On the media side of this equation, obviously the death of the Weekly Standard magazine, which had been a bastion of principled anti-Trumpism, is a huge blow to the cause of keeping the candle of true conservatism burning during this most hellacious of storms. When Trump had the audacity to go out of his way, just before Christmas, to stomp on their grave, and received almost no blowback from elected Republicans, it really did feel like the entire movement had just been effectively buried.

While the Weekly Standard’s death was official, 2018 also saw several key “Never Trump” voices in the conservative media significantly soften their criticism of the president. While there are still some notable exceptions, several have seemingly finally given into to the enormous commercial pressures of trying to appeal to an audience that just doesn’t want to be made to feel bad about their support of Trump.

Even two of three possible reasonable escape hatches, through which I theorized organized conservatism could survive Trump, have been pretty much blocked off in 2018.