“Oh God,” said Charlie Sykes, the Wisconsin radio host who became a vocal opponent of Mr. Trump’s during the Republican primaries. He was describing how he had arrived at peace with the election results; then, he said, he realized that he had not done so at all. “You kind of have to re-evaluate a lot of what you thought about the shape of reality,” he said. “It’s not just that you’re wrong; it’s that you fundamentally misread what happened.”…

Steve Deace, a conservative radio host in Iowa and prominent “Never Trump” figure, pointed to the tens of thousands of voters in Wisconsin and Michigan — states Mr. Trump barely won — who voted in other races but did not cast a vote for president, evidently because they could not bring themselves to vote for him.

“That’s not lightning in a bottle,” he said, making the point that Mr. Trump repelled so many voters that he almost lost. “That’s like you showed up for work and they said this is your last paycheck and you and your wife go to Las Vegas, put it all on black and it pays off.”

Mr. Sykes, the radio personality in Wisconsin, said he at least felt liberated. By not supporting Trump he does not feel compelled to defend him like so many of his conservative friends do.