start, as Bret muses about, to wear “Human Scum and Proud of It!” as a badge of honor on their chests. What Trump’s done has put him in the category of “being deplorable “.
6
I have never gotten a tattoo before. But, I am seriously thinking about one now. "Human Scum" emblazoned in permanent ink on some visible body part is a moniker I would wear proudly for the rest of my days. These times define who we really are. Peg me as a Never Trumper to the bitter end.
7
I don't see why some hard-core Republican senators shouldn't vote for conviction and removal, given that they then get Pence - who should certainly be able to mollify right-wing Christian evangelicals and the "more guns the better" constituents. And still stay on the right side of history. I am guessing that a few more than four (but not twenty) might be willing to vote to convict in the senate. Maybe I just don't understand these people (the senators or the constituents.)
2
@bengoshi2b The fact that Trump controls a billion dollars in campaign money and that 74% of the GOP is still in his thrall, are why.
1
The writer Dorothy Parker advised against suicide thusly:
Razors pain you; Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you; And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful; Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.
Republican senators -- which way lies political suicide? Supporting Trump or opposing him?
These days have pained you; the trial has begun;
Trump's lies have stained you; On his petard you'll be hung.
Quid pro quos aren't lawful; any dunce knows that;
This thing smells awful
Get rid of the rat.
19
I'm a moderate Democrat and enjoy reading Mr. Stephens' columns even when I don't agree with them. It's always depressing, however, to read the many self-righteous comments from progressives unable to accept that reasonable people might disagree on some issues. It reminds me of David Foster Wallace's excellent essay "Authority and American Usage," in which he notes that this tendency among progressives to assume their own moral superiority on every issue has served them very poorly in terms of popular (and electoral) support.
Great column Bret. Sad to see other "conservatives" like Hugh Hewitt and Rich Lowry forsake their principles to profit from a larger, tribal audience.
2
“If Robert Ballard, who discovered the wreck of the Titanic, were given the job of finding Trump’s moral bottom, he’d fail.”
Bret, this statement is a gem. Thank you.
I am a Democrat raised by conservative Republican parents, and they imparted me with a moral compass.
But when Obama was elected, my mother was a freight train of indignity and disbelief that he was actually President.
While disagreeing on policy, I respected Republicans for their moral compass. Now that most of these people, who were screaming bloody murder at anything Obama did are now silent in the midst of this cesspool-vortex that is Trump, I am disheartened. I feel left abandoned by my own countrymen.
The bright spot in Trump’s tweets is that he attacks those whom he fears most. Those people - Democrats and Never Trumpers, need to come together and find common ground and build a future together. Our country depends on it.
18
Human Scum??...What is so surprising about this comment coming from the mouth of someone who as a candidate mocked people from all walks of life including a former POW? What has been surprising is that the GOP and a Fox Nation of Americans would choose to support such an UNAMERICAN UNPATRIOTIC Candidate...A candidate whom Michael Cohen testified was a Con and Liar...among other negative character traits! Surprising that for the first time in American History a President with no successful foreign policies and a Dysfunctional Administration with an 80% turnover rate and a spokesperson with 2 drunken driving convictions....would be so revered that they would have over 60 million Twitter followers. What's this saying about PT Barnum's quote that there's a sucker born every minute? It may be saying that Barnum was wrong. He may have under estimated !There may be a sucker born every second !! Trump support is UNAMERICAN and UNPATRIOTIC !!
2
I would vote for a dead person before I would vote for Trump.
12
There are already "Human Scum" T-shirts. They came out as quickly as the "Deplorable" shirts did after Hillary Clinton's unfortunate remark.
3
Crude. Coarse. Profane. Lawless. Bigot. Ignorant. Liar. Each one a primary color in Trump's full-length portrait. So what is it exactly that his supporters like, and like enough to cheer him, to celebrate him, to wear his slogans, to re-elect him, to lie for him? The possibilites terrify me.
12
The 2016 choice between Clinton or Trump shows just how low this country can go. Totally underwhelming.
1
@Jonathan
You might not like Hillary, but she is bright and informed. The worst she ever did was to not be perfect in al of her activities as Secretary of State.
She tried to develop a strong diplomatic presence to help all around the world. Not bad -- and she had many successes.
No comparison with Trump. She just wasn't the greatest campaigner, and the Russians, voter suppression, and the electoral college got in her way.
10
@Just Thinking’ Hillary, the smartest woman in the world, within the bounds of the US Constitution, could not beat the most unprepared man, to win the Electoral College.
You just can't square that circle.
@Jonathan: The whole US process of running for president is a demeaning rat-race. No wonder the wise avoid it.
2
The "Never Trumpers" were and are scandalized by Trump for one very simple reason - he doesn't sugarcoat the greed, avarice and bigotry that have become the core of modern Republicanism. Despite the abject failure of the Kansas experiment and Sam Brownback the race to move wealth up continues. Trump is the unrestrained Id of this movement and it offends them when Trump, without shame, expresses in public what they say in private.
9
There once was a species called the Eisenhower Republican. Fiscal responsibility, strong military, limited Federal government, moral integrity. They're gone or in hiding, perhaps disguised as conservative Democrats. The political entity now calling itself the Republican Party has (as this article correctly notes) no moral bottom. That of itself, though, does negate the principles which serious conservatives cherish.
4
@OldPadre: Trump has established beyond reasonable doubt that US states deny equal protection of law. We don't have equal input into what the law is.
It took exceptionally bad judgement to elect someone of Trump's character as president. All the signs were always there, Trump was destined to be a disaster for our country. But for those people who have actually stood by Trump, after everything he has said and done, how can they ever be trusted in any capacity again? Never Trumper Republicans are not going to save us though, there are simply to few of them in existence.
6
"Conscientious conservatives" are total has-beens. The Republican Party has only two bases: the tiny group of donors who couldn't elect a dog-catcher outside of Greenwich or Boca, and the masses who adore Trump for conning them into believing he's their champion against all "elites," not least rich Bush and/or neocon "Never Trump" types. Trump has reshaped the Republicans by achieving the ultimate completion of Reagan's attempt to win the Rust Belt whites, along with the Southern and Western lower-class whites, to the GOP. These people will never, ever delight in a candidate Stephens or the Bush family would like. Besides, the Republican Party itself is on borrowed time, in any case, because it is overwhelmingly a white Boomer party, and the Boomers are dying faster ever year, to be replaced by progressive Dem Millennials at the ballot box. Trump was the reductio ad absurdum of all the dog-whistles people like Stephens and the Bushes have been happy to use for decades to con the clods into voting against their economic best interests for the advantage of the very rich. But he has also been the last stand of this grift. Millennials aren't buying. And soon they will be the utterly dominant force in our politics for decades to come, out-Boomering the smaller generational cohort of Boomers in its group political effects.
8
@Fred White I am an old GenXer and I have been hearing about the demographic inevitability of a liberal/progressive majority my entire adult voting life. And here we are...
2
Anyone that Trump has declared to be a "Never Trumper", should wear that as a badge of honor.
Trump is doing his very best at destroying the Constitution and create a new government for this country.
"We the People", need to stand up and declare that our existing Constitution and government is working just fine.
4
I am always perplexed at how "conservatives" toss around that term like it has some kind of honorable connotation.
History informs me that nearly every step forward of American society - extending equal treatment to people of color, people with disabilities, people of diverse sexual orientations; elevating science to at least the level of regard held for religions based on centuries' old mysticisms and superstitions; extending voting rights to women and unrepresented minorities; providing educational opportunities to all people regardless of means - have been accomplished despite the continuing opposition of the conservative narrative.
When one angles their thinking to acknowledge conservativism is about money first and people second, it all makes sense .... and removes any doubt that the words conservative and honor do not belong in the same sentence.
9
The “Conservative Movement” was never more than a handful of intellectuals, pundits and a few pols. That they were blended in with the non-ideological and opportunistic plutocracy above, and an inherently nativist and reactionary base below gave the false impression of a broad coalition. Har har. Now that the base has broken down the corral and stampeded to the more overtly racist/nativist trump*, and the plutocracy has hedged their funding bets in order to smash-and-grab tax cuts and reactionary judges at this opportunity, the real conservatives are back where they started, huddling under the Never Trumper banner...
5
Let's not forget that Zelensky has shown that he is a Never-Trumper. Even with the perilous situation he and his county faced, he refused to become Trump's pawn. I am looking forward to the day when US Congressmen's can stop being Trump's pawns.
4
I'm not on a respirator, and I'm already a former Republican. Is there nothing the GOP won't do anymore to debase themselves? We can only hope we c an succeed in voting him out of office, because I doubt this Senate will ever convict.
6
The problem, as I see it, is the so-called NeverTrumpers are just as morally compromised and corrupt as the person they now critisize. All knew what Trump was and is, yet they all cravenly put that aside, or at least tried like Mitt Romney, to join his team. In a certain respect, they are even lower on the morality scale than Trump, and that's pretty low. Hence, their bleating warnings and criticism are easily brushed aside and ignored, seen as just another sell-out that got their comeuppance.
What Mr. Stephens and other still fail to understand is that Trump is the manifestation of the rot in our system. Both political parties are bought and corrupted by a monied class that has siphoned trillions of dollars out of the pockets of Americans that have gone into wars and off-shore bank accounts. Cynicism has set in and people express their disgust by either not participating in this shame of a democracy- recall the 2016 had one of the lowest voter turnouts in history. Or they vote for a known fraud that called out others corruption. Remember the stunned looks on the Republican candidates as Trump viscously attacked them and people cheered? And then he easily went on to do the same with the Democratic nominee? Trump's election was the dead canary in the coal mine. But rather than fix the root problem it seems if people just donned their gas masks carried on blaming others, instead of looking at just why would the American electorate even remotely consider someone like Trump.
3
If impeachment were a secret ballot, 30 to 35 Republican Senators would vote to convict according to Jeff Flake. Why not on an open ballot? Conservatives have a courage problem. NeverTrumpism is no exception. You all have about as much courage as the Cowardly Lion.
That's because conservatives are openly enjoying the Trump presidency despite the man. Bret just said as much. He's remaking the court, spending on the military, and so forth. So what if he spits on the Constitution? Conservatives are still unwilling to accept a policy setback in exchange for the well being of our Republic. There's nothing brave or honorable in that.
Bret at least has the dignity to speak openly about his disdain for Trump. However, he still isn't changing anything. On an open ballot, 50+ Senators are still going to side with Trump. Meanwhile, Bret is going to continue smiling at the sunny side of the Trump administration and probably secretly vote for Trump again. The moral decrepitude is staggering.
4
Democracy does require a wide variety of perspectives to survive, let alone thrive. Conservatism can keep healthy traditions alive, and liberalism can keep those traditions from shackling us to the past. Extremes can bury us.
One sign of our flagging is wild verbal attacks both parties hurl now. Strong opinions are great, but dehumanizing others risks undermining the core of our system, to say nothing of any shared human nature.
Enter Donald Trump, the master of dehumanizing. As a lifelong Democrat, at 71 I disagree with those who find the man largely a really terrible Republican president, and that his followers are as bad as he is.
One man, Trump consciously is taking down an entire country, and portions of the world, all because his narcissism demands he devour anything and everyone in his way. Opposition is not just an enemy, but an evil to be removed at any cost. His followers are expendable as soon as they stray from his dictates on the throne. And he has manipulated the minds of millions of Americans who might well be racist, nationalist, or whatever -- but he has taken latent hatred and made it manifest, all because he can.
Those are signs not of a terrible Republican president, but of a demagogue the likes of which we have not had before. Whatever deals with whatever devils he has made -- he has come close to destroying America. NeverTrump -- ever, ever again.
5
I personally know three former Republicans who now disavow the party. Interestingly, the initial issue for two of them was the party's sycophantic relationship with the NRA. But all found Trump's behavior repulsive and questioned how decent people could have put him in the White House, much less continue to support his incompetent leadership of the country. Two of those enthusiastically voted for Democrats in the last election. This may be the real reason that the proportion of Never Trumpers in the Republican party continues to decline.
2
What a lot of self-congratulatory nonsense. I'm glad you're able to feel vindicated. For the rest of us, there is no comfort in knowing that people like you stand ready, when the Trump tide finally ebbs, to get back to the normal Republican business of politely reinforcing income equality and corporate domination.
2
Always glad there have been "Never Trumpers" like Kristol and a couple of others.
But you are too kind, Bret, to the Romney-Collins group, et al. The current supposed "conscientious conservatives" don't have the spine that the historical conservatives actually have. Nevertheless, hope springs eternal.
1
If Bolton is a Never Trumper, why did he say he wouldn’t testify willingly? As for breakaway Senators, I suspect McConnell is expecting and supporting Senators up for re-election and in competitive races to vote to convict. How they’d damage Trump’s re-election chances is beyond me. As soon as he’s acquitted, his re-election campaign will be one big victory lap. Oh and while Republicans gloat, the media will pound Elizabeth Warren for being a drunken socialist for proposing an ambitious universal health care program because, you know, that’ll destroy our country.
"Conscientious conservatives"? Where are they, Bret?
Conservatives, those bold champions of the status quo, do whatever it takes to grab and hold power. They coddle the odious Trump, a New York con man who ran second best in the 2016 election. They gerrymander Congressional districts. They discourage voter participation by providing too few polling places, and placing them in inconvenient places. They tamper with voter registration rolls and voting machines.
There is less honor among Republicans than among thieves. Trumpian knavery is their last best hope!
The author, like his GOP co-conspirators Douthat and Brooks, is unable to validate that there are at least a few Republicans in Congress with basic morals and a sense of dedication to our Constitution.
The greatest threat to our Democracy is from inside our borders and is led by a Republican president who is willingly and eagerly enabled by his party's Congressional leadership, who are scared of their own constituents.
Trump overtly and covertly courts Russia, our enemy, and this alone is an impeachable offense.
2
@Ed
Or maybe the ‘greatest threat to our Democracy’ are people who describe those he disagrees with as ‘co-conspirators.’
Isn't it nice to characterize your own faction as "rooted in some combination of classical liberalism and moral traditionalism"? Unhappily for Bret Stephens' rose-colored view of the past, conservatives since Goldwater's campaign (or was it McCarthyism?) have energetically engaged in gerrymandering, dirty tricks, character assassination, Fox News propaganda, and other devices to cheat the majority and hang onto power. The NeverTrumpers have been complicit in the earlier steps down the slippery slope to where we are with Trump. I think another 50 years of self-examination will be required before Americans can consider accepting such a self-serving narrative.
2
If Collins, Romney, Murkowski, and a few others vote to convict Trump, I seriously doubt if, in Trump's mind, it would be a thunderous humiliation. If he is not actually removed from office, he will see it as a great victory.
Worse still, he will tout a non-conviction as proof he did nothing wrong. To him the Mueller report served to prove there was no collusion and no corruption. If the Senate fails to convict him with a supermajority, he will claim it is proof there was no quid pro quo and that all his phone calls are perfect. He will paint himself as someone who survived yet another scurrilous witch hunt, which could serve to bolster his re-election chances rather than devastate them.
Nancy Pelosi had a difficult choice. She could move forward with impeachment and make Trump appear to be a victim to all those who see themselves as victims, or she could do her constitutional duty. She did the right thing. Let's hope by having done so, she hasn't cost the Democrats or, with the precedent a non-conviction by Republicans might set, hasn't done damage to the future of this country.
I hope against hope that more Republicans realize what a danger not voting to remove Trump from office is for both the immediate and distant future. Barring that, I hope voters don't buy Trump's narrative of being an innocent victim and send him packing.
2
Never trumpers could never be taken seriously. Their motto of 'loving the sin, hating the sinner' never rang true, to either the sane populace or their former Republican mates. The trumpy fans on the other hand, have been honest about their devotion. He's what they always wanted. He expressed the racism they felt inside. He was an overt financial conman while the 'conservatives' love to talk finance while they bleed the nation. Like them, destroying the environment is a means to the end of getting the rich richer.
1
So-called moderate conservatives who stood silent while their Party embraced dog whistle racism and nativism as a standard election tactics for the past 50 years simply have no moral standing to criticise the Republican Party's evolution into overt Trumpism.
Trump is the logical endpoint of their lifelong moral abdication. Only when Mr. Stephens understands and acknowledges this historical truth will I have the patience to listen to him kvetch about what his Party has become.
2
Great article. I particularly appreciated this statement: "The decency of being scandalized is what being NeverTrump is centrally about, and why the movement remains important. It’s the opposite of the opportunism required to go along with the president because you might get something out of him."
The problem with Trump for many Republican elites is that he rolls back the thin veneer of respectability that the elites so carefully maintained—whether to deceive themselves or others, I'm still not sure—and reveals Republicanism for exactly what it has been since Ronald Reagan: a movement of the crass and the cruel, dedicated to greed, hate, and the assertion, often violent, of power over those it despises.
If only somehow the Never Trumpers could put this evil genie back in its bottle they could go on pretending that their movement was anything but the crass, cruel worship of greed, hate, and power that it is.
But the Republican hoi polloi loves the genie. They always have. It's the only reason they're Republicans. And they love Trump because he's not afraid to free the genie from the bottle.
1
Four republicans who vote to convict and a few others who have a flat tire, sick child, overslept, got sick and just not show up so 2/3 of the members present convict would work for me. The republican defense so far, it's not illegal even if it is, or, it's not a crime if the person robbed does not know he was being robbed, or, it's not a crime when trump says it because he never knows what he is talking about anyway and therefore isn't culpable, puts those guys in a real hard place. They can't be culpable of convicting trump if they are not there that day.
1
Mr. Stephens,
if we let Trump off the hook for his conspiracy shenanigans, he wins and the country loses. The Republicans have been telling everyone that the government is the problem for many years. That view has morphed into, "the government is evil." An evil government is capable of anything. They have finally created what they used to just rail against. When are they going to wake up? Impeach and convict.
If not, Blue wave 2020 !
1
What a nice pat on the back for yourself. Never-Trumpers like you are the most important key to stop Trump. How about all the Democrats who have fought him every step of the way including opening impeachment hearings. You never Trumpers Republicans have been so inconsistent. Expressing lectures about appropriate behavior while applauding his destructive policies. I have news. You are irrelevent. There is no need for you or former cabinet members to confront the corrupt failure. True patriots have already done it and will continue to do so. Go back to your Bill Buckley world of conservatism while the country moves to combat global warming, improve US infrastructure, pursue diplomacy, improve and extend health care, implement common sense gun control while pursuing liberty and justice FOR ALL.
3
@Daniel Salazar
Whoa!
Don’t try to totally shove away all people who tend to have many conservative beliefs.
Some of them are comparable to purple swing states. And we need 20 such US Senators if we are going to reclaim our nation belief that NO ONE is above the law.
1
I'm sorry but I just don't see thunderous political humiliation after a mere four Republican senators vote to convict (and aside from the missing fourth, I consider Susan Collins a very slender reed to grasp hold of).
I'd certainly like to see it, and therein lies the danger. We all want to be persuaded this will go away. But Trump is like one of those fires you stamp out but it keeps magically reigniting.
Why? Because he's a tabloid creature and media-wise we now inhabit a tabloid country. Embarrassment and even humiliation don't much hurt him. Always remember Access Hollywood. He was in his sleazy element. And in fact we all are. Access Washington.
1
"conscientious conservatives " is as oxymoronic as using "Trump" and "hires only the best people" in the same sentence.
1
You said it yourself, Bret. SQUISHY.
I've never been a fan of the conservative platform. I find it morally simplistic, militarily antagonistic, socially unkind, and economically ignorant.
But never, until now, under Trump, was I able to put my finger on the universal problem with conservatives who vote Republican.
The fact that most have been able to tolerate or even embrace the lawlessness and ignorance of Nixon, Trump, Bush 2, North, Gingrich, Palin, Thomas, Mitchell et al is evidence of the weakness in Republican thinking. Now you have given us Trump.
For once, it would be nice if this disgrace of a presidency would be sufficient for conservatives to reflect on their native instincts and really, truly come to see the truth that underlies their beliefs.
Sadly, few will because being squishy apparently means never having to say you're sorry.
1
It must all be about race, but, my Trumper neighbors and relatives, were scandalized having President Obama in the White House---it was an affront to common decency---as one neighbor put it, "having his children run around the White House, well can you believe it." And yet, we have truly on display a man, who by any objective standard, is ethically, morally, and intellectually running on empty. Trump's daily barrage of name calling alone should be enough to certify him as not qualified for the Presidency. Again, it must be about race, but, to call Obama a disgrace and see nothing wrong with our true disgrace in the White House---wow...
2
Never Trumpers are a mythology.
Not a single Republican representative voted to proceed with impeachment hearings. Not a single one.
Never Trumpers just provides a straw man for the President’s delusional Tweets and a shield for the cowardly Republicans who firmly support the President.
This columnist and other should support impeachment in public columns and statements. Then one might be a Never Trumper.
1
Unfortunately there is no competent alternative to the egomaniac clown. Instead of acting like a bunch of over sensitive victims the never Trumpers must come up with a sufficient response to sway the masses. Unfortunately he will be reelected, even though he has major flaws, he will convince the electorate that he is the best choice. Sad but true, also never say never. Four years is not an eternity, stop whining and come up with a decent candidate.
2
I suspect that if Trump’s humiliation by a handful of principled Republicans undeniably forecasted his defeat in November, he will quit the race. Trump would relish the opportunity to further his vitriol laced platform of unbridled self-pity. “Martyr” would be far a more attractive label to a sociopathic narcissist than “loser.”
Imagine how many Republican presidential aspirants would come out of their Trumpispheric miasma if they smelled blood in water; many, no doubt, already have and are quietly gaming it out. If Trump’s electoral prospects continue to dim, someone will have “the talk” with him (read: Goldwater to Nixon); a deal could be struck: bow out now for a promise of immunity from short-timer President Pence and sport the crown of “the world’s greatest victim” and retire to Florida and host a talk show. Or, conversely, fight a losing campaign that results in humiliation followed by SDNYs criminal prosecutions.... it’s not rocket science.
Thank you Mr. Stephens fir helping keep hope alive with this piece.
1
Yesterday, I heard a Trump fan say "I don't care what he did, my portfolio is up." I told him "the reason that you don't care is because you don't have children and grandchildren."
2
Republicans are not conservatives, they are not patriots and they don’t love our
Country. They are terrorists as they have drained our treasury, neglected our infrastructure and turned every facet of our lives into a profit center for wealthy people. Never Trumpers wring their hands but they don’t say what really needs to be said - they are just as bad and worse because they enabled all of this.
1
There were never any "never trumpers"; they were simply never Hillary, never democrat.
Never trumpers never materialized in any meaningful way, as in dumping trump the day he reared up out of his manhole. Chest-thumping fiscal conservatives, bible-thumping evangelicals, map-thumping neo-cons all embraced him.
Stephens writes as if trump came nowhere and took over the GOP and all those angry, left-behind, older, white, male trumpite fans, the deplorables, the base. The GOP thought trump was an aberration; different from more recognizable white, male, business-adoring republications; could never be nominee of the GOP; couldn't be president; even if president, the GOP would shrug him off and do the right thing.
Stephens overlooks the fact that his party for the last three decades has fought against the poor, minorities, women in the work place and over their own bodies, against labor, the working class, middle class, unions; and is anti-immigrant to the point of xenophobia.
Trump's no different from any other willfully ignorant, hard-hearted republican on the wrong side of history. Dumber, crazier and uglier, but he's all GOP through and through.
And the "never trumpers" can wring their hands and whine all they like that he's not their fault, but he is.
5
I notice you credit Trump for Neil Gorsuch, but credit should really go to Mitch for that one. What he considers his greatest achievement was to stick it to our first black President one last time before he left office.
3
I wish to know if Mr Stephens, who rightly abhors Trump, held his nose and voted for him.
As a good Republican would.
2
An essay weak and inhaling on life-support, actually. The fear underlying everything is the Dem's problem with 2020, who in the world is going to beat Donald Trump? Nobody on their rostrum so far. It's a Greek play, Hillary as deus ex machina, though no one actually wants her, begging and hanging over the stage as she is. Even the never-Trumpers see that one.
Bret Stephens and the rest of the Never Trumpers have yet to admit their complicity in the election* of 45. They’re largely ok with the bigotry, cruelty, promotion of apocalyptic Christianity, the grift and corruption of the oligarchs and multinationals. They just don’t like a boorish president who publicly admits their agenda. A good Republican is supposed to discriminate against ( fill in the blank with any non-white, straight Christian group) and the non-obscenely wealthy in the traditional WASP way- privately, silently, politely.
3
Never again will Republicans be able to criticize Democratic candidates for lack of honesty, lack of transparency, lack of fiscal responsibility, lack of military service, lack of marital fidelity or lack of piousness. At least Nixon was smart and managed to promote and establish policies that were useful to our future.
2
Stephens comes across like a cancel culture kid. His plan to save the country includes posting online and wearing an ironic t-shirt.
Will he organize?
Will he reach out to people in his party and expand his constituency?
Will he act?
"Conscientious" conservatives should stop calling themselves Republicans, if they truly want vindication. The Republican Party is gone. Something else will have to be invented, something worthy of high regard, as the Republican Party is not.
7
"The guy who was supposed to lead his party to a catastrophic defeat became the man who, in the eyes of the right, uniquely figured out how to save the country from Hillary Clinton."
Yeah, he "figured it out" with the help of gerrymandering, voter suppression, the Electoral College that gives thinly populated states more power than heavily populated ones, and, oh, yeah, the Russians. Stephens gives the dolt too much power. A lot of it came from squishy folks like him.
9
Mr. Stephens, don't be afraid that someone like Elizabeth Warren is going to overturn the status quo. If anyone is capable of that you know it has been Trump. Warren, or any other Democrat now running, would never be able to garner the blind following that Trump has been able to muster. She just doesn't scare and confuse people enough. As a result, her policy choices or those of any other progressive, which might seem extreme to you now, would undoubtedly be modified by conservative and centrist legislators in Congress. In any event, why be afraid of them? Even the ACA, though still imperfect, has become widely popular although it seemed extreme to conservatives at first.
So, I would sincerely hope that you, and all other never-Trumpers, should support her or whoever else wins the Democratic nomination and write about it. Why? First, because no traditional Republican will be running against Trump so you have no choice. Second, because whoever the Democratic candidate is will bring decency, competency and intelligent thought back into the White House. What is more important to you -- deregulation or our standing in the world? I would hope it's the latter.
18
The belief that a set of values that transcends political ideology exists is the common ground I have with Mr. Stephens. He calls it “classical liberalism and moral tradition;” the sociologist Durkheim’s term was the “collective conscience.” Society is a moral order, said Durkheim. And so says Mr. Stephens here.
But query whether the nihilistic element in Trumpist populism is corrosive enough to do irreparable damage even to our morality and to our society? And what gives this nihilism the strength it has here today?
5
So these are conservative values?
There were also those conservative policy and political victories. "Regulatory rollback". -Crossing the tipping point on Global warming and destroying the one thing most necessary for life- Water.
"Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and all the lower court judges". -Gorsuch lacked integrity to refuse a job he go by affirmative political action and entitlement. Kavanaugh, he of 83 ethic complaints, multiple groping and exposure allegations and perjury under Senate testimony. "Lower court Judges", some were so unqualified, even Senator Kennedy of Louisiana could not stomach them.
"Increased military spending". -Getting back the gains from the sequester because for 16 years Republicans refused today for their tax cuts, as they agreed to cut spending for each tax cut, then refused to do so.
"The tax cut." -Deficits not over a trillion per year and money went for stock buybacks. Business investment has plummeted.
"Withdrawal from the Iran deal" -Abandoned an allied effort to deal with a significant problem. Destined to fail with no replacement.
"An expanded G.O.P. majority in the Senate". -Stay tuned.
"The Mueller fizzle". -The Barr verified lies and permanent damage to the Justice Dept.
"Conservative" never Trumper’s such as Brett are similar to Trump's rock solid supporters. They refuse to consider data or evidence of policy success, they just object to Trump open vulgarity, they prefer a politer brand.
16
@Almighty Dollar
Thanks Michigander, excellent summary and rebuff!
4
It is the complete rejection of other political ideologies that have doomed Conservatism - that and the desire to win at all costs, up to and including Conservatism's very soul. As a progressive, I want to see real change in health-care. If we lower costs, increase life-expectancies, reduce serious disease, make it easier to use, and cover everyone, do I care if conservative ideas are included? To be blindingly clear, I do not! But I am under no illusions about conservatives - those who serve their ideology more than their country. Again and again, they insist they are *Right* and refuse to collaborate.
The future of America depends on conservatives who are willing to work with progressives. Let's get all ideas on the table, game out strategies we think will work, and implement them. Those that fail, try something else. No ideology will have all of the answers all of the time - unless the only goal is for our ideology is to *WIN*. Then, the nation loses.
Want to govern in the middle? You'd better include the extremes, both left and right.
6
Sorry Mr. Linderman, the future of American does not depend on Conservatives willing to work with liberals. There are no conservatives willing to work with liberals on anything of any significance. The future of America is squarely in the hands of progressives, and it depends on their ability to win big. If progressives cannot win big (and that means the House, Senate and all levels of local government) we’re done.
2
Perhaps it's time for someone to gin up a new, red, white and blue baseball cap, emblazoned with "Make the Presidency Presidential Again." One need only recall Trump's admonition that "I will be so presidential," in order to place his errant behavior in its proper, tawdry perspective.
Then again, since Trump has so thoroughly redefined presidential decorum downward since assuming office, perhaps he was right. In accordance with how Trump views the standards of presidential decorum, or a complete lack thereof, anything he does would amount, by definition, to being "so presidential."
It would be consistent with his apparent belief that he is above it all while his behavior is beneath all acceptable norms historically associated with the office he holds. We should never succumb to Donald Trump's twisted view of what is and isn't acceptable behavior, for a president or anyone else.
It's easy to label conscientious Trump objectors as "Never Trumpers," but in reality, it is they who truly walk the talk of making America great again. Trump merely pretends to do so. It's all part of the long con he's perpetrating on America, and it's anything but great.
4
Respectfully, Mr. Stephens, I wouldn't count on Susan Collins to "do the right thing"...she caves to the party line.
23
Every. Single. Time.
2
Maybe the most heroic thing never Trumpers could do is form a third party and start over. America has been yearning for a viable alternative to the status quo for decades. I bet there are plenty of dis affected voters in both major parties that could be peeled off easily especially if it represented a unity style block. At the very least they would have an enormously out-size influence in an evenly divided electorate.
8
The label that I prefer to use as a life long Republican who cannot stand Trump’s behavior or his policies is “homeless”.
I did not vote for him or for Hillary is 2016 and will not vote for him or Warren or Sanders or Biden in 2020.
Warren and Sanders are promising Medicare for All and tuition free college as a way to win votes. The reality is that our national debt is currently spiraling out of control and what we need is fiscal constraints not more fiscal folly.
Biden’s shelf life has expired and he should bow out with grace and dignity before he exposes himself to further ridicule from the verbal vampire Trump.
Both the Democrats and Republicans have lost touch with reality. The Democrats with their free for all fairytale fiscal proposals and the Republicans with their crude and crass ignorance. So currently I have no party to call home - I’m homeless.
8
Trump conserves nothing, and the golden age he promised to revive never was.
2
@KJS, If you do not vote for whoever the Democratic candidate in 2020 is, then you are effectively voting for trump and will be responsible should he be re-elected. Selecting a president is not like selecting a spouse where if you don’t like any of your suitors then you can just remain single. You are going to be stuck with one of them. Please don’t let others foist the worst choice on you.
6
At the end of the day, those insulted and smeared by Trump will include the Tweets in their resumes as proof of character and decency. Most of all as proof of valor for speaking up, for not having been enablers.
On the other hand, those defending the indefensible...
6
I'm a proud (moderate) progressive, but I agree that the country benefits enormously from a productive tension between progressives and conservatives. The Republicans and Democrats are dominated by their extremist activists and the best path lies in between. The inability of these two parties to compromise predates Trump, but Trump dominates what's left of the Republican party, which is no longer truly conservative.
Trump enjoys strong support among Republicans, but a lot of that apparent unwavering support is because true conservatives are no longer identifying as Republicans. High profile examples include George Will, Max Boot and George Conway (Kelly Anne's husband, which must make for interesting pillow talk). Joining them are millions of others who are not household names.
One way to become the darling of a political party is to win over its members. Trump's way is to be so horrible that members with consciences leave.
5
'Moderate progressives' in US terms equal the center-right in European terms. What the US lacks almost entirely is a left.
10
@G Rayns Oh, we have a "left". It's just not part of the Democrat party and has little political power, other than being used as a cudgel by Republicans.
While the Republicans have embraced the alt-right (in large part because the shifting demographics are imperiling their party), the Democrats have not done the same for the extreme left.
1
@David Not to fall into the bothsidesism trap, but both sides pander to respective energized bases pretty effectively now. The only difference is that republicans pick up lots more senate seats and work the electoral college more effectively with its base. If only extremely high net worth liberals who see wealth creation in social justice issues would buy up hinterlands and pay to relocate justice democrats from big blue cities to open red lands in Midwest and Great Plains states - we dems would finally get some clout.
1
It has been said a conservative is a liberal who has something to lose.
The conservatives now in power are finding they too have something to lose. They have bought their judgeships and SCOTUS seats and tax cut at the cost of the rule of law and the nation's position in the world. These ephemeral victories are ashes in the mouth not unlike the actual ashes in the mouths of Californians who deferred infrastructure and denied climate change. Nature bats last.
NeverTrumpers can rebuild but only if they join hands with their erstwhile opponents to seek common ground for solutions and eschew bloviating. And liberals need to accept their input on areas of mutual risk and mutual reward.
6
My sentiments, which apply to myself, are: anyone who is derided by Trump, a Trump appointee or Trump supporter, should feel honored.
13
I'm afraid this is another "wishful (but well-intended) thinking" column. Always a hit with readers. But at some point the consequences may become dire.
What befuddles me in perusing reader comments--and the recent Iowa poll numbers--are two questions. Can people not conceive what a second Trump (with more conservative Supreme Court justices) will be like? (I.e., a failure of imagination.) Or do they simply not understand what a national election in the U.S. involves. (A failure of learning.)
6
The author still makes the assumption that there is a "Republican party". There isn't. There's the "Trump Party" and a very few non-Democrats in the House and Senate. The nice thing about tRump is that he has exposed the GOPpers' claims to be the "Party of fiscal conservatism/law and order/family values" as hoaxes And one might add, the Evangelical movement as fake Christianity as well.
44
@Ron
Conservatives where never about family values, fiscal responsibility or law and order. Never. What they have been since ever is a topic for a long conversation.
2
The author still makes the assumption that there is a "Republican party". There isn't. There's the "Trump Party" and a very few non-Democrats in the House and Senate. The nice thing about tRump is that he has exposed the GOPpers' claims to be the "Party of fiscal conservatism/law and order/family values" as hoaxes And one might add, the Evangelical movement as fake Christianity as well.
10
The nation is essentially evenly divided on whether or not to impeach Trump.
With the data already available to the public, this decision is essentially straightforward. Michael Gerson's recent op-ed (link below) lays the case out clearly, noting that the entire case can be solely based on available information that could be supplemented as appropriate with data and information from the depositions.
Michael notes the facts really are uncontested by both Democrats and Republicans.
It all gets down to a simple question: Does Trump's actions rise to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors”? With the crux question being whether an American president can encourage foreign influence on U.S. elections without consequence.
This is a tedious but necessary proceeding. Hopefully the House and Senate members take their responsibility seriously in answering this question.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-smoking-gun-has-already-been-revealed/2019/10/21/681d3882-f426-11e9-ad8b-85e2aa00b5ce_story.html
6
Print anti-Stephens comments. They are good for the general public's mental health and they are ethical by definition.
1
Converts any converts are welcome in my background having being born in the "Republic of Amsterdam" during the brutal German Occupation where in the end Amsterdam lost 10% of its population.Yes, 50 plus years later after I came to this Country in my case, open thinking, should remain the backrock of this Republic as well. Converts may now consider what to do about an un-indicted co-conspirator...in by all accounts questionable activities. The land of Erasmus, Spinoza and at times Descartes would be proud. "Je pense donc je suis" !!!
2
Don't count on the Never Trumpers from saving the GOP from Trump. Also, do not count on any Never Trumpers currently serving in the Senate (hello Mitt!) from voting to remove Trump once the House Dems impeach. This simple hard calculation has NOTHING to do with Trump's guilt or innocence on any of the impeachment counts. Do we really think any GOP Senators will tear apart the GOP months before a Presidential election?
One does not have to be a Trump supporter to understand this. Even if you despise the man, think about it. Trump owns the GOP base. His removal will cost the GOP not only the White House, but also the down-ballot contests for Senate and House. The GOP will be hard-pressed to hold onto the base which may very well form the kernel of a formidable third party, fracturing the GOP for a generation.
So, Trump could be found holding a smoking gun over the still warm body and the Senate will NEVER vote to remove. The Republican politicians may not like the guy, but the GOP base is all in (approval amongst Republicans right around 90%, I believe), so they will fall in line. Those that don't are history (think Flake, Corker, and Justin Amash).
All this impeachment stuff is political theater to satisfy Pelosi's far-left base. NOTHING will come of it other than proclamations of "damning" evidence from the left-leaning media and obnoxious tweets from Trump.
No, Dems will face Trump in 2020. Good luck.
7
So the never trumpers will be able to point to the impeachment inquiry as vindication of their views. I have come to realize that the only way to describe people who still follow trump would be to look at people who have experienced domestic abuse. I could never comprehend why someone would stay in an abusive relation ship and still don't but the psychologist who study this can maybe help with this problem we have in the white house. How many lies can a nation take before it explodes. We have seen national heroes disgraced, from gold star families to senators means nothing to this demigod wana- be. Maybe the cold slap in the face of an impeachment trial will wake enough abused people to vote out all the senators who refuse to convict. One can only HOPE.
9
The wholesale selling out to a demagogue and liar will go down in history as something truly extraordinary, on the level of a Jim Jones, except for the fact, it's Jim Jones running the government.
How it ends is anyone's guess. If we are lucky enough to excape Trumpism for good, we'll realize just how lucky we were that valient people listned on that call and were courageous enough to talk about it--including the fear of the White House lawyer who tried to bury it.
17
You'd never guess that that a sizable group of Americans view the never-Trump crowd with as much dismay as the man himself. Only look at the "conservative" policy achievements cited here by Mr. Stephens, with apparent joy. And then despair, utterly, for the country.
All that's needed is another bombing campaign and an Oval Office muzzle, and these folks would be beside themselves with joy.
Strange, how anti-Trump Republicans never think to question to the program espoused by their nemesis.
6
If trump had an alter-EGO on twitter it would be peter defecto. I only hope that his numbers continue to slide all the way to the ultimate humiliation of abdication.
3
The GOP is GONE. And I've already gotten over it, thanks.
4
Wrap your mind around the phrase "conscientious conservatives."
This mythical group of moral paragons were "never" Trump supporters, according to Bret?
This is their "red badge of courage?"
The same group who didn't mind helping Reagan/Bush purposely bankrupt the country, who defended Iran-Contra, who fought for Clarence Thomas, who helped lie us into the pointless Iraq war, and who brought America close to economic
collapse?
Is this the group that Bret is referring to?
15
I wish I could share your optimism about what four GOP votes for impeachment in the Senate would mean, but as Trump has correctly recognized, in the Machiavellian world of politics, all that matters is getting the win. If four is the most we can hope for, then the impeachment process is more likely to help Trump. In Trump's world (and that of his lemming legion), you are either a winner or a loser. If the Senate cannot pass a conviction, then he has survived, and by definition, "won", just like how he "won" the presidency despite losing the popular vote.
Instead of hoping for a "symbolic victory" (i.e. a loss in disguise), Never Trumpers should put their money where their mouth is: proselytize to your non-Never Trumper friends. Don't assume they are beyond redemption (no need to be so generous with this so-called president). Explain to them that the White House is being defiled, that you don't want a conman as your champion, that they need to register their opposition with their state's senators. This is the only way that the correct and beneficial outcome can be obtained, namely ejection with extreme prejudice.
4
Bravo to Lt. Colonel Vindman: One of America's BEST. You are able to wake up each day and know that you know the difference between right and wrong AND you don't cave to darkness: unlike many of the other politicians who know the difference but have no backbone.
9
This is all well and good, but when will they actually do something?
3
I just saw a touring production of Book of Mormon. Along with a lot of laughs, I gained insight into Mitt Romney’s career. One song presented a “Mormon” recommendation for dealing with unpleasant thoughts—doubts, sexual attractions, heretical impulses, etc.: “Turn it off like a light switch.” Maxine Waters has been taking a principled and forceful moral position on Trump’s presidency for months and months. Not a thing prohibits Romney, or any other Republican, from doing so right now.
If Romney, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski or any other Republican tries to protect their shakey elected position by means of a “principled” vote only when forced to act on the question, I certainly won’t be in awe of their moral courage. Instead, I’ll be reminded of that great Texas phrase, that doesn’t shy away from honestly pointing out when someone is “all hat and no cattle.”
3
Not one republican vote yesterday. Not one. If republican senators vote to convict it will be to enhance their own election prospects. Your party stands for nothing.
9
Pretty good column standing fast for traditional conservatism. But please, never-Trumpers (including Stephenson, Brooks and Gerson), just because you are abandoned by the GOP does not mean you should lecture Democrats who have long been loyal to their party about needing to select a tired old pol as the presidential nominee, one who most closely ties to old conservative views of government’s role in fostering a healthy society for all. In your hearts, you want a Mitt Romney as the Democratic nominee. Having lost a mutiny in the GOP ship of state, don’t try to pirate the helm of the Democrat juggernaut.
2
I believe that in the end, everyone walks away from trump. In the end everyone learns that for trump there is only trump. How many people could stay in a relationship where they are expected to only give, give, give? At the end, they get out of the relationship. Like all con men, trump keeps moving to new suckers, but even the best con men eventually run out of victims. We may be at that point now.
1
Anyone who is still a conservative in this country after 8 years of Bush Jr /Cheney and 3 years of Trump deserves to be treated like a pariah. If you qualify (I do think you do), just quit while you still can. In 1789 and 1917 people were chased out of existence for much less.
9
It remains a near unfathomable quandary to me to attempt to understand that there exists even a modicum of doubt regarding the blaggard trumps unfitness to hold the office that he currently inhabits / defiles amongst his ardent suppositories, uh, whoops, supporters?
What is the appeal of descending into the deranged warren of a terrifyingly right wing rabbit hole that 40% of polling respondents so vehemently identify with?
Obstinate intransigence could serve as a minimal baseline if one were graced with a generosity of perspective regarding purposeful ignorance.
Is an informed and reasoned republican as chimerical a beast as recent empirical evidence might suggest?
1
We the American voters picked Mitch McConnell. We the American voters picked Mr. Trump. We the uneducated and passive electorate have been lulled into complacency by our smartphones and the poison of an anti-intellectual social media that we have allowed to dominate our very existence. We are fully to blame for all that has transpired.
7
Agreed,
We are to blame for All of it.
And
We are the only hope to fix this terrible mess we made.
Get involved
Become active in your community
Talk to those who disagree with you
Become informed
Volunteer
Participate in the political system
Help a neighbor
Donate to a charity
Have compassion for other people
Have compassion for other creatures
Plant a tree
Put your phone away for an hour
Vote
Remarkable. Having enabled, through decades of class manipulation and media "alternatives", the rise of Trump, then attempting to claim whatever moral high ground might be left amongst their kind, here's Bret and his ilk, proudly saying they'll support the fall of the evil they created. Sorry, Dr. FrankenStephens, the monster you have unleashed is still YOUR FAULT, no matter how you try to parse it.
10
The fact that top GOP political consultant Mike Murphy claimed recently that a Republican senator told him that a majority of Republican senators “would vote to impeach Trump” if they could do so anonymously, says it all.
The appalling moral cowardice of these elected representatives makes me want to retch.
15
We watch in awe and fascination ...
1
You earned your pay this week just for the felicitous phrase "suppurating disgust", to describe the incipient oozing of conscience amongst thinking conservatives. I see you have a heart.
Republicans, and even the other Party, might be doomed, but it little matters if decency reigns amongst citizens. We all must reject sheer cruelty against any human. If you can summon decency in your heart towards those who can't pay for their housing, their medical bills, even food..we will call it peace.
1
The Never Trumpers are often the embodiment of self-righteousness. Pontification, lacking almost entirely in action.
If you despise Trump as you claim, perceiving him to be ineffectual at his best and destructive on most other days and you acknowledge that the United States is a two party system, then you have to support his Democratic opponent. Or rather, you should have supported his opponent in 2016, Hillary Clinton.
If you are a Never Trumper and you bloviate about your contempt for the former reality star, but decline to advocate voting for his adversary in the general election or even worse, you did not vote vote for his adversary, there is a serious question about your Never Trump bonafides.
Anyone can complain, but heeding a call to action and stepping outside your comfort zone to vote for the only candidate who can beat Trump—even if she is from a political party with which you are unfamiliar—shows you mean what you claim.
Sadly, so many Never Trumpers went only half way.
9
Who will the "Never Trumpers" vote for if Elizabeth Warren is the Democratic candidate? Will they vote?
3
I hate Trump.
But I voted for Trump.
Technically I voted against Hillary Clinton and for Antonin Scalia's replacement, but it resulted in a vote for Trump.
I will vote again for Trump because the Democrat Party I long belonged to also long abandoned me.
I'm a moderate/center right person who is socially libertarian.
I think there should be compromise on abortion and I think there should be compromise on access to guns for all.
I think the free market does just fine with health insurance and I think ACA improved access for many. I think M4A would destroy my city and state and the best healthcare in the world.
I think we are in the epic battle of our lives politically with the NYT and other corporate media outlets combining forces with the Establishment to take out the candidacy of not one..but two AntiEstablishment candidates (Sanders & Trump) by using illegal, unethical and immoral means...justifed by ORANGE MAN BAD.
I am also able to compartmentalize my contempt for Trump by actually looking objectively at his policies and the huge impact he's having on employment and wages for working class and lower class Americans.
I watched a racist get prison reform done, and a bigot welcome in legal immigrants by the thousands.
I watch the media push THEIR narrative and am aghast at the lack of self-awareness of progressives at understanding their complicity in the Populism movement that's taken this country by storm.
Trump deserves 4 more years. Period..End of Sentence.
1
@Erica Smythe There’s so much factually wrong with your post, but I’ll take on just one. M4A would destroy...the most expensive, yet lowest quality healthcare in the first world. It is very easy to find credible studies that show we spend twice as much on healthcare (per capita and as a percentage of gdp) as any other developed country. Our healthcare system ranks last among those same countries in quality - infant mortality, life expectancy, etc. Please get your facts straight.
2
@Erica Smythe
get out of my state. we don't want or need you on our team.
2
Erica. I can acknowledge your sentiments in your post. Even partially agree with some. But the outcome of a second trump presidency will be a new world order. Despots will rule. Trump is not a president. Trump is a ruler/dictator who listens to no one. He is not above win at any cost as long as you win. He has no respect for anyone. Try to imagine his kids in offices of power. He owns the DOJ now. The senate. The SCOTUS Next will be the house. I guess as long as his domination is in accordance with your beliefs, all is good.
1
If trump weren't a through-and-through traitor to our Constitution and all the values our country stands for, why would he stonewall and obstruct justice to such a massive extent?
1
Great article. My objection would be including Col. Vindman as a “never Trumper.” He follows the oath to uphold the constitution. That goes beyond any political label.
3
Trump certainly has a great cadre of sycophants. But, is John Barron, Trump's alter ego, the only consultant in the administration? We must worry about his mental health. Crazier than anything imaginable, he has Miller, Conway, Grisham, and the Trump base to provide full support his incompetence, crudeness, and victimhood. Yep, mental health is the issue going forward
3
True Conservatives stand by the Constitution.
True Conservatives would be left nauseated by the behavior of a president holding up military aid to Ukraine in order to demand an “investigation” into an insane conspiracy theory the RNC had known about - thoroughly investigated on its own and found worthless.
True Conservatives would rebel against a president who called any section of the original Constitution “phony”.
True Conservatives still think it was a good idea to revolt against a mad monarch like George III and would certainly not wish the country handed to a mad would-be dictator like Donald Trump.
True Conservative senators recognize that the power of their House has been stolen by a mad president, and laws and traditions, like the immediate review of a Presidential appointment to the Supreme Court are not to be delayed for political gain or other dishonest acts.
True Conservatives stand by laws enacted by their predecessors, left or right and signed by presidents current or former.
No true Conservative can stand by Trump and remain a True Conservative.
Those who do are just typical slimy politicians willing to do anything to ignore the rule of the people and are proud of appointing a presidential lapdog as attorney general, or forgiving massive crimes by the president so he can appoint judges considered unacceptable by their peers because of ideology.
So, Conservative Senators- are you honest or mete party politicians or worse, willing to bend/break rules?
3
The GOP is so tainted by its debased sycophancy to Trump that it will have to die to be reborn. I have always thought that will happen in the form of Trump taking them all down with him. I wonder what would be left of our politics and institutions. Whatever happens, the west is at a turning point, a crisis that could make the 1930s look very relevant.
2
Another good t-shirt would be: Whistleblower - Hero of the Republic!
@Chris W.
Or more correctly:
Whistleblower — Democrat Operative!
Republicans have been a sham party for decades. For those who still don’t know why the middle class has declined so much look at where that started, under Reagan. Their behavior under Obama was shameful. I am not surprised at all that they will continue to support this soulless president, as long as it gets them what they want. But they can never again call themselves the family values party, or claim the mantle of being strong on national security. Oh they will try, but the truth is glaring.
6
Time for some soul searching. What part did the now Never Trumpers play in the rise of Trump?
2
The parasitic relationship between Trump and his supporters is simply one side of human nature, albeit the underbelly. In this case, it's transactional as well as fanatical. In Latin, it may be called quid pro quo, or simply, 'I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine.' That is, until its sole purpose is to coerce one party to demean themselves for the benefit of the other. Writ large, that's where we are today, with the technical definition overseeing the moralistic definition. Three years of this relationship has gotten us to the brink of our destruction as a democracy. Five more years of this and our democracy will have become just a memory.
1
Based on this op-ed, a Republican who puts country before party would be a Never Mitcher, and a Republican with a spine would be a Never Grahamer. If only we could find examples of these rare species in the red states and in Washington DC.
4
“Then Trump won. The guy who was supposed to lead his party to a catastrophic defeat became the man who, in the eyes of the right, uniquely figured out how to save the country from Hillary Clinton.”
I think you meant to say, “...save the country from democracy.” I’m no fan of HRC, but the consequences of Trump’s election could very well spell the end of the American Experiment. 243 years...it was a pretty good run, wasn’t it?
3
Many things distress me about Trump, but this one above others: his relentless, vicious, crude and public ad hominem attacks against those who disagree with him These are the very air he breathes.
5
Being a never-Trumper, while admirable, isn’t enough, Mr. Stephens. You have to be FOR something—or someone—who can actually end this nightmare. As in voting for whoever can mount a credible threat to Trump’s re-election, even if you have to hold your nose to do so.
4
”Squishier conservatives” are nothing more than Neocons who are triangulating Trump’s awfulness with the possible election of a democrat. Remember the big donor fund raiser a few weeks ago in the Hamptons, NY organized by Stephen Ross with the attendance of hedge funders and Ronald Lauder, among others. The fact is that the “squishier” conservatives would like Trump to be re-elected to complete the Palestinian land grab that began this year with the give away of Jerusalem and Golan Heights. This entire column is cynical and full of distortions wrapped in hypocrisy.
1
Somewhere in eternity’s permanent exile, Leon Trotsky is smiling.
Trotsky's fate, having his noggin split in two, hardly suggests, even a ghost, he'd ever be able to smile again. Stalin learned from observing Lenin (and many believe it cost Lenin his life) one's friends are far more dangerous to one's designs and ambitions, than one's enemies. Never Trumpers are the least of the Donald's worries. Bret and his morally superior cohort can rest easy.
2
There’s no doubt that one day there will be a reckoning and everyone — especially every Republican — will be held to account for what they said and what they did during these dark days.
I was a never Trumper. I am a never Trumper. I will always be a never Trumper.
2
What about the cowards? That’s what the converted, one-time “never Trumpers” like Mulvaney, Lindsey Graham, Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and so many others, really are. I am amazed that they can hold their heads up. Their condemnations and rejections of Trump in 2016 were very public. And completely valid. Which makes it so disgusting to have watched them crawl back to Trump for forgiveness and a pat on the head. Now, every time they appear in public, we’re reminded of their spinelessness. They know that, right?
5
In the end we Never Trumpers may have nothing to hold on to save our Schadenfreude.
Conscientious Conservative? How about OXYMORON? The Conservative Species became extinct two generations ago the victim of refusing to recognize equality beyond themselves, a failure to see that their tremendous success depended upon a society that nurtured and supported them, and a greed to keep more and share less if at all. These desIres and selfish flames were fanned by hate radio, far right print and recently online forums, the rise of Faux "News", and the trampling of Christianity by the Evilangelicals. 60 years ago, a Conservative had views and goals, but the majority held firm on supporting the Constitution and a belief in America. Not today, not recently. Long gone among conservatives are values, honor, and decency. A Never Trumper is not much different than a Trumper, about the same as a kind robber or a caring oil company.
3
The Trump coalition of 2016 has already crumbled even before the Ukraine extortion. The elections of 2018 illustrated that realignment. The question becomes, does Trump have enough voters to get another electoral college victory? I believe that answer is still yes and lose the popular vote. The way Trump has divided our country through religious, racial, and class lines makes this possible. The Blue wall that crumbled in 2016 will be Trump's to lose in 2020. He still has significant strength to hold onto those states. If Democrats don't improve their voter turnout from their base they will repeat the debacle of 2016. Now that Trump has moved to Florida, that state will also be harder for Dems to win in 2020.
The Democrats can not underestimate the power of incumbency. Even though Trump lost support in 2018, he will gain support 2020 because he will be on the ballot. People who didn't vote in 2016 because they didn't think Trump would win, will now come out and vote for him. Yes, the deplorable mass will grow not shrink.
Of course, this latest scandal may end Trump's Presidency but it will likely not. The best the Democrats could hope for is that it will suppress his voters from coming out and motivate more Democrats to vote. Although every election is about getting your supporters to come out and vote on election day. This election is much more serious exercise because not a whole heck of a lot of voters will switch their votes.
4
the "decency of being scandalized". what a wonderful phrase. it's why i have never understood trump's support. all the policy gains (from the conservative point of view) but how can you think this creature is fit to be president of the united states?
9
What absolutely amazes me about this is how many people, millions and millions of them, are more than willing , eager actually, to accept in Trump what they would not accept in any other person of power in their lives. If their pastor, their kids teacher or coach, their boss, their mayor, etc, etc behaved the way Trump does, they would be so angry and not sit there and cheer it on. And they would demand something be done. Imagine your kids teacher telling you on the phone how wonderfully your little one is doing in school, but the report card says something completely different. And now, as Bret points out, some see Trump has gone too far, he doesn't stop, and he is going to destroy their efforts to change the country in their image. Trumpers only see pros in Trump. There is no down side. Until..... Everyone, except Trump, has a breaking point. People don't all reach it at the same time. Trump is taking Republicans toward their breaking point instead of away from it. Problem is everyone who has tried to get Trump to hit the brakes has failed. Surprise, surprise. Let's see as we approach November 2020 how many lemmings are still willing to dive off the cliff for a leader who stands at the top and watches them. And demeans the ones who wonder if jumping is the right thing to do.
13
In the movie "A Man for All Seasons" Sir Thomas More, when he notices the medal of office on the man who betrayed him, is informed by Cromwell that his betrayer (and perjurer) has been named governor of Wales, Sir Thomas tells his betrayer that the Bible says "it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world ... but for Wales?"
A note to so-called "conservatives" who enable trump's perfidy: It profits a person nothing to give his soul for the next election, but for trump?
11
@Jack
Great comment, Jack. Imagine believing in your party or perhaps some conservative tenets so much that you will sacrifice honor and morality. For the sake of trump???
1
I guess you tend to value societal norms and other human nature hand breaks a little more as you age. I remember when it was us lefties who distrusted government, and the conservatives who shouted down any perceived break in decorum. It seems strange to think that David Frum and Bill Krystol have more in common with me than a Republican President.
The true test will come in the next election - will those with real conservative values and a moral compass be willing or able to ignore 2+ decades of programming and vote to support the Dem nominee for President, or will they throw their votes away on protest candidates? Will Never Trumpers support a President Pence or recognize his moral failing?
12
As a former Conservative and Republican voter, I wonder what it is that responsible Conservatives want or believe?
Do they really believe that markets, without regulation, will delivers better health care at lower prices, or prevent drug manufacturers from fudging data on clinical trials to hide some of the side effects? Do they really believe that an individual who applies for a job at Walmart or Amazon is bargaining as an equal? (So we do not need unions?)
Do they forget that abortion was once as common as today, or even more so, but illegal and practiced in the shadows?
Do they imagine the 1950s before the sexual revolution as an ideal? It wasn’t. Folks stayed married despite the husband’s drinking and violence, and women would have a half dozen babies or more over their life cycle. And non whites - well they were tolerated or ignored, if not terrorized.
As a conservative, I understand fully the annoyance at PC culture gone amok, or the concern that victimization has become a status all its own. But after that, what do they offer?
And just how large a military do we really need? Or can we afford?
So what is it really that Conservatives want? Inquiring minds want to know.
64
@Terry McKenna
"What exactly are GOP Congressionals afraid of?"
Gee, I think it's obvious. They are afraid of their extreme right wing, snarling, prejudiced Trump loving base, who also vote in primary elections. That's what they are afraid of.
1
@tom boyd not my question.
1
This is a great essay. But it raises a question that Mr. Stephens avoids: "Conservatives have spoken for many years about their concern for character and their desire to do what is right even if it's unpopular. (With the unspoken message that liberals are concerned only with popularity and not with character or rightness.) How can it be that, given the opportunity for power, they abandon their characters and do what is wrong and popular?"
17
American conservatism has many false premises which Ronald Reagan supported. We could cut taxes and an economic boom would occur.This would pay for the tax cuts. It failed under Reagan, George W and now Trump. The conservatives only show concern for a balanced budget when the Democrats are in power but are mute when in office. Reagan also instilled in the public that the government is the enemy. Regulations are bad. Trump has done away with numerous regulations that protect the environment, health and safety. Government has a necessary role in a highly industrialized society. Conservatives do not believe that health care is a right. They opposed Medicare and the Affordable Care Act. The domestic policies of Reagan and Trump are quite similar, just different rhetoric. Reagan, Bush Sr. and Trump use code words to attack minorites. Conservatives never spoke out. Trump is part of the conservative movment, not an abberration. He is a useful tool to appoint conservative, corporate judges.
36
The whole Trump movement seems like we are back in the late 1940s and early 1950s looking for "loyalists" as Truman described them. Well, McCarthy ultimately overstepped his bounds and accused the Army Lawyer Joseph Welch of Communist ties, spelling McCarthy's doom. Trump and his apologists perhaps have finally gone too far in attacking Lt. Col. Vindman.
There will always be nativist and nationalist parts of the US population but the real conservatives that serve as a necessary balance to the progressive faction will hopefully come to their senses and realize that supporting a strongman is not worth the corporate tax breaks.
Ultimately, what do Republicans have to lose by breaking away? Their current political job? Shouldn't they be more concerned about leading their constituents in the right moral direction than following their constituents who do not have the background to know better yet have extra influence due to the flawed electoral college and gerrymandering?
Furthermore, shouldn't Republicans be able to return to their previous careers or be lobbyists if voted out? Either they really believe in the nativist horrors that Trump professes or they need jobs in politics because they are not succeeding in the real world. In that case, they shouldn't be in public service. Like Trump, they fooled people into voting for them because they couldn't hack it in the economy that they are trying to make worse.
7
I will be looking forward to you piece on economically sound Democrats; or, Democrats with an understanding of the three branches of government; or, Democrats who care about border security. Those are also certainly increasingly rare breeds.
1
Read the latest articles on Obamacare and how medical costs have gone down under it; then read the national budget deficit figures the Republican tax cuts have resulted in; read the charges levied st the Trump Administration ( including William Barr) with their clear delineation of denigration of the balance of power; read the Democratic proposals for increased border security by increased technology.
The facts are there if you really want to see them.
24
Rumor has it that some thirty to thirty-five Republican senators would vote to remove Trump if they could do it in private. Why don’t they bind together in one big unified voice? Start a “Me Too” movement in the Senate?
35
@Steel Magnolia: Exactly! My argument to my sole Republican senator is "How you would vote in private is how you should vote - because that vote would more resemble how the framers would have wanted you to vote because they established your office as an appointed office not as one that would be popularly elected". The fact that a demagogue aspiring to be a de facto elected dictator has a large following of beguiled followers would not impress the framers. Principles that were true then and that are also true now you can be sure are very true.
2
FYI, Mr. Stephens, there is nothing "conservative" about tax cuts for the very wealthy, while the rest of us have to grovel around in poverty at their feet. Conservatism means limiting government involvement in the lives of people; it doesn't mean deliberately funneling money upward, as Republicans have been doing for decades now.
When will Republicans wake up on this issue? You want good, moral, productive, independent citizens? Well, you certainly won't be getting them when people have no options for anything resembling a decent life because the economic system is rigged in favor of the massively rich. Wake up.
46
And to piggy back on your comments: you want good, moral, productive citizens. You will not get them when you give trillion dollar tax cuts to help inflate corporate greed and line the pocketbooks of investors and CEOs. We all know that the money they make is never enough. In the meantime, education takes a hit (the one tried and true method of pulling people out of poverty); infrastructure spending is hit; and they Republicans start screaming about Medicare and Social Security entitlements. And, they tend to forget that those of us that have tried to be good, moral, productive citizens have paid into that system as long as we have been working.
22
I strongly disagree with your definition of conservative. Conservatives mean to conserve their wealth and power at all cost.
2
@EB As a Boomer, I was born after WWII and grew up during those fabulous fifties that current "conservatives" glorify. While it was a great time to be a kid, that was mostly because TV was barely a presence in our lives.
The things that made the 1950's so great were the very things the current "conservatives" reject. We had the first generation in the history of the planet who were able to get a college education paid for by the government via the GI Bill, plus buy a first home through that same agency. Medical care was still inexpensive since it was not yet treated as profit center for investors, and our public school systems were lavishly supported and America became the Gold Standard for education. Over one third of American workers belonged to Unions, and our military still basked in the glow of WWII victory.
What Conservatives/Republicans would support any of these today?
6
Reading the responses herein. Many voice (very articulately) what I feel so in my heart, soul, and mind.
Glad many out there clearly stand for what really makes America Great.
Our commitment to the ideals of liberal democracy, secular rational government, the rule of law, the primacy of truth, of finding truth properly, and of being truthful.
Our respect for civility,and modernity (adaption, changing, and advancing).
Our respect for others (not just our tribe), diversity, the community of humankind, and our shared environment.
Our recognition and insistence that government is By and for the People; that taxes are investments in our future; that common defense AND [the] general Welfare are the responsibilities of our government.
That equality, freedom, social support, and rights to pursue our happiness are not reserved mostly for the privileged, the wealthy, males, certain religious, certain colors, or certain zip codes.
I am "progressive" leaning (certainly on social issues) but a scientific one. Seems evidence is just stronger for progressive principles, methods, and means. So I lean "progressive".
I am NOT pathologically or dogmatically progressive nor are most "progressives".
We do NOT discard "HONEST conservative" opinion; we find it necessary.
And Bret I think you, David B, Ross D are decent and intelligent.
Why any of you "like" overall what Trump /GOP have done seems scarily intellectually dishonest and pathological/dogmatically driven. Just saying.
38
@IAmANobody Just to be clear...
Why any patriotic real American - P pr C - would think these are victories for America is beyond me.
"There were also those conservative policy and political victories. Regulatory rollback. Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and all the lower court judges. Increased military spending. The tax cut. Withdrawal from the Iran deal."
Beyond me? Oh I understand how people gravitate to opinions and have predilections. I certainly don't think progressives are always right and conservatives always wrong.
But at some point one has to revert to the fundamentals - to the essence of things - to what really is the structure of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. I many ways this is a battle about what is existentially right and not what just is going well in ones life - or a gain or a win or two.
We've lost it seems our respect for the existentially important. Many will vote GOP simply because things seem to be "going good - hey I have a job, a car, I laugh, I travel ... Trump not so bad - look at me - what is wrong"
I don't think that cuts it now. Many felt like that in the 1930s as the existential was going down the tubes.
I am sorry but GOP is existentially wrong and must be stopped. Those that somehow feel this - know this if they examine their hearts and are intellectually honest - must stop them. Period! It is not about pros and cons of medicare for all. It is about the big picture - our essence as a Nation!
1
What has been going on in American politics?
We have had some thinkers, reflecting on the human condition, the nature of society, the role of humans within the natural order. But they have mostly been on the sidelines, deprecated as academics, professorial blowhards, or worse- poets.
Mostly we have had pragmatic manipulators, playing with employment statistics and GDP, looking for a taxation system that did not offend the wealthy, dabbling in foreign ventures not well understood, and always pushing for business advantages and loopholes regardless of the moral and long-term costs.
So no, Republicans have not been classical liberals and moral traditionalists. And Democrats have not been true cosmopolitan supporters of the working class. They have all been middle of the road wheeler-dealers, Reagan and Bill Clinton being good examples.
And now we are stuck with Trump, representing the worst of everything we have thrown into the political mix.
So what have we?
The Republicans are un-classical non-liberals and moral vacuums.
There is some hope seen in many Democrats -- supporting the poor and marginalized, trying to find a strong foundation for true liberty and equality, but too often forced to play the political games required by our election system.
We are now at the final test of our generation.
What sort of a people are we?
The next few weeks will show us all.
Trump is a symptom best treated with a lack of attention.
Let's see what the rest of us are made of?
9
Yes, however attention must be paid. Ignoring erratic, chaotic self-serving antics and policies is doing so at our peril.
The worst may be when his gun toting followers finally come around and realize how badly they’ve been betrayed. How many more coal plants need to go bankrupt? Or, other manufacturing companies need to close for people to see his harm? Will farmers live with themselves as the most entitled subsidy receivers nowadays given his impetuous tariff policies? When such people finally look in the mirror and realize they’ve enable what New Yorkers always knew about him being the ignorant self-dealing, OPM using creep that he is, they might not be satisfied with a simple good riddance such as we are. No one seems to be talking about that but my guts keep telling me betrayed people are dangerous.
It's a silly argument. Never Trumpers may not care for the guy, but he is still delivering all the goods for them. Unfortunately for the country, after Trump is gone, we will still be left with these people and they will simply continue with their destruction of the United States.
19
In order to count, they should - to quote a phrase - stand up and be counted. And I don’t mean those whose job security is ensured by dint of being token conservatives at the Grey Lady’s dinner parties.
2
Considering how many pseudo-conservative Republicans have sold their souls to maintain power it seems extremely unlikely that more than a few tokens will suddenly remember that their loyalty is supposed to be to their constituents, their country, and our Constitution.
The only Republican thing Trump has done is lower taxes on the uber-wealthy, and if I can be snarky, he also cheated and continues to cheat our Constitution (Merrick Garland will never go away).
12
Stephens falls into the familiar trap using Trump's term, NeverTrumper Republicans, coined to identify & demean. Since Trump was specifically referring to Republicans, the better term is not the headline writer's "conscientious conservatives" who might be Libertarians, Independents, & even Democrats, but "True Republicans." TR are party members who believe in traditional party values & principles: small government, fiscal responsibility, free markets, free speech, church/state separation, personal integrity, civility, honest work, independent thought, & equal opportunity for all hard-working Amns. Some True Republicans may have been NeverTrumpers; many gave Trump a chance, hoping post election, he would rise to the occasion. Sadly he chose to be the pres only for those who voted for him, and has demeaned the office in countless ways. A TR doesn't want to become a Dem or Inde, but to reclaim the party. For Trump the party has been a only tool (he was longer a Dem than a Rep), and today he thinks he the right to demand personal loyalty from all Republicans. Loyalty must be earned, and this president has clowned his way thru office for 3 years, hardly working, presiding over a nepotistic & disorganized administration, dividing rather than uniting America, claiming results that haven't happened, undermining alliances, using filthy language, and racking up the highest debt levels ever. That's not Republican. TRs know that we have much better to offer for 2020.
5
Who? On TR side will really step forth?
And as for what you described TRs well, tiny government aside Dems do stand for all those things last I checked. Our armed forces eat our biggest budget and I KNOW TRs want that. So let’s not get too carried away with semantics. Admit not all government is bad. What we need is radical transparency and right now the Dems are far more in favor of that than any GOPer I’ve seen of late.
@MEC
At the rate that the Republican Party is going there won't be one left to "reclaim" as you say.
Trump's fire is consuming all.
As far as I'm concerned, good riddance.
What I’d like to know is how Congressman Mr. Van Drew, a Democrat , explains his “no “ vote on the impeachment inquiry and House rules . He’s no better than the rest of the Republicans . Granted , he comes from a district that voted for Trump , but clearly is playing politics just like the rest of them . That’s just as shameful .
15
Excuse me for asking Bret, but could you please provide your readers with this list of conscientious conservatives. I find I can't bring more than two or three to mind. It seems they're a dying breed. Or simply intimidated, not sure which is worse.
8
What a fix.
Trump has the ability to cause a loss of office for most all who would dare to cross him.
Meanwhile those office holders know they have Trump dead to rights (again).
5
I felt genuinely sad for Rich Lowry as he was trying to come up with arguments to defend Trump actions on Ukraine.
Never Trumpers left today are the few and the brave.
6
The "decency of being "scandalized." Hmmm. Interesting. Why, Brett, when the chameleon antics of "conservatism" occasionally strike a thread of logic and decency, is it always way too late for such a showing of "nobility?" The very name of your "movement," now 3 years into the regime, gets more laughable by the day.
There's a 19th century book by Mary Shelley called "Frankenstein." Inextricably intertwined in the surface story are ancient axioms that modern "conservatives" forgot to conserve, and now in usual form, have buyers remorse over their own intellectual short-sightedness over the last 4 decades.
Sorry, Brett, but vindication is unlikely among those of us old enough to know better. As Grammy would have said in all her "conservative" glory, "you probably should have thought before....."
8
The only NeverTrumpers that get to pat themselves on the back are those that are also NoMoreTrumpers -- willing to support an impeachment inquiry.
Until the, Bret, you get no more credit than a canary in the coal mine humming to itself.
7
I still blame republicans, ALL republicans, even you never Trumpers for Trump but at least this is hopeful news that his support is finally waning.
7
Bret, “born-again Never Trumper” is stupid and insulting at once. Stupid because being a Never Trumper, as you know, has nothing to do with anything being revealed; it’s about seeing clearly beforehand. And insulting to the evangelical for whom “born again” had literal significance.
The term is not an intensifier. It’s a description of a transcendent experience. It’s a shame you and your editors are seemingly unaware of that.
The public hearings haven't started yet. And Trump is definitely going to do something that will make things much, much worse as he fights back. He probably already is. Don't be so sure about the vote in the Senate. If his popularity continues to drop, Senators will be climbing over each other to reissue him.
1
It is indeed humorous, but disingenuous to the extreme, how these self-righteous, unaccountable conservatives who cynically helped create the very electoral conditions leading to Trump’s political success, now so vociferously disavow him. Perhaps that explains his reference to “human scum”, the rage of an abandoned, upset child against hypocritical, neglectful parents. You “own” him Never Trumpers.
4
I do wish more people would become American historians. This current brou-ha-ha is reminiscent of far too much of our relatively short history and should be acknowledged as such. It all began during the constitutional convention in Philadelphia (read Madison's notes), rose to a fever pitch during the run-up to the election of 1800, and then festered until the present day, cycling between short periods of relative calm and longer times of near madness (during the last two decades before the Civil War, during the Gilded Age, during our participation in WWI, and as we endured the Great Depression, in the mid-to-late 1960's, and so on). We have been at each other's throats many times, and only rarely united (think just after the British surrender at Yorktown, December 7th, 1941 and right after 9/11). But otherwise, we have never truly found a way to think of ourselves as one people. Given that we were the first nation in the world to found ourselves in definition as a republic, our failure to find a way of seeing ourselves as a people who could be tolerant of each other as well as free to express ourselves is a terrible indictment of our basest political instincts. We have too often deserved Donald Trump, and our essential issue must be to understand why.
2
@James Quinn
Donald J. Trump is the true embodiment of "American Exceptionalism".
Ha! I'd love to see Mr. Stephens in his limited-edition T-shirt. I would bow to his sense of integrity. Hopefully, there will be more 'born again Never Trumpers'.
What I'd really love to see is a "Human Scum" Never Trumper march in DC -- can you imagine the impact?
Mr. Stephens, John Kasich, Scaramucci, and the rest, all leading the way through the streets of DC to a rally point in front of the Whitehouse... man, as a liberal independent, I'd donate money to that march. Even buy a T-shirt! It'd be the event of the year!
5
Upon hearing what his Commander-in-Chief said about him being "human scum," Lt.-Col. Alexander Vindman could have used a phrase employed by the late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre-Eliott Trudeau upon being questioned about a vulgar comment Richard Nixon made about him. That comment was:
"I have been called far worse by far better people."
12
I knew a man many years ago who always tried to get people to smile at him. I mean everyone. Toll booth workers, flight attendants, restaurant servers,. Everyone. One day I asked him what he would experience if everyone smiled at him. He paused and said, I would look around to find someone who wasn't and get them to smile.
Trump wants as much attention as he can get. Positive or negative. He is insatiable like my friend. I am so curious how he will cope with being impeached and one day leaving the White House. Eventually, we will all stop paying attention to him. Can't wait!
2
Trump's definition of "Never Trumpers" lacks any of the philosophical or policy nuance you choose to ascribe to it. His understanding of it is that "THEY" are against him and that's enough. It wouldn't matter if it was over how he ate his peas or how he withheld aid to Ukraine, you are equally despicable in his mind. I don't think that most people can yet process the monumental ignorance of this man, just what an outlier he is in the species, and how unprepared we all are for something like him. A functioning society, comprised mostly of interactions among strangers, requires a modicum of trust, and in any case, no one can spend every minute of the day weighing every statement or action they encounter for validity, so when someone unleashes an unrelenting torrent of untruths, you either give them the benefit of the doubt, or curl up in a ball and sob. How else could Trump co-opt so many people of reputation? They also fell into the trap because even they, with their Harvard diplomas and West Point pedigrees could not conceive of such a monstrosity and were in fact handicapped by them. Imputing anything more than reptile brain thoughts to Trump is an absolute waste of time.
3
If Republicans who reject Trump are "human scum" then Trump would have more choice words to describe liberals (like myself) who will never support his ilk in a million years. Even then, I would wear the suggested T-shirt emblazoned with "Human scum" out of solidarity with the never-Trump Republicans.
6
I must admit as a progressive it is easy to be disgusted at Trump and his depiction of his own party as human scum.
But for a Republican to be a NeverTrumper is something you can wear with pride throughout your life. It shows at this crucial time in history, you put country and humanity before base party demands for incessant obsequious grovelling towards our dearly beloved leader.
5
When someone does produce those “Human Scum” t-shirts, they will be a big seller among Congressional Republicans. All those white men lined up behind Kevin McCarthy, nodding support for Trump after the impeachment vote will buy several. They will put them at the bottom of their shirt drawer, underneath their pressed white shirts. Once the poll numbers swing and the base goes into hiding, they will proclaim their freedom, line up behind 2020 candidate Mitt and no one will remember their complicity.
1
@DO5
" All those white men lined up behind Kevin McCarthy, nodding support for Trump after the impeachment vote will buy several. "
As a 76 yr. old white male, (and a lifelong Democrat), I do notice Republican Congressmen all seem to be white, middle aged males with the occasional white female thrown in. Don't look for any people of color, or more than a few women, you won't find many. Republicans are doomed by demographic trends in the future. I'm glad we have Democratic women in the Congress, especially glad we have the Democratic woman named Nancy as Speaker.
1
What is most glaring about the leaders of the party formerly known as Republican, is that they obviously do not know the fundamental difference between right and wrong. This is much more troubling than Trump himself as he will eventually pass. But the party formerly known as Republican will still exist unless the voters respond conscientiously in 2020.
I agree with Bret's column except for the human scum t-shirt. Society would be much improved if everyone learned basic manners and conducted themselves with dignity.
2
Cheer up Brett! The "human scum" t-shirt is out! There are actually several versions of it.
4
The "Human Scum" T-shirts are already for sale on the internet. Some say "Proud to be Human Scum" on them. They come in many varieties from many different sellers.
You didn't really think that you were ahead of the entire garment industry, did you, Brett? ;-)
3
When Trump is gone, either through an election loss or impeachment/removal, Republicans will act as if they never supported him, much as they did with GW Bush. We the people must not fall for it, and never forget what the Republicans have done to the country through their support of Trumpism.
7
Recall that Trump called “never Trumpers” “human scum”. Further recall Trump called Vindman a “never Trumper.”
Trump is calling a decorated military veteran with three children in service a “human scum”.
7
I now wish I hadn't left the Republican Party because of Trump and the failure of the party leadership to stop him from getting the nomination. Why? I didn't get to be called Human Scum. Could some reporter ask Trump if NeverTrump Republicans are Human Scum, what are people who left the party because of him?
2
"What despots and demagogues fear most is their followers developing a conscience."
I can't remember anyone using the word "conscience" in an article about Trump before.
I don't believe that he himself possesses one.
4
@A. Stanton trump’s parents never developed his conscience. Parents have a role in teaching their kids how to behave how to treat others. Trump was never taught decency respect honesty core values of conscience. His followers admire he doesn’t have a conscience, to them what is the use of of having one when you can get work done without it.
1
The only Republicans and conservatives I respect are the ones who were appalled by Trump’s election in 2016 and continue to express outrage at his presidency. The others don’t really care about the country. They just look out for themselves. If the polls start to really break against Trump in a big way with republicans, you will see them crawl out from under their rocks to voice their discontent with Trump. Otherwise, it will be crickets. Keep your eye on Nicki Haley as a prime example. There is always talk of her running for President. Has she expressed any outrage at what Trump has done thus far? Of course not. She is one of the spineless republicans who are hiding until it’s safe to come out. But when Trump is done, she and all those other fair weather Trumpers will express their outrage at his presidency. And to them I say “too little too late.” You have forfeited the right to participate in our democracy. Stay under your rock.
7
Long after Trump is gone we will still be stuck with tens of millions of republicans who continued to support him despite every disgusting act, every twisted word, very evil turn, and every obvious lie.
In the end that is the great tragedy of Donald Trump: not what kind of person he is, but what kind of nation he has revealed we are.
15
And then there are those of us who know that, aside from the vulgarity and self-dealing, Trump is no worse than any other Republican. Do the Never Trumpers really believe Ted Cruz or Jeb Bush were great alternatives?
6
Trump and his crew's activities surrounding the current Ukraine controversy are not isolated events in this Trump administration. Much more beyond Ukraine is out there that will probably never see the light of day. The infectious tentacles have 3 years to spread throughout the Executive Branch and beyond.
Here we are with many Republican political entities actually voicing the opinion that a sitting president extorting a foreign government for the purposes of his reelection is an action that does not rise to the level of an impeachable offense. Never mind about the lies, cover-up and obstruction. This is the current face of the Republicans in Congress. Get use to it, as Mick says. Time to move on and out of Trump's party, conscientious conservative. Trump's party no longer wants you.
9
There is one key problem with Never Trump Republicans: they are worse even than Trump.
All they say of Trump is true. It largely agrees with Democrats on that.
However, Never Trump Republicans are the people so awful that even Trump beat them soundly. They are the very Devil Himself, like Ted Cruz, and complete sell outs to corporate evil like Jeb. They have no redeming virtues. Just being against Trump is not enough to make them serious people again.
3
As an anti-Trump Republican from the beginning.....I feel totally vindicated.
And I wish I had been wrong.
But Trump is clearly temperamentally unsuitable to be President.....full stop.
My concern now is that he could be leading the Republican Party into a debacle.....costing us the Senate.
Or am I missing something here?
4
Donald Trump has not yet plumbed the depths of Republican rot. The vast majority of elected Republicans will still give Trump everything he wants, from misogyny to racism to xenophobia to treason as long as (a) they can stay in office and (b) he gives them tax cuts and extreme-right "originalist" judges.
8
"Bottomlessly dishonorable" is how you classically described Donald Trump in an August 31, 2018 op-ed.
Where was the amen chorus of "Never Trumpers" who wholeheartedly agreed with you then? Now, they're just getting ahead of the curve. Republicans have no honor and less patriotism. They're mostly "All-in Trumpers" with some on the sidelines, the worst place for anyone with a spine to be.
I rest my case.
4
Power corrupts.
Money corrupts absolutely.
Republicans have sold their souls. They have no principles only a price.
8
Three years on, I’m still waiting to encounter any serious consideration from any never-Trump Republican of what makes GOP voters so vulnerable to such a flamboyantly phony con-artist. Like the Democrats or loathe them (I fall somewhere in between), no one imagines that they could suddenly nominate someone that superficial, that unaccomplished & that dishonest (someone once suggested to me that the Democratic equivalent of Trump would be nominating Madonna for president, but the fact that she actually is a successful business person makes the comparison weak). I really wish one of you who hasn’t drunk the Kool-Aid would dig deep & share some thoughts about what makes GOP voters so gullible & GOP politicians so unprincipled. Or do you imagine it’s Obama’s fault?
7
The bottom line: 'Never Trump" love his policies, do not like his face or his foreign policies (they prefer much more aggressive style).
2
My country is suffering from Trump's grand illusion of a peace 'deal' with North Korea, and this is enough for me to wish the Trump will go away soon. My respects to the NeverTrumper who stood their ground thus far -- you've been right all along.
3
Your colleague Gail Collins has been offering a contest among trump's "Cabinet" members, most "acting", all woefully inept. This is where the 25th comes from?
The Founders, as bright and forward thinking as they were, never imagined anything like this mess.
4
@Howard Clark
The only part the founders did not imagine was the craven character of the Republican Senate. They thought they had built a system to safeguard against a bad executive, no matter how bad. It never occurred to them that it was possible for an executive determined to take American politics from bad to worse to use that as a tool to corrupt the Senate. Before now, nobody else had imagined that either.
1
@S.P.
True that they are all cowardly beyond even the men with average courage of 1776.
1
S.P.
The Senate was created by the most revered FF to keep the rabble at bay. It is a deliberative body designed to inhibit any progress or policies put forth by the House of Representatives, the People's House. This is illustrated by an apocryphal conversation between George Washington and Thomas Jefferson comparing the Senate to the saucer into which Jefferson had poured his hot tea (or coffee, it's apocryphal, so it doesn't matter) to cool. Washington thought that the political passions of the mob were likewise too hot and another legislative body was required for restraint.
The Senate is performing exactly as it was designed to function, albeit in extremis under the leadership of the grotesque Mitch McConnell. Of course, it's a moot point insofar as both the House and Senate are paid by the same corporations and PACs, and the people be damned.
The vote in the house was 232 to 196, all Republicans in voting against passage. Fallen never Trumpers included.
I don't know whether you have any compatriots you can count on, Mr. Stephens.
4
Republicans, conservatives, libertarians, and people who don’t like Trump vs socialism, or progressivism will vote for him anyway. An older AOC might win DC and California. The election has not become a like or dislike Trump, it is do you want America to be what has always been, or tear it apart because of Trump. People will choose country over destruction. The wholesale destruction of America as it exist will not be voted away because of Trump. A sober electorate has a simple choice. Like him or not, if Democrat challengers get half of what they campaign for, our country, our economy, and our belief in the rights granted by our constitution will be lost forever. Take that to the ballot box Mr Stephens.
1
@Jay Do you really really believe that an elected Democrat will do away with free market capitalism? Has any European country which provides universal health care for everyone of its citizens ever done away with free market capitalism? Sweden, often cited as they kind of country we do not want to become, has a very healthy and capitalistic society. Sure, everyone pays more taxes but they get a lot for those increased taxes. Believe me, providing a more secure safety net does not kill capitalism. I live in one of those countries and capitalism seems alive and well to me. Also personal freedom and freedom of the press prosper. Just what do you fear from a presidential candidate who advocates universal health care coverage, almost free public education through university for those who qualify, and efforts to cut down on CO2 emissions? This is a serious question. I do not know what you fear.
263
@Jay Trump does not represent an "America as it has always been". He represents a man who believes that a president has absolute unconditional power. For example, can you imagine any previous president of the U.S. awarding a lucrative government contract to his OWN business? Can you imagine any previous president of the U.S. deploying troops based not on American interests, but on whether the country to which they are being deployed will pay to rent them?
Ronald Regan is rolling over in his grave.
You're right- people will choose country over destruction of a democracy. And they will vote out the man who thinks he is a king.
80
@Harold Johnson
Sweden, like any country that has an economic system that eschews unfettered capitalism, presents the danger of the good example. Many years ago as I was growing up in the U.S., the benefits that accrued to the Swedes were said to lead to the highest suicide rate in the world. After decades of relentless Cold War propaganda, "American Exceptionalism" chest pounding, and Swedish suicide skeleton rattling, is it any wonder that the bewildered herd is afraid?
This mythology still resonates with many Americans, to the extent that they prefer opening their wallets wide to pay for endless wars and weapons of mass destruction rather than pay taxes for human welfare (the most obscene word in American English), or even to save the planet for future generations.
For years I have lived in a small European country that was the most bombed place on Earth during World War 2. It has a mixed economy, excellent universal health care, stipends for students in high school and university to ensure that they devote all their attention to their studies rather than economic struggles. This is the type of freedom of which many Americans are afraid.
In contrast, the militarized United States acts as if it were the most bombed place on Earth, creating enemies to maintain in perpetuity a perversion of military Keynesianism that has been extant since 1941. Constant fear is an organizing principle of America, but aren't fear and freedom mutually exclusive?
25
Lt. Colonel Vindman's patriotism and service to his country has lately reminded me of my grandfather, also a Ukrainian immigrant and also a Lt. Colonel, who served under Gen. MacArthur's command during the Second World War. Here is what my grandfather wrote after the surrender ceremony on the Battleship Missouri: "Ordinarily I take my patriotism in small doses, but this is one time I wanted to get up and shout from the housetop, that I am proud to be a member of the finest Army in the world."
When Republicans attacked Col. Vindman and questioned his patriotism, I felt the memory of my grandfather was being attacked. My own anger surprised me. But it shouldn't have. To stand by Trump means, sooner or later, to denigrate all that we value and honor in this world.
2800
@David David, this is beautifully written. And what a wonderful man your grandfather was. My husband’s mother immigrated from the Ukraine right after WW1. Her oldest son fought in the Battle of the Bulge during the following world war. I am glad neither are alive to witness the disgrace of Mr. Trump.
216
@David Trump demands personal loyalty from his entourage, which means utter abandonment of all moral values. He is then as likely as not to throw you to the wolves anyway once circumstances demand it. At that stage you have lost your reputation, your honour and your job.
What you tolerate you promote. Those who tolerate his corruption and lies do indeed promote that behaviour. Those who cover it up are reprehensible and surely must know themselves to be as much.
206
@David - Reading your poignant comment sent shivers down my spine. Just as an aside, my father fought in WWII in the Pacific theater. My uncle was a Marine who fought in the trenches. These men are true patriots and, just as your Grandfather, embody the finest & most heroic essence of the USA. Now we have a traitor in the White House whose family never chose to fight in a war to uphold our country's values. In fact, as President, he is doing everything in his power to undermine what makes America great. To echo your chilling words: "To stand by Trump means, sooner or later, to denigrate all that we value and honor in this world".
210
One wonders why former Trump officials, some with previous distinguished careers, are still holding back on dishing the dirt. Are they doing it out of some one-sided sense of loyalty to the office or the man? Were they forced to sign NDAs? Or is it that they themselves took part in, or witnessed, things they would rather not have aired if they open their mouths?
Whatever it is, something doesn't smell right.
942
@Ladybug
Excellent questions, Ladybug! I've been pondering them myself.
55
Spoken the restraint of a soap opera script rejected for cutting too close to the bone. That smell you mention has been rising from the dark hole where Trump’s tax returns have cowered from day one of his clan’s soiling presence in the White House and in the minds of the nation.
56
@Ladybug
Why are former Trump officials staying quiet?
Answer: Money & guilt
They saw bad things, probably illegal stuff; definitely immnoral acts....
but they chose personal wealth and comfort over our nation: book deals, cushy jobs on company boards as well as lucrative jobs at think tanks and lobbying firms.
It is not only the thought of suffering the ire of Trump that keeps them in check...but is the specter of losing possible future employment as well as being revealed to have participate unethical/criminal activities
This what a crime syndicate looks like
154
As a committed conservative, Bret Stephens offers an interesting perspective on Never Trumpers, but there is an alternative understanding which may be more compelling. While people like Bill Kristol, Max Boot, and Mona Charen--as well as Stephens himself--have proven that it is possible to be both conscientious and conservative, more typical cases of what conservatism has become can be found in the dramatic reversals of Senators Cruz, Graham, and Rubio. To compare how these three once expressed completely justified scorn for Trump with how they gladly kiss his feet now, exposes them as hypocrites and opportunists who will always surrender principle in order to keep power. Unfortunately, the danger of Trumpism is far from over, as the prospect of his imminent impeachment present two stark alternatives: either his removal from office for treason, or the collapse of the institutions on which American democracy depends. As we now witness, Republicans aren't saying "Never Trump!". They're saying long may he live.
27
The pusillanimous behavior of the Republican party has turned me into a never Republicaner.
That will *never* change. Yes, I was biased against the party already due to 40 years of attacking sound social and fiscal policies, but the 2016 election and its aftermath were jumping the shark. The fact that no credible alternative party developed, taking a sizable portion of the Republican electorate along with it was sufficient evidence for me that there is nothing worth saving there.
29
I share your “never republican” sentiment and I have voted republican in my lifetime. That none of them in Congress find his acts more than objectionable is stunning. I truly wonder if it was a Dem would no Dem condemn the actions? The disingenuous outrage over his “unfair” treatment is exhausting and disheartening.
2
To paraphrase H. Beam Piper: "power is more addictive than crack cocaine". Trump is high on power and blind to honour, ethics and risk. He would pit his supporters in open battle against his opponents to spend another day in the presidency.
No autocrat in history has ever willingly relinquished power: it was either coerced from them by overwhelming force; or torn from their dying hands. The "conservatives" realise this but do not have the courage to move; the consequences of failure being (political) death.
13
@Philip Brown
Mikhail Gorbachev gave up power willingly to the people. To me, he was the Man of the Century.
1
The Republicans are like gamblers when it comes to Trump. They keep throwing the dice in hopes of remaining winners. Yet Trump would appear to be just one roll away from total loss.
How many times has he had to walk back a disastrous plan only because someone was able to stop him. Surely they understand this about Trump.
13
Trump has exposed the moral rot that was already at the core of American conservatives. His vulgarity and open disdain for democratic norms may have been too much for the true believers in conservative nostrums like reducing the role of government in social services (never the military or law enforcement), regulating markets while increasing its oppression of women choice. Trump exposed the astronomical hypocrisy of Republican conservatives, who have courted the religious right obsession on abortion, exploited the prejudices of the less well healed while showering bounties on the rich funding their political campaigns. When those things were pursued without much fanfare never Trumpers never objected. If Trump had not been so inept, so crude and so willing to insult any one not in awe of his brilliance the never Trumpers would not exist.
17
If the GOP is smart, they should dump Trump and run someone like John Kasich.
The Democrats candidates are either too old, too young or too much to the left of center.
4
@San mao
Kasich would beat any Democrat. But the GOP is not smart.
@San mao
John Kasich only looks reasonable standing next to trump. Look a little deeper into his politics and actions and you will find out he’s a typical republican. His support of the ACA was anomalous. Anti Choice, anti regulatory protections, pro-charter schools, etc., etc.
3
I suspect that most "never Trumpers" were convinced that Trump would lose in the 2016 election and were pro forma positioning themselves as the rational adults who would lead the Republicans away from their temporary insanity.
Then, Trump won. As Mr. Trump increasingly displays his unfitness for office, the former "never Trumpers" are correspondingly revealed as pathetic opportunists.
10
What's scary for moderates is that Trump's incompetence might lead to a win for a leftist like Warren or Saunders. Hard to know. If he stays on the ballot, maybe the Democrats will nominate a moderate to defeat him, who will hopefully win.
2
@LED America is the only developed country in the world that lacks all the services that centrist countries all over the world take for granted. There is nothing leftist about Norway Sweden Canada New Zealand..
2
It has been a long way down to Trump. It's not quite a vindication for those conservatives who waited until Trump, to finally "stand athwart history, yelling Stop!"
5
There is absolutely nothing that Trump says that shouldn’t be considered a self-serving lie. Why waste the time with him? Unfortunately, he’s the president. But he’s not us in any way at all. What could be more plain?
10
Republicans should see impeachment as an opportunity to cleanse their party of Trump. It’s well known that most members of the GOP fear Trump but few feel respect, admiration or friendship toward him. If the senators band together as a group and vote to convict Trump for his open abuse of power, they could rid the country of this criminal president.
Even if Trump Twitters nasty remarks about all the GOP senators up for re-election, his words would not have the same weight if he was convicted. And the GOP could show they care more about country than party. And perhaps start to rebuild their party.
Pence certainly isn’t as disliked as Trump and might even have a chance to win the 2020 election. To paraphrase Trump, what do the Republicans have to lose?
8
@Barbara The problem with Pence is no charisma. The message of the Trump GOP is so bankrupt that it takes someone with bluster and no fear of lying to continuously spout it out while keeping his minions in line through even more fear than he tries to wave over the rest of us. Without fear to wave like a sword, Trump is nothing. Pence would simply be a placeholder while the GOP figures out what it will be going forward. The GOP ought to know by now that it's NOT going forward if they don't think way beyond Trump. If Trump drops dead tomorrow from that heart failure that's coming, the GOP would be a complete mess until they actually decided to form principles acceptable to more than just the Trump base, and the GOP seems little prepared to do that.
1
It's funny that the Never Trumpers are both simultaneously irrelevant and without influence, and also such troublemakers that they need to be denounced and eradicated.
As someone who left the GOP when Trump clinched the nomination, I am always annoyed by sanctimonious liberals who blame Never Trumpers for creating the Republican Party that gave rise to a nasty charlatan like Trump. If that were true, the NT's would join the other party members who have sold their souls for judges, tax cuts and deregulation. Instead they have a moral grounding, and they have stuck with it.
Trump, or someone like him, was not an inevitable result for the GOP. In fact, he is not a Republican and certainly not a conservative. He co-opted the party, believing in nothing but himself and his brand, and wanting revenge on Barack Obama for publicly ridiculing him. There were initially many Republicans who did not want him as the GOP candidate, and certainly did not want him as their president.
And that remains true for the Never Trumpers. Hate on the those who capitulated, but the NT's share the left's disdain for Trump. Why blame and criticize them when it makes more sense to follow that old wisdom about the enemy of my enemy being a friend?
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Most frustrating is the fact that if House and Senate Republicans could vote *anonymously* for impeachment, Trump would be gone so fast that his head would spin.
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Why can't they? It's been a while, but I don't recall that in the Constitution. If the House can decide what rules to follow for each investigation why can't the Senate decide new rules for each trial?
@Laura
That would work in the House. But in the Senate the *open* vote to change the rules would effectively expose those Republicans eager to be rid of Trump but unwilling to be identified.
"What despots and demagogues fear most is their followers developing a conscience." That's a great concept. Call it "waking up," call it "noticing," call it "seeing the connection," call it whatever you like, this is why tribes terrify their children: when children discover they have souls a/k/a free will they can see over the walls and fences built around them and then they blow whistles or emigrate. Good job, Mr. Stephens.
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I guess Hillary (and the Never Trumpers) were right from the beginning: Trump is unfit to be president, and the world will never be the same.
It's small comfort to think history will not be kind to the whole lot of his born-again apologists. Trump is right, though, to suggest that impeachment will be in the first line of his obituary.
Cold comfort indeed.
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@Rob The NYT has Trump's obit already written (it has obits written for practically everyone of note so they can grab them, mark them up fast, and go with them). I wonder how it reads today?
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"It could motivate John Bolton (a born-again Never Trumper, ...and everyone else who made the mistake of working for this president) to deliver what may yet be the most devastating insider’s indictment of the president’s shameless shadow foreign policy."
The key word is mistake. These are not stupid people, but they thought they could influence Trump. Not only did they not influence Trump but they wound up being humiliated.
There is no guarantee that Bolton will testify. He certainly is on record as saying that he won't do it voluntarily. Profile in courage, he is not. Whether a subpoena will force him to testify remains unclear. Even he testifies, whether he'll squeal on Trump or save the juicy parts for a book that he is supposedly writing remains to be seen.
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This is a great piece. There are two sentences I would like to quote followed by my proverbial two cents' worth. But fear not, Bret, they are shiny, new pennies. The first: "If the few remaining NeverTrump conservatives can still be that dangerous while we are on respirators..." For those who may have overlooked one pronoun - "we" - I did not. Thank you, sir, I like that.
The next quote, one which is indeed profound and most reassuring is: "The decency of being scandalized is what being NeverTrump is centrally about..." That, that decency, that moral compass and sense of what is ethical, is the root of a just, equal, secure, and good democratic society. I can not express enough how disheartened, fearful, and, yes, angry, I have been these last few nightmarish years. Trump is irredeemable, a lost soul if he even has one. His Cabinet and too many of his followers in Congress have also lost their way. But it is the hate and ignorance around me, among my relatives, acquaintances, and in my community that is ominous and threatening. So, I say to those NeverTrumpers, speak up, do not fear. We are with you. We need you.
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If the voting public hasn’t figured the President out yet, then we’re in for 4 more years of this depravity. This election, come November 2020, isn’t a referendum on Trump or whomever the Democrats finally nominate. It’s a referendum on us, No democracy can function with an ill informed, naive, gullible, electorate. We can thank Trump for one thing. He has shown us how vulnerable our 240 year old democracy is. Or any democracy.
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Hold a place for the the responsible and genuine conservatives. The reactionary populism posing as conservatism is taking us into ruin as a nation.
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@FactionOfOne When conservatism and what conservatives call "socialism" in this country (which isn't really socialism) are combined and each used to its best together in one of those mythical American melting pots, we might actually be a country worth praising and a democracy worth saving. Let Trump win again in 2020 and it will be like shooting an injured horse in the head. We won't be worth fixing until Trump and Trumpism is out of power.
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@Brookhawk
On point
Methinks Bret doth protest too much.
Donald Trump is nothing new. He personifies the actual endgame of Republican philosophy since Ronald Reagan. You may remember the demagogue who said, ""The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
Then there was Newt Gingrich and his "Contract with America", which was nothing more than Trump Lite, and full of almost as many Trump lies.
George Bush and his custody of the failed Iraq war, the failed response to Hurricane Katrina, and his failed economics which brought us the Great Recession.
And what about Mitch McConnell, Brett? Remember, his one goal as Senate Minority Leader was to make Obama a one term president.
Paul Ryan with his cooked books promising that the more taxes were lowered for the rich, the more the middle class would benefit and the more the deficit would decline.
How many Democrats want to end Social Security and Medicare? I can count dozens of Republicans.
Seriously, Bret. The list goes on and on. When did the Republican Party since Eisenhower actually accomplish anything? Trump may be the worst of the worst, but he is just the natural extension of all that the GOP stands for: failure.
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I have to point out that Nixon did sign the Clean Air Act into law along with other environmental initiatives.
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@MarcosDean Thank you for these great observations.
But please don't totally exonerate Democrats. Here is why:
Elizabeth Drew wrote a book called The Politics of Money in the 80's. She noted the increased campaign donations and the huge advantage the GOP had. Clearly the rich and corporations had had enough of the restraints of the New Deal, social responsibility and shared prosperity with workers.
The triangulating Clinton crowd took note. Under them, after campaign reform failed, they embraced the GOP model, but with retaining more of a social conscience. That said, they still made trade agreements disasterous for labor and you can find pictures of Bill smiling with Phil and Weny Gramm as he signed off on the barrier between commercial and investment banking. The casino was now open and he was as responsible as Bush for 2008.
Be careful abour being partisan as it has its limits. When it blinds you to the reality that the system is rotten and wealth inequality grows under both parties, partisanship, instead of creating solutions, just keeps us in place while our national wealth resides in fewer hands and democracy dies. We need to aim higher than just denying power to the other party.
We need to have a plan to reclaim our economy and our democracy from donors and reclaim the voice bequeathed to us by those who created this once noble experiment.
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@MarcosDean There is policy and there are the means to achieving it. I am a moderate Democrat. I am happy to debate policy with anyone about tax rates, regulations, healthcare, immigration policy, whatever... BUT what Trump has done has damage civility in this country, turning every issue into a zero-sum game. He has debased the office of the presidency and our ability as a country to try to find meaningful compromise.
By the way, President Nixon establishment of the EPA, and George W. Bush's work on AIDS are two very positive contributions by Republicans.
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So there are 'Conservatives with consciences' after all. You could have fooled me because that requires flip-flopping 'party over country' and accepting that re-election prospects will possibly suffer. Odd, that taking a stand to preserve the Constitution and safeguard the nation may cost you your job, when in fact it should save it. The lack of courage in standing up to Trump is a broader indication of where the Republican party has failed both itself and supporters. What exactly are GOP Congressionals afraid of? Being labelled with a nasty nickname from the most reviled US President in history? Being publicly humiliated at one of Trump's carefully screened and vetted rallies? Being eviscerated by a President who lacks the courage to read newspapers critical of him?
I'm beyond puzzled as to how can they be so terrified of a man whose future they hold in their hands.
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@Tom
I think the likely answer is: fear of loosing some revenue stream.
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They are afraid of not being re-elected by Trump’s base, and rightly so. I wish they would think more about their legacy than the next election.
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@Elizabeth Hillard I wish they would think more about the county than their next election.
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I was born and raised in a blue state, in a Congressional district that became red enough to elect Steve King, arguably the single worst person in DC. So I think I have a gut-level feeling about what's happening in this country.
Every "rally" that Trump holds, with his endless, mindless braying to his MAGA-hatted acolytes, tears the country further apart.
Meanwhile, the Democrats are typically split. Some think only a progressive can win. Others are sure we need a moderate. Still more think that all the present candidates are losers and we need someone new to ride in on a white horse. But who would that be? Some think past candidates or almost-candidates are the solution. Others think it must be someone new and untested.
The result? Speaking for myself, I'm scared.
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@bnyc Don't be scared. You know darned good and well that any democrat running would do a better job than Trump. You know that listening to ideas for making life better for as many of us as possible is a better approach to closing your eyes and throwing money at the ultra rich in the hope that they might drop some on us, which they won't. The dems will nominate someone and will form a platform, and the nominee and the platform will be better than the empty con job Trump will give us again. Don't be scared. Suck it up and vote blue.
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Never Trumpers deserve a lot of respect. It is not easy to walk away from your friends, your folkways, and your access to power. Democrats should welcome every last one of them with open arms.
But we should reserve our greatest scorn for those who have a conscience, but no mouth to express it, or those who take cover behind those few republicans who may do the right thing. They are moral failures, and deserve no role in the reconciliation to come.
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@Theo Baker
Agreed.
I don't under liberals' disdain for people like Stephens. His policies are idiotically conservative, and on foreign policy questions the guy is the poster boy for endless wars.
But at least his character is in tact. It's a distinction liberals seem unable to grasp.
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@Theo Baker
Bret and the other Never Trumpers need to do more than talk; they need to vote for the Democratic nominee for president. Ultimately, the choice is between two people who are not either equally good or bad. While I’m sure that they might be disposed to vote for a moderate Democrat, I don’t think that they can argue that having Warren or Sanders as president would be worse than four more years of Trump. I believe that it is their patriotic duty to make this “lesser of the evils” choice.
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@Laurence Bachmann ….His character may be in tact, but where is his resolve? Because of what his philosophy has wrought, intended or not, he and those like him carry the greatest responsibility for the mess we are in. You don't fight evil in small measure. There is no room for any equivocation. Instead of talking softly he should have been screaming from the roof tops long ago.
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The premise that Hillary lost is false. EVEN IF you exclude the distortions of Russian stealth propaganda and outright voter suppression THEN you still have to ask: were actual votes in the crucial unexpected victory states hacked? No one is seriously investigating that last possibility even as the depth of Russia's involvement in the 2016 "upset" becomes more and more apparent. Oceans of commentarial ink continue` to pour out of these pages and others. Why don't we just openly talk about the obvious falsity of the premise that Trump won? Everyone seems to be resigned to the proposition that the only way a Democrat will be allowed to win is with a landslide, even though the alternative is autocratic takeover of our democracy. The triumph of Trump's crude disregard for principle is one of the horrors of our time, but blithe acquiescence to the dubious premises that he "won" is a completely gratuitous tragedy. Trump understands that this is his Achilles’ heel. That is why he howls so at the slightest whisper about his illegitimacy. He probably can't believe we're letting him get away with the crime.
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@Phil If the political establishment admitted the 2016 election results were undermined, the GOP would have to admit to their role in undermining the election. Their role was blocking Obama from warning the public about Russian interference prior to the election; their refusal to secure the voting machines; their assistance in voter suppression, (there hasn’t been a single investigation into whether hackers destroyed thousands of democratic voters registrations in midwestern states); and their steadfast refusal to do anything to ensure future federal elections are secure. Democrats would have to admit their complete inability to unify behind a message of corruption that undermined the 2016 election; their failure to push back on the Clinton investigations and to state clearly that Comey had been compromised by the Mercers and their book of lies, Clinton Cash, which had been widely distributed to the NY office of the FBI, they failed while in power to stiop the corruption being carried out among the rank and file at the FBI under Comey’s watch.
So you see, it really isn’t in the interest of the established political class to admit the 2016 election was illegitimate, but to carry on as if we’re all too stupid to put all the pieces together and see that all any of them really care about is retaining their own power and positions.
The impeachment trial will in truth be trial for America. Can America as a society, allow Donald Trump to survive what he has done? The Republicans can spout their kool aid driven delusions about his innocence. They can do that all day and all night, shouting at the mountaintops.
But it is up to the American people to discern the truth from the public testimony of battle tested military officers and our most skilled, experienced and reputable foreign service officers. If that isn't enough to persuade them then we should be ashamed of ourselves as a nation. Trump is and was a national disgrace, as Colin Powell said in a private email before Trump's election. Nothing has changed. The public has to transcend Fox News and tell the Republican Senate the truth.
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And by the way, to all of those forever Trumpers who read Bret's piece and thought calling Trump a "nativist Libertine" was a complement (it does after all sound pretty swashbuckling and bold). It wasn't.
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Bret, perhaps you are correct, I hope you are correct. However, you should write about the moral character and base compromises of Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, and other high profile defenders of the president. Their moral standing, if there ever was one, is completely destroyed. Their proclaimed service to the country is a sham. Morality has an imperative, and these two plus a legion of other have failed that test.
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I look back at the Republican Party and I can find three presidents that I believe did more good for America than harm, just three. Those are Lincoln, T.R., and Eisenhower.
Look at Lincoln’s beliefs away from the Civil War. He was a Free Soil politician, who wanted real dignity for the working man. He was much closer to being a socialist than F.D.R. or J.F.K. Just read some of his speeches and writings from the early 1850s.
The real Republican Party tried to sideline T.R. and get him out of the limelight of being the Governor of New York by making him V.P. And then McKinley was assassinated. He worked to break up the trusts, he worked for conservation, he worked for protection for the working man against the bosses of the Gilded Age.
Eisenhower worked to put America on a solid footing following the two wars. He warned against the military industrial complex when he left office. While it took some persuasion, he ordered the paratroopers to escort the Little Rock nine at Central High.
And don’t turn to Reagan. Here’s a quote from Reagan, “Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost.” He said that not while he was president of the Screen Actors Guild, but Labor Day 1980 while running for president. And then, his first big action, destroying a union and collective bargaining with the air traffic controllers.
The rest, well, “The business of America is Business”, “I am not a crook”, WMDs and W, and now, Trump.
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@AS Pruyn
Lincoln spoke as a socialist in the 1850s because Republicans were the liberals of the 19th century. Democrats were the conservatives. Now, the roles are reversed; so that today's GOP cannot claim to be the heirs of the Lincoln legacy. They are, instead, heirs of the Confederacy. Just look at who waves and loves the confederate flag the most.
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@AS Pruyn
The intellectual T. Roosevelt is overlooked. You should have mentioned his autobiography section on Industrial Justice and his Kansas speech on New Nationalism. But I agree with you.
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@AS Pruyn
FDR and Medicare.
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Every week Bret Stephens desperately wants to convince readers that conservatives stand for all that is good and right. He wants readers to know that most Americans hold those values, and that the center and left are a naive anomaly out of step with America. Fine.
But then he insists that--while Trump is not only an embarrassing mess ruining our country, but is breaking the rule of law--congress should do nothing, and that Americans should support that. That is where Stephen's argument breaks down.
You can't claim to stand for something if you do nothing. You are judged by your actions. At the moment, conservatives are approving unqualified judges. They are holding legislation hostage in the Senate. They are gerrymandering and preventing voting. And their president is running roughshod over the Constitution and the best interests of America while conservatives justify each action at every step.
Actually do something that supports your purported values and I'll begin to respect conservatives again.
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@Tom Triumph Those who act as you describe in your third paragraph are not true conservatives and therein lies the problem.
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Mr. Stephens writes: "The decency of being scandalized is what being NeverTrump is centrally about.... It’s the opposite of the opportunism required to go along with the president because you might get something out of him."
Which faction of the Republican Party or of the Conservative movement, each with it special interest in taxes and loopholes, or in foreign-policy hobby-horses or scurrilous prejudices, has not descended to opportunism during the Trump administration? If, as I propose, the answer is "none", we need to look elsewhere than the editorial pages of the mainstream press to find "the decency of being scandalized".
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