NeverTrump movement
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The NeverTrump movement was a collective of mostly conservative voters and activists who vowed not to cast a vote for Donald Trump under any circumstances. The movement was often referred to as the #NeverTrump movement in recognition of its beginnings as a Twitter hashtag.[1] The movement's opposition to Trump was not due to uniform interests. Although some followers disapproved of Trump's policies, others disapproved of his rhetoric. According to #NeverTrump PAC's website, the organizing principle of the movement was "to deny Donald Trump the Republican nomination, to ensure that Trump never represents the voices of American conservatives, and that he never becomes President of the United States of America."[2]
In an opinion piece for RedState, Leon Wolf clarified the role of the movement after Trump became the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party. Wolf wrote, "For anyone who wants to know what’s next for the #NeverTrump movement, the answer is that we don’t vote for Trump. Each person will deal with that differently – some will vote for third party or not vote. Some will vote for Hillary. #NeverTrump means different things to different people except for one thing – it means we will not vote for Trump, not ever."[3]
Organizations
Listed below are some of the notable organizations that expressed support for the NeverTrump movement.
#NeverTrump PAC
#NeverTrump PAC is an independent expenditure-only committee formed in March 2016 that maintains the signature-gathering website nevertrump.com. The site describes itself: "We, the undersigned, will never vote for Donald Trump. We stand united to defend basic, common decency and Constitutional principles. And we will do our part to deny Donald Trump the Republican nomination and ensure that he never becomes Commander-in-Chief. Never means never."[4]
On May 3, 2016, after Trump won the Indiana primary and became the presumptive Republican nominee, the super PAC issued a statement that read, in part, "A strong Never Trump movement is critical to protecting Republican incumbents and down-ballot candidates, by distinguishing their values and principles from that of Trump, and protecting them from a wave election. Never does not mean maybe. Six out of ten Republican primary voters voted fro someone other than Trump, and we will continue to identify ways to give them voice."[5]
NeverTrump.org
A webpage representing the NeverTrump sentiment, called NeverTrump.org, began with a space to gather online signatures of those pledging to never vote for Donald Trump. The organization describes itself: "We are Republicans. We are Democrats. We are Independents. We are joining in unison to say #NeverTrump."[6]
Our Principles PAC
- See also: Our Principles PAC
Our Principles PAC was founded by Katie Packer, a former deputy campaign manager for Mitt Romney in 2012. The super PAC operates TrumpQuestions.com, a site that criticizes Trump's policies on health care, immigration, taxes, abortion and his stance on the Supreme Court. The site uses excerpts from previous communications made by Trump and compares them with his campaign trail statements. The site also hosts a number of video ads opposing Trump.[7]
National Review
- See also: National Review
In January 2016, National Review published a series of opinion pieces against Trump. The pieces werecompiled as "Conservatives against Trump."[8] In the introductory opinion piece, the editors wrote, "Some conservatives have made it their business to make excuses for Trump and duly get pats on the head from him. Count us out. Donald Trump is a menace to American conservatism who would take the work of generations and trample it underfoot in behalf of a populism as heedless and crude as the Donald himself."[9]
RedState
Conservative news site RedState published a series of opinion pieces after the Indiana primary that expressed the site's NeverTrump perspective. In an open letter to RNC chair Reince Priebus, Jay Caruso wrote, "The man is an antithesis to all things Republican and conservative. I will not unify behind a man that goes against so much of what I believe in, just because he is the presumptive GOP nominee."[10] The site also published a piece specifically on the NeverTrump movement which said, "#NeverTrump is a fact. Those who subscribe to the idea are saying that Trump is a dangerous, unpredictable man whose aspirations don’t align with conservatism. Whose morals are questionable at best. Whose relationship with the truth is not just tenuous, it’s borderline hostile."[11]
Individuals
- For individual legislators who have opposed Trump, see: Republicans opposing Donald Trump
Listed below are some of the notable individuals who have expressed their support for the NeverTrump movement.
Mitt Romney
- See also: Mitt Romney
The 2012 Republican nominee for president harshly criticized Trump in a speech on March 3, 2016. In the speech, Romney summarized his opposition to Trump: "His domestic policies would lead to recession. His foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president and his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill." Romney also suggested that he would take a NeverTrump approach to voting: "Given the current delegate selection process, that means that I’d vote for Marco Rubio in Florida and for John Kasich in Ohio and for Ted Cruz or whichever one of the other two contenders has the best chance of beating Mr. Trump in a given state."[12]
George Will
Conservative columnist for The Washington Post George Will suggested that a Trump nomination should be opposed by the Republican Party at large. In an April 29, 2016, opinion piece, Will wrote, "Were he to be nominated, conservatives would have two tasks. One would be to help him lose 50 states — condign punishment for his comprehensive disdain for conservative essentials, including the manners and grace that should lubricate the nation’s civic life. Second, conservatives can try to save from the anti-Trump undertow as many senators, representatives, governors and state legislators as possible."[13]
Paul Singer
- See also: Paul Singer
Paul Singer, the hedgefund billionaire mega-donor to Republican candidates, supported Marco Rubio's campaign until Rubio dropped out of the race.[14] Singer then went on to donate to the NeverTrump super PAC Our Principles PAC. According to Politico, Singer was "fully dedicated to making sure the group has all the funds it needs to inundate the airwaves in Florida and other states viewed as not entirely friendly to Trump, a group that includes Illinois, Missouri, Arizona, Wisconsin and other states in the Northeast and West."[15]
Jonah Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg of National Review embraced the NeverTrump movement, most clearly spelling his support in an article for The Los Angeles Times. He wrote, "But once it became clear that he was favored to win the nomination outright, Republicans should have realized that a third-party run was more like a best-case scenario. Better the GOP do battle with a know-nothing bigot (and lose the presidency) than become the party of know-nothing bigots (and still lose the presidency). That's why I embrace the Twitter hashtag #NeverTrump."[1]
Phil Klein
Phil Klein, managing editor of The Washington Examiner tweeted that he had de-registered from the Republican Party after Trump became the presumptive nominee: "I have officially de-registered as a Republican."[16] Klein further commented to Fox News, "The Republican Party has chosen to embrace Donald Trump. That's their prerogative, but this is where I get off the boat. ... I just don't think that Trump meets the basic fitness level to be president. I don't appreciate his rhetoric. I think that he's exploited and inflamed bigotry and sexism. That's not the type of conservative message I abide by."[17]
Erick Erickson
Erick Erickson, a prominent conservative commentator and founder of RedState, pledged to never vote for Trump in February 2016. Writing on The Resurgent, Erickson commented, "I will not vote for Donald Trump for President of the United States even if he is the Republican nominee. He is an authoritarian blending nationalist and tribal impulses, which historically has never worked out well for the nation that goes in that direction or the people in that nation."[18]
Lachlan Markay
Lachlan Markay, a writer for the Washington Free Beacon and former investigative reporter for the Heritage Foundation tweeted a picture of himself burning his voter registration card on May 3, 2016. He further explained in two other tweets, "Never Trump. Still." and "For those asking, yes, I have officially changed my party affiliation."[19][20][21]
Kendal Unruh
On June 17, 2016, several reports emerged in different media outlets identifying Kendal Unruh as the "leader" of an effort to prevent Donald Trump from winning the nomination at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in July 2016. Unruh was a member of the RNC Rules Committee. At the center of the effort was a rules amendment supported by Unruh that would allow a delegate to vote at the convention for a candidate other than the one to whom he or she was allocated, if doing so went against that delegate's conscience.[22] Unruh held a conference call on June 16, 2016, with 30 delegates from 15 states to discuss the proposal; at that time, the movement had established regional coordinators in Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Washington, and a few other states. Unruh described the effort to The Washington Post, saying it was "literally is an 'Anybody but Trump' movement."[23]
Rick Wilson
Media consultant Rick Wilson was seen as one of the originators of the movement. Wilson was critical of Trump during his appearances on national television and vowed to never support Trump under any circumstances. In an opinion piece for the Independent Journal Review, Wilson wrote, "I will never vote for Donald Trump, not even if he’s the Republican nominee. I will never vote for Donald Trump, not even if Ronald Reagan and William F. Buckley rise from the grave and beg me to support him."[24]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms NeverTrump'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Los Angeles Times, " Why conservatives need to get behind #NeverTrump," March 1, 2016
- ↑ NeverTrump, "About," accessed May 5, 2016
- ↑ RedState, "#NeverTrump Means Never Trump. Never Ever.," May 3, 2016
- ↑ NeverTrump.com, "Home," accessed May 5, 2016
- ↑ Mediaite, "#NeverTrump Conservatives Make It Clear After Indiana: This Changes Nothing," May 3, 2016
- ↑ NeverTrump, "About," accessed May 5, 2016
- ↑ Trump Questions, "Home," accessed January 29, 2016
- ↑ National Review, "Conservatives against Trump," January 21, 2016
- ↑ National Review, "Against Trump," January 21, 2016
- ↑ RedState, "An Open Letter To Reince Priebus On Unity," May 4, 2016
- ↑ RedState, "The Mantra of #NeverTrump Shall Be This," May 4, 2016
- ↑ The New York Times, "Transcript of Mitt Romney’s Speech on Donald Trump," March 3, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "If Trump is nominated, the GOP must keep him out of the White House," April 29, 2016
- ↑ Business Insider, "Billionaire mega-donor Paul Singer just threw his support to Marco Rubio," October 30, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Wall Street readies big Trump assault," March 2, 2016
- ↑ Twitter, "Phil Klein Tweet," May 4, 2016
- ↑ Fox News, "Some 'Never Trump' Republicans choosing to leave the party," May 4, 2016
- ↑ The Resurgent, "The Importance of Disclosing This Immediately #NeverTrump," February 27, 2016
- ↑ Twitter, "Lachlan Markay tweet," May 3, 2016
- ↑ Twitter, "Lachlan Markay tweet," May 3, 2016
- ↑ Twitter, "Lachlan Markay tweet," May 4, 2016
- ↑ NBC News, "Campaign to Dump Trump at Republican Convention Emerges," June 17, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Dozens of GOP delegates launch new push to halt Donald Trump," June 17, 2016
- ↑ Independent Journal Review, "With God As My Witness, I Will Never Vote For Donald Trump," accessed August 9, 2016
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