This inevitably brings us to Donald Trump and the Trump-era Republican Party. In recent years, many decent conservatives who could not abide Trump’s illiberal policies and vulgarian rhetoric, made common cause with Democrats (and Democratic-adjacent media outlets). Theoretically, many opposed the elevation of a New York pro-choice politician because of their pro-life worldview, not in spite of it.
That’s a crisis of Never Trumpism.
In these tribalistic times, however, it’s nearly impossible to sustain an à la carte ideology. There are immense pressures on members of both parties to conform to their side’s entire slate of policy preferences. Not doing so requires constantly reasserting your independence…
“On social issues, the GOP and the Democratic Party remain miles apart, even if Trump acts like Hugh Hefner,” French told me. But by embracing Trump, pro-lifers also allowed their noble cause to be tainted by all the bad Trumpian baggage. This allowed their political opponents to plausibly conflate authoritarian Trumpism with the right to life, and thus causing some former allies to head for the hills.
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