Jonathan Chait: “‘Never Trump’ was a label embraced by a handful of Republicans who deemed Donald Trump disqualified for office by some combination of his ignorance, his mendacity, his bigotry, and/or his authoritarianism. Almost no one still affiliated with the party or the conservative movement willingly uses the label any more. The label has largely been repurposed by Trump himself as an epithet against any Republican who dares utter criticism of him, however mild. “Never Trump” now serves essentially the same role in right-wing discourse as ‘Trotskyite’ did in Stalin’s Russia — an all-purpose accusation of secret disloyalties, which must be fervently disavowed.”
“In place of Never Trumpism, the Biden-era Republican party offers up figures like Chris Christie. Christie has put himself forward as the face of Republican resistance to Trump. But it is a form of ‘resistance’ so tepid as to become almost indistinguishable from support.”
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