Why Did NeverTrump Fail?
The Movement Against Trump Never Really Materialized.
When former UN Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley said she was going to vote for Donald Trump last week, there was the requisite anger from anti-Trump conservatives and NeverTrumpers. While I think the anger and disappointment is understandable, that fact that Haley “bent the knee” was not what bothered me. What bothered me instead was this: why did the movement against Trump fail? Why has the movement against Trump become a little more than a speed bump in the former President’s road back to the White House?
I know most people will say that isn’t the right question. Instead, the focus should be on the politicians who like Haley decided to fall in line instead of fighting. Of course, there is a enough blame to go around when it comes to weak-kneed pols. But there was also a movement of people from rank and file Republicans to former politicians, to journalists and others that made up a small faction of people that could have posed a challenge to Trump and yet nothing happened. The MAGA march through conservative institutions went forward. Why did it happen? Did the movement do something wrong, or was it facing an unstoppable zeitgeist?
After a week of thinking about this, I think the answer is complicated. The NeverTrump movement chose to focus…
