Understand this: People like Barr, Christie, Haley, and Pence will offer their criticisms when there is a whiff of opportunity—either in the form of speaking fees, book sales, or the ability to test future political prospects.

Then they start measuring the cost-benefit of their calculated risk. Do they get applauded as a strong, principled leader who could be the future of the party? Or are they ostracized by the influencers at Fox News, their donors, targeted voters, and future employers?

On paper, there’s an entire coalition of Republican officials who should be, if you take them at their words, “Never Again Trump.” But only a few of them—Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and the former Trump aides who publicly campaigned against him in 2020—seem willing to make the necessary sacrifice of giving up some of their partisan identity to do so.

For most of the operators, the mental hurdle of putting country over party is, as Barr put it, “inconceivable.” If being a good Republican means voting for a twice-impeached, insurrection-inciting, Putin-praising, 2020 loser . . . then so bet it.