November 15, 2018
Thanks, NeverTrumpers. Are You Happy Now?

NeverTrump Republicans have been rabidly obsessed since 2015 to prevent Donald Trump’s nomination, election, and having failed, to join the left in nonstop criticism and condemnation of President Trump. They may be succeeding, but to what end? As they look around at the current political landscape, are they truly happy with the direction of the country? Or is that irrelevant, as long as they can strut around on their high horse, feeling smug, telling each other “I told you so”?

The NeverTrump movement began shortly after Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency. So-called “principled Republicans” were incensed that a loud-mouth from Queens, a TV reality star, a host of beauty pageants, someone never before elected to public office, should challenge the Republican establishment orthodoxy.

His tweets and straight talk were unacceptable. Calling out the media and his political opponents ran against the grain of how they thought Republicans should handle themselves in a presidential campaign. Trump did not follow the proper and acceptable savoir faire of John McCain or Mitt Romney, two prominent NeverTrumpers. The fact that both lost their elections to an easily defeatable far-left candidate who damaged the country badly during his eight-year reign of “fundamentally transforming America” seems to be lost on Trump’s GOP critics.

The NeverTrump names are familiar. Aside from the two noted above, there are others, all one-time Republicans, although their conservative beliefs have been tossed out the window over political expediency or ego. George Will, Max Boot, Steve Schmidt, Bret Stephens, Jennifer Rubin, and anyone with the last name of Bush. There are many in Congress too – Paul Ryan, Jeff Flake, Ben Sasse, Bob Corker, and others.

Some of them left the party, with great fanfare, securing regular bookings on CNN and MSNBC to trash Trump and his deplorable supporters. They were puzzled why every Republican didn’t leave the party. They hoped for electoral success for the Democrats, the same political party they once criticized. After the midterm elections, they should be ecstatic.

By historical standards, Trump and the Republicans did well in the 2018 midterms. The number of House seats lost was comparable to Ronald Reagan in his first midterm election, and far less than Bill Clinton or Barack Obama lost in their first midterms. Republicans actually gained Senate seats, or so it seemed on election night.

Slowly but steadily the election is being overturned. Republican victories on election night are either being contested or have already been overturned, a week later morphing into Democrat victories. Funny that. Were any election night Democrat victories overturned a week later due to the miracle of uncounted or provisional ballots? Election thievery, similar to deep state justice, seems to go in only one direction.

The Senate majority, assuming it holds, is a slim one, with no certainty of holding the Republican coalition together given the whims of NeverTrumpers Murkowski, Collins, and a resurrected John McCain in the form of Senator Mitt Romney. Will the next Supreme Court nominee be easily confirmed or will one of them channel their inner McCain, strolling into the Senate chamber with his or her thumb pointed downward?

As Mrs. Clinton said after her electoral surprise two years ago, “What Happened?” There are many answers, but much lies at the feet of NeverTrumpers, particularly those in Congress. How many Senators and Representatives believed the Russian collusion hoax, invented by Obama and dutifully reported by the media to the point where they were expecting that Trump would either resign or be impeached before he served one year in office? How many Republicans chose to retire at the end of this Congress, choosing to not go down with what they perceived as a sinking Trump ship, rather than keep their safe incumbent seats, and therefore the House majority?

Trump’s signature issues on the campaign trail were immigration and healthcare. He promised to “Build the wall” and “Repeal Obamacare”. Yet he could do neither alone. Both required the assistance of Congress, which was lacking despite these issues being the primary reason Congress was in Republican hands.

Congressional leaders balked at funding a border wall, instead choosing to fund Planned Parenthood. The “skinny repeal” of Obamacare crashed and burned when NeverTrump Senator No-Name figuratively gave President Trump the middle finger, but almost literally gave the Senate vote counter a thumbs down, killing the repeal.

Was Congressional resistance over policy? Perhaps a little was but most was simply a NeverTrump poke in the eye to the president and his agenda. Not only legislatively did NeverTrumpers hurt their party, but also in giving a reason for the Trump base to not turn out as they did in 2016. The Washington Post looked at turnout by party for the past few elections.

In the 2014 midterms, 4 million more Republicans voted than Democrats. In 2018 it was the opposite, as the chart below demonstrates. In addition, in 2018, Democrats turned out 79 percent of their 2016 presidential election voters, compared to only 75 percent for Republicans. Turnout wins elections, but Trump voters may not have turned out to vote for those shouting “NeverTrump!” Despite Trump’s involvement in the midterm campaigns, he wasn’t on the ballot, but members of Congress were.

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Source: Washington Post

In my local Congressional dis­­­trict, Rep Mike Coffman was a NeverTrump Republican; his main campaign message was how he would “stand up to President Trump”. How did the midterms turn out for him? Perhaps GOP voters stood up to Mike and sat the election out, since both he and his Democrat opponent were NeverTrump.

In 2016, Coffman won 192 thousand votes, earning reelection compared to 160 thousand votes for his Democrat opponent. In 2018, he only received 146 thousand votes while his Democrat opponent won 184 thousand votes. The Democrat won this year, but with fewer votes than C­­­­offman received 2 years ago. Instead, Coffman only garnered only 76 percent of the votes he received just 2 years ago. How much was due to his NeverTrump stance?

Nationwide, Republicans stayed home last week. As this chart from the Washington Post demonstrates, 13 states had Democrat vote counts surpassing 2016. Republicans didn’t come close to their 2016 vote counts in any state.



Read more: https://www.americanthinker.co...w.html#ixzz5Wwi8Nmqd

quote:

Nationwide, Republicans stayed home last week. As this chart from the Washington Post demonstrates, 13 states had Democrat vote counts surpassing 2016. Republicans didn’t come close to their 2016 vote counts in any state.

I am truly bewildered. I would have thought that the Kavanaugh fiasco alone would have brought out every rational human being to oppose the Democrats.

republicans are our own worst enemy

democrats are the enemy of the country

First, I voted. You can understand why some would not if the republican is not going to do what you put them there for in the first place.

If you're a never Trump rep, you're no different than a never Trump dem.

Trump was never truly a republican to the republicans. He was essentially an independent they had to accept if they wanted to beat the Hildabeast. If they had had a “real” republican capable of doing it, they’d never have accepted Trump as the party lead. If they were smart, they would have backed him 100%, but instead hindered him and disenfranchised a lot of middle of the road voters in the process. With the loss of the house, they are paying the price, and Trump looks bad for not delivering on his campaign promises.

Trump isn’t a Republican, he is a Trumpian. I believe either the Republican Party will pull their head out and join him, or end up in the dustbin of history.

Any chance the a good portion of the Dem votes are not real - fraudulent?

quote:

...you don't work with a captain because you like the way he parts his hair. You work with him because he's got the job or you're no good...

- from the movie The Caine Mutiny.

A quote the Republican party should understand.

I knew it!