Never-Trumpers stuck in Never Never Land

Never Never Admitting that Mainstream Republicanism Birthed MAGA

Apr 16, 2023

There are a number of disaffected Republicans and self-proclaimed “homeless” or ex-Republicans who are harsh critics of everything Trump and MAGA. They have been very good allies and coalition partners in the efforts to analyze, unmask, and criticize so much of this new political force’s autocratic agenda and its corruption, chaos, extremism, and moral depravity. With few exceptions,1 these Never-Trumpers2 are fighting MAGA in order to reclaim “their” party and return it to the core values and goals of the Grand Old Party.

This is a seriously ill-conceived effort. I’m not going to name names, but many are well known and not hard to identify. They are avowed “Country-Firsters;” they aim to be a “Bulwark” against the “new” Republican extremism; they support guardians and advocates of “Our Principles;” they are found throughout the punditsphere. They are good and well-meaning people that often provide poignant and important critiques of Republican extremists and extreme policies. But they largely suffer from a shared dream of a return to a magical Never-Trumper Never Never Land.

The seldom-spoken near-consensus of this devoted cadre of mainstream Republicanism, is that they seek the return to what they consider the “good old days” — and good old ways — of the Grand Old Party. Sound familiar? MAGAnalogy anyone?

Well, that’s no coincidence. The almost universal inability and/or unwillingness of Never-Trumpers to own the untoward consequences of decades of mainstream Reagan-Republican policies is not just extremely discouraging, it’s also downright scary. It threatens our capacity to maintain the broad coalition necessary to sustain and strengthen our democratic Republic.

Reagan Republicanism MAGAnified

Here’s a short list of the legacy and lineage of modern mainstream Republicanism:

The adoption of a cynical supply-side economic policy, labeled “Reaganomics,” that an older generation had once called, the horse-and-sparrow theory: "If you feed the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows."
- Trickle-down economics served to immiserate and generally make life sh*tty for our working/middle class and the Heartland of America for more than a generation;
The demonization of “Others”, including the effective criminalization of black boys and men, but also slandered poor black women as degenerate “Welfare Queens;”
The branding of liberals alternately as un-American, enemy socialists and fascists;3
The denigration of, and opposition to, “other,” unconventional gender identities and life choices, such as gay marriage and other LGBTQ+ rights, and even their rights to exist;
The unrelentingly-misogynist policies of denying women equal rights and protection under the law, including control over their own reproductive healthcare decisions;
The equally relentless fear-mongering and, again, demonization of non-white and non-Christian immigrants and the seeding of the “ Great Replacement Theory” of outright bigotry and cruelty in immigration policy and politics;
The fetishization of free-market capitalism and “Free Trade;”
The mantra that government IS the problem and the related mania around privatizing almost all public goods and governmental institutions and their staffing;
The un-compromising, ongoing resistance to voting rights and to their protection in state and federal law;
The full embrace of the turn of the NRA to the darkest of the Dark Sides and the amplification of the NRA’s efforts for the “militia-ization” of America, with all of the predictable dystopian terror and tragedy that has ensued;
The crushing of labor unions and the staunch resistance to any other serious efforts by workers and their communities to exert some control over their own lives and livelihoods;
*The resulting immiseration of the working class, and the indignities thereby visited upon them, their families and communities, which led directly to:
*Transforming millions of “Heartland” Americans into the disillusioned, disaffected, resentful, grievance-filled and vengeful, populist reaction that Trump activated and turned into the MAGA movement.

One can just go on and on listing all of the ways in which the so-called moderate, mainstream Republican Party birthed the national nightmare that MAGA has grown into.

Never Never Go There-ism

I have yet to see expressed from within the cohort of Never-Trump, disillusioned “Former Republicans,” any real awareness or understanding — and certainly nothing approaching an “imminent critique” — of how “conventional,” supposedly mainstream Republicanism actually created MAGA, enabled Trump, and split our country virtually in half.

[Perhaps readers could help me with this. Please, if you are aware of such Never-Trumper critiques, put a reference to them in the comments.]

And every time I have ever raised this issue (primarily in comments of various Never-Trumper’s SubStack posts), all I have ever gotten back is a defensive version of “both-siderism.” In fact, it’s almost always to argue that it’s “The Democrats” fault for supposedly “pivoting too far to the left,” and thereby provoking this extreme reaction.

Fine, we can talk about how it takes a village. But not until at least some significant subset of outraged disaffected Republicans own-up to harboring, what is, more than anything, the intention to return to their own fantasy Never Never Land version of making american great again.

Without thorough and honest assessments, by the Never-Trump crowd, of mainstream Republicanism’s direct role in Trump’s election and the emergence of the MAGA movement, how can we possibly expect to come to a viable pro-democratic outcome from all of this mess? Should our broad coalition of pro-democracy forces begin to get the upper-hand over the still-ascendant MAGAutocratic juggernaut, our coalition could well fracture around conflicts over the best pathways forward. That would be tragic.

Never Never Again Land

It’s time for Never Trumpers to also become Never-Never Never Landers. They owe it to themselves and to the rest of us to undertake a long-overdue, deep, and thorough critique of the mainstream GOP’s responsibility in seeding the MAGA threat to our democratic Republic.

An America returning to try once again to govern by anything resembling the 40+ years of Reagan-Republicanism would be worse than a sign of impending insanity. It would be a portent of certain tragedy.

Jon Thinks Out Loud

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