Never Trumpers

I was shocked to hear a prominent Republican strategist urge Democrats on national television to pick a candidate with the best possible chance of defeating Trump in 2020 so that she and others could not only back him or her but sleep better at night knowing the country would be in safer hands.

She and like-minded Republicans represent the millions of never-Trumpers who would never compromise their morals or risk their good name backing him.  They Consider trump not their equal morally, spiritually, socially, or intellectually.  But most importantly,  they think of the president as a fraud or loser who is in it for himself. He has pissed off so many mainstream GOP officeholders with his wild antics and crazy policy stances that they can not stomach giving him the support he may need, like the radicals of their party for a second term. This level of infighting hasn't existed in the Republican Party since the election of 1912 when Teddy Roosevelt battled incumbent William Howard Taft tooth and nail for the party nomination.

As a result, top Republicans have decided to put their hope in the Democrats if it means dispelling a charlatan from office, getting the country back on track, and restoring the nation's standing as its best chance for 2024. They see Trump as having derailed what they built in foreign and domestic policy for generations or dismantling long-standing institutions in government and that four years of a competent Democrat can give the party a chance to regroup.

Though they despise him,  Never-Trumper's desire to dethrone the president in the next election will not be easy.  A record number of poor and rural whites voted for Trump in 2016, which pushed him over the top in states like Pennsylvania,  Wisconsin, and Michigan.  A chunk of white suburban female voters also supported the president despite his vicious attacks on female lawmakers and numerous allegations of sexual misconduct toward those of the opposite sex.  Moreover,  the president has gained traction among among black men, who feel pushed aside or marginalized by society and see the him as speaking their language.  If they and others back Trump the second time,  the opposition will not succeed. 

Their fight will not be with the Democrats in 2020 but with Trump and his backers.  They will risk the Supreme Court and their majority in the Senate to bring him down because they hate him just that much.