Once ‘Unthinkable’: For Many ‘Never Trumpers’ Supporting Kamala Harris Turned Out to be ‘Remarkably Easy,’ Argues Charlie Sykes

Veteran conservative commentator Charlie Sykes explained on Monday night why the so-called “Never Trump” movement has so quickly embraced Vice President Kamala Harris – despite making clear she is “far from their first choice.”

“The choice of Donald Trump versus Kamala Harris is proving to be a remarkably easy one for the Never Trumpers who really meant never,” wrote Sykes in the Atlantic .

Sykes, who helped found the anti-Trump Bulwark and until recently hosted the publication’s popular podcast, began by explaining that “Never Trump” meant different things to different people in the movement.

“When the Never Trump movement emerged, in 2016, it wasn’t always clear what never meant. For some anti-Trump Republicans, it simply meant a short, shameful interval before falling back in line with their party,” he began, adding:

Others couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Hillary Clinton and sat out the election. But a notable remnant meant never as in “absolutely never.” As the threat of a second Donald Trump presidency grows more imminent, that remnant seems to have hardened its resolve to do whatever it needs to do to keep him out of office—including planning to support the presumptive Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris.

For some observers, the idea of conservative-leaning Americans voting for Harris is unthinkable.

Sykes went on to quote Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen who boasted on X recently that“For Never Trump or Trump reluctant conservatives the Harris nomination is a catastrophic development.”

Thiessen went on to claim that Harris is the “most left-wing Democratic presidential nominee in modern times” and that she is “a Democratic Socialist who is to the left of Bernie Sanders .”

Sykes scoffed at the claim, writing, “Thiessen’s assessment of Harris is wholly exaggerated. The caricature is useful for the group that I have called anti-anti-Trumpers: those who claim to be Trump skeptics but find ways to rationalize his behavior by attacking his critics or those he’s up against. But at the core of Thiessen’s argument is the perception that Harris poses an impossible dilemma for Never Trump conservatives.”

“On paper, Thiessen might once have had a point. Before Trump, the ideological divide between Harris and conservative Republicans might have been too large to bridge. But this is not a normal campaign. For most Never Trump Republicans, the 2024 election is not primarily about the divide between the left and the right; it’s about preserving our liberal constitutional order,” Sykes argued.

He went on to note that “Never Trumpers have been split between those who have remained conservative at the policy level and those who more or less transformed themselves into progressives.” Sykes concluded his essay:

We’ll find out soon whether Never Trumpers can truly align around Harris, or if policy-related infighting will get in the way. Some Republicans may sit out the race in a cloud of above-it-all righteous irrelevance. But at least the staunchest members of the movement seem to be cohering around support for Harris. For Never Trumpers who have been in the political wilderness for nearly a decade now, this is not the time to quibble over tax rates, the Green New Deal, fracking, or pronouns.

Harris is far from their first choice, but when your kitchen is in flames, you reach for whatever extinguisher is at hand. You can worry later about washing the dishes or whether you need a new garbage disposal. Put the fire out now.

Read the full article here .