So, the conventional wisdom goes, the pressure is now on #NeverTrump.
The logic goes something like this:
now that Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee, #NeverTrump supporters will stab Trump in the back if they don’t support him. We must all unify behind the authoritarian con man who believes in precisely zero conservative principles; if we don’t, we’ve betrayed the country.
There’s enough irony there to overwhelm you.
There is a certain irony to the fact that triumphant Trump supporters who have been touting the strength of their candidate for months – who have, in fact, suggested that those who don’t support Trump are unnecessary vestiges of an outdated philosophy – are now preemptively declaring their candidate a loser, and blaming others in the process. . .
There’s also irony to the notion that Trump can openly proclaim that if he doesn’t win the nomination, his voters will stay home – yet if his opponents say the same, they’re the traitors. . .
But let’s put the irony aside, and examine whether there’s a continuing argument for #NeverTrump. . .
In every election cycle, the establishment insists that we unify behind a candidate. . . They blackmail conservatives into supporting candidates who undermine the message and morality of our mission. Now Trump does the same. . .
Conservatism morphing into Trumpism will become the crypto-racist, pseudo-strong, quasi-tyrannical, toxic brew leftists have always accused it of being. And we will have been complicit in that if we vote for him.
Looking beyond this election cycle – looking beyond Donald Trump – is the centralizing principle behind #NeverTrump. . .
If Trump wins, he guts the only movement we have. If Hillary wins, there may be a future for our movement yet. . .
I understand why other conservatives will make the decision to back Trump to stop Hillary Clinton: they are willing to gamble that he won’t be as bad as she will. . .
They . . . are willing to sacrifice the possibility of a better conservatism tomorrow for the shot at beating Hillary today. Their time horizon is shorter than mine. . . Conservatives who back Trump to defeat Hillary are not merely willing to toss conservatism into the trunk – they’re willing to allow Trump to take it out to a hole in a cornfield, Casino-style, beat it savagely, and bury it alive. At least we won’t get Hillary, they say as they grab a shovel.
There will be long-lasting damage to conservatism from Trump grabbing the banner of the Republican Party – unless conservatives make clear now that they will not honor Trump’s hostile takeover of their philosophy.
That’s the point of #NeverTrump. . . We won’t be party to it.
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I’m coming around to the conclusion that I may have to become #NeverTrump. I had consistently said, like others, that as bad as he might be, he’d be better than Hillary. That may still be true!
But I hadn’t factored in the devastating damage to the brand of conservatism that having Trump as its poster child would do. It would end the conservative movement for a generation. Perhaps forever!
I’m coming to the realization that I simply can’t be a part of that reality!
Pesky Truth 
“They blackmail conservatives into supporting candidates who undermine the message and morality of our mission. Now Trump does the same.”
Exactly. Well said, Mr. Shapiro!
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Or, “The Godfather”!!
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That is a quandry Curtis. Be sure to read the Trumpology post publishing tomorrow morning, it gives all of us a little better insight into who Trump really is. It is a kind of round-robin discussion with authors who’ve written books on him – all of whom know The Donald better than most – he is apparently just exactly who we thought he was.
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I shudder whenever people refer to T-Rump as “The Donald.”
It is eerily reminiscent of “The One.”
Just saying.
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