Why Never Trump ‘Doesn’t Command Armies Of Voters’
In their new book, 'Never Trump: The Revolt of the Conservative Elites,' authors Robert Saldin and Steven Teles provide a sympathetic history of the Never Trump movement—but still fail to conclude it will have ongoing political relevance.
By Nathanael Blake
May 15, 2020
Defeated conservatives like to believe they are beautiful losers. The remnants of the Never Trump movement are convinced they were right in standing (as they see it) for principles, character, and competence against a Republican nominee lacking all three. They may be politically exiled and impotent, but they are preserving an unsullied conservatism.
A new book from Oxford University Press, Never Trump: The Revolt of the Conservative Elites, provides an extensive account of the leaders of this movement. The authors, Robert Saldin and Steven Teles, are sympathetic to their subjects, whom they quote at length, and this book does not pretend to be an unbiased history.
This perspective may rankle some readers, but this book’s thorough, if one-sided, history is still valuable. The account of the farcical efforts to recruit an anti-Trump conservative for an independent presidential run is worth the price of admission by itself.
Although GOP primary voters who preferred other candidates mostly fell in line behind Trump and against Hillary Clinton once Trump clinched the nomination, many prominent conservatives persisted in opposing Trump and remain important in the media or elsewhere, despite their political insignificance. As the president seeks reelection, the remaining Never Trump voices will not have many votes, but, through overrepresentation in media and elite institutions, they will have megaphones.
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https://thefederalist.com/2020/05/15/why-never-trump-doesnt-command-armies-of-voters/
