I follow a lot of “never-Trump” Republicans — people like Bill Kristol, Mona Charen, Rick Wilson, Adam Kinzinger and Tom Nichols — and I subscribe to conservative publications such as The Bulwark, because I think it’s important for me to break out of a liberal/left bubble and get other perspectives.
I also find that former Republicans bring a lot of insight on what’s going on within their party, and the Trump movement. They were inside the belly of the beast, so to speak, and they saw what was happening over the past 20 years to the Republican Party as it drifted away from small-d democratic values toward authoritarianism. (In a few cases, their work helped bring about America’s transition away from three shared branches of government to an all-powerful president. Don’t forget it and don’t let them forget it.)
Still — if I were a Democratic Party candidate, I would be suspicious of any advice offered by never-Trumpers, especially on what makes a candidate “electable.”
Never-Trump Republicans, it should be noted, didn’t do a fantastic job running their own party, which is why the U.S. and the world are in the fix we’re currently in.
Put another way, would you ask the Pittsburgh Pirates for advice on how to get to the World Series?
So when never-Trump Republicans say “Abdul El-Sayed isn’t electable in Michigan” or “Zohran Mamdani is going too far in New York,” I think, “yes, but you thought Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Mitt Romney were viable candidates for the presidency.”
Maybe hit the showers and sit this one out, team.