slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

By Howard Kurtz | Fox News

The conservative commentators who absolutely despise President Trump are in a box.

During the campaign, many loudly proclaimed that they could never v**e for Trump. But they said they didn't want Hillary Clinton to win either. So some opted for fringe candidates or third-party candidates or write-in candidates or told people to make up their own minds.

This was something of a charade. Either Trump or Clinton was going to be the next president. So by refusing to back Trump, they were increasing the chances that Hillary would win.

Now, with the midterms approaching, some of those on the right are taking the step that they refused to take in 2016: They are openly rooting for the Democrats.

This is how topsy-turvy our politics have become.

Here's the debate: Are these onetime Republicans so blinded by what I call Trump Trauma that they're running into the arms of the opposition party? Or is this a one-off, a temporary defection to restrain a president they think is damaging the country?

These people deserve to be taken seriously. But it doesn't invalidate their arguments to say that there are certain rewards in the media culture for conservatives who break with their side. Favorable publicity. MSNBC contracts. New respect from the left for their independence. (Flip the script for a moment and think about how the few Democratic pundits who broke with Barack Obama were denigrated or dismissed.)

Some big-name, anti-Trump conservatives, such as Bill Kristol, argue that it's better to stay and fight for a better GOP, which they define as veering away from the president's most controversial policies.

But for others, the Democrats that they've spent their lives battling suddenly look like they're worth dating, if not marrying.

The latest to jump ship is Max Boot, CNN analyst, Washington Post columnist and fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Boot loses me with one of his first sentences, calling the Republicans "a white-nationalist party with a conservative fringe."

Seriously? The entire party?

"Personally, I've thrown up my hands in despair at the debased state of the GOP. I don't want to be identified with the party of the child-snatchers."

He says "a v**e for egregious obstruction of justice, rampant conflicts of interest, the demonization of minorities, the debasement of political discourse, the alienation of America's allies, the end of free trade and the appeasement of dictators." And Boot says he'll be rooting for the Democrats to take over both houses in November because "like postwar Germany and Japan, the Republican Party must be destroyed before it can be rebuilt."

A World War II analogy? Conservative writer Ben Shapiro posted this rebuttal: "If you think today's Republican Party resembles Japanese f*****m or N**ism, Trump has driven you utterly mad."(Boot says he doesn’t view the party as N**is.)

Boot follows in the footsteps of syndicated columnist George Will, who recently declared:

"In today's GOP, which is the president's play-thing, he is the mainstream. So, to v**e against his party's cowering congressional caucuses is to affirm the nation’s honor while quarantining him. A Democratic-controlled Congress would be a basket of deplorables, but there would be enough Republicans to gum up the Senate's machinery, keeping the institution as peripheral as it has been under their control and asphyxiating mischief from a Democratic House."

So Will wants a Congress that stymies Trump by basically doing nothing. The former Fox News contributor now does his commentary for MSNBC.

Another major voice who has just left the Republican Party, to become an independent, is Steve Schmidt. I got to know him when he ran John McCain's 2008 campaign, and he is a man of fiery opinions. He regularly denounces Trump in moral, almost apocalyptic terms as an MSNBC commentator.

The Washington Post’s Dan Balz recently interviewed Schmidt:

"In a two-party system, he sees the Democrats as the lone hope to prevent an ultimate unraveling of democratic norms. 'The Democratic Party is called to be the sentinel of American democracy and liberty,' he said. 'It is beyond bone-chilling to consider what happens if that party fails in that task, in that duty.'"

There are other on-air conservatives who are fierce Trump critics. MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, the former GOP congressman, recently announced he had left the party. And Nicolle Wallace, the former Bush White House staffer and McCain campaign aide, constantly bashes the president on her MSNBC show. But neither has urged viewers to v**e Democratic.

The problem for those who have is that they have spent their careers warning that the Democrats are the party of big government, reckless spending, over-regulation, social engineering, identity politics and weak foreign policy. To suddenly root for the Dems means these pundits are effectively embracing that which they have always denounced.

They would argue that it is the Republicans who have abandoned them on core issues, from immigration to free trade to Russia, in service of the Trump world view. So they are using a lesser-of-two-evils approach in switching their support to the other party.

Even as these pundits argue that Trump-ism is ruining the GOP, the president is enjoying record-high support among Republicans. Bottom line: They aren't bringing many v**ers along with them.

bahmer

The problem that the democrats and the never Trumper republicans have is the populace. Especially in those states that T***p w*n in. The further they stray from Trump policies the more the chance of them not being elected are. The people have spoken and unless Trump makes a radical turn somewhere and sends us all over the cliff he will only grow in popularity and that is hard to fight. Even the democrats in the states that T***p w*n are trying to sound more like Trump and more in favor of Trump in hopes of securing their own nomination and e******n. In other words if you want to be reelected the voice of reason must be the rule and not the voice of fanatic ultra left liberal. It will be interesting to see how the mid-terms turn out and for who.

Lonewolf

We can't v**e our way out of this

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

To your last line...indeed, it will.

fullspinzoo

Smartest thing you've said in months. You can't "Maxine waters" your way out of it either.

Lonewolf

you blocked me when I exposed you as a paid troll and now you want to comment on my posts at best your a ah




quote=fullspinzoo]Smartest thing you've said in months. You can't "Maxine waters" your way out of it either.[/quote]
\\\\

fullspinzoo

\\\\[/quote]

I wish I was getting paid to do this, you "not too bright" individual. Exposed me? What a crock of s**t. If you have connections on how I can get paid to do this, please inform me. But on second thought, you're not that bright.

bahmer

I would say that lonewolf would be the troll although not the brightest of trolls.

Peewee Loc: San Antonio, TX

Kurtz is a straight shooter, he calls balls and strikes honestly. I can tell because sometimes he thrills me and sometimes irritates me.
Good post, this one didn't make my head hurt. Kurtz isn't a Lanny Davis or Bill Crystal.

fullspinzoo

\\\\[/quote]

Hey spelling wiz ~ How did you expose me as a paid troll? Like I exposed you as someone who lied when they said they made it through the 3rd grade? Still waiting for that first "troll check".