Why am I ‘Never Trump’ and ‘Never GOP’? Because they aren’t conservative!
In the summer of 2016, when the Republican National Committee hijacked the Republican Convention to ensure Trump’s nomination, I wrote an article declaring that as a conservative, I had moved from being “Never Trump” to also being “Never GOP.”
The reason I decided to make this move was twofold.
First, steamrolling conservatives who were opposed to Trump’s nomination solidified the GOP’s standing as an enemy to conservative values. Second, selecting Trump as the Republican Party’s standard bearer meant the destruction of the conservative movement was assured.
This wasn’t a surprise. The post-Ronald Reagan GOP has been working on getting rid of conservatives ever since The Gipper turned over the reins to George H.W. Bush and rode off into the California sunset. Their work culminated in 2012 when Republicans changed the rules to ensure conservatives could be weeded out of presidential primaries, and in 2014 when party control was handed over to Mitch McConnell to wage an all-out war against the TEA Party and other conservative groups.
Since the 2016 election, Trump and the GOP have confirmed my decision by proving there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between them and the Democrats. We’ve witnessed fundraising groups like the Senate Conservatives Fund sell out to Trump, and we’ve been betrayed by so-called conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus as they sold out first to Trump and then the Republican establishment.
Sadly, the Gospel of Jesus Christ has also been severely damaged by Trump as the Fellowship of the Pharisees have traded morality and Christian values for cheap grace and a seat at Herod’s table. Jerry Falwell, Jr., Robert Jeffress, Franklin Graham, and other members of the Fellowship have not only given Trump a “mulligan” for his immorality and lack of character, but they have also attacked Christians for not supporting him.
The completion of Trump’s trifecta of destruction is, of course, the so-called conservative media. Once the defenders of conservative values, media outlets like BlazeTV have become pro-Trump echo chambers.
There are those who continue searching for ways to rationalize their #NotHillary vote in 2016, despite every fear expressed about Trump being realized. Using the same double-speak and lying used by Trump himself, these cult-like followers of the NY liberal will heap unconditional praise on him while scolding — or worse — the nonbelievers.
Trump’s Republican party doesn’t represent conservative values, which is why I am “Never GOP.” And while some continue to file me away as an “Orange Man Bad” conservative for refusing to bow at Trump’s altar, I’m also “Never Trump.”
I’m a Constitutional conservative and a Christian, and that’s never going to change.
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.
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