For one thing, advocates of the burn-it-all-down strategy keep saying Trump poses a “unique threat” to democracy, but then they turn around and want to defeat even a Mitt Romney-clone. If Trump is a unique danger, why go after a normie businessman running for governor? And—more importantly—if we defeat all the normal Republican candidates for failing this litmus test, we’re left with a self-fulfilling prophecy where a GOP made up of nothing but Matt Gaetzes and Marjorie Taylor-Greenes isn’t worth saving.

The automatic assumption seems to be that Youngkin is a stand-in for Trump, yet there seems to be zero concern that electing McAuliffe means perpetuating progressive policies and undermining values that conservatives—even Never Trump conservatives—once held dear.

It’s one thing for McAuliffe or Obama to make this argument; quite another for conservatives to do so in an election that’s panicking Democrats as it’s become more of a referendum about the current president’s struggles rather than the last one’s..

But while many prominentNever Trump conservatives seem unfazed by the left’s radical agenda, rank-and-file Never Trumpers are not.