No, #NeverTrump Isn’t Getting On The #TrumpTrain-
By Ben Shapiro
Via Daily WireWith Donald Trump moving steadily toward the Republican nomination, conservatives have now been put to the test: is #NeverTrump serious?
The conventional wisdom says no. Most commentators tut-tut exit polls showing that a large minority of Republicans say they won’t vote Trump under any circumstances; once they’re faced with the specter of Hillary, the logic goes, they’ll fall in line behind the demagogic real estate strong man.
Trump himself is already pushing this line. Cleverly utilizing the GOP loyalty pledge demanded of him early in the campaign – a loyalty pledge I opposed at the time – Trump now says that if Republicans don’t line up behind him, they’ll be handing the nomination to Hillary. “Let me tell you,” said the Cicero-like orator, “a third party guarantees – not 90 percent or 99 percent, 100 percent – that Democrats will win. Probably Hillary, I guess it’s Hillary, looks like it if she gets to the starting gate, which she probably will, frankly.” Or, as Trump’s even less coherent supporters say, in the mold of Snidely Whiplash tying Nell to the train tracks, “get on the #TrumpTrain or get run over!”
Just to drive the point home, Trump says that there will be riots if he goes to the convention with the most delegates but is denied the nomination. “I’m representing a tremendous – many, many millions of people, in many cases first-time voters,” he told CNN today. “If you disenfranchise those people…I think you would have problems like you’ve never seen before.”
He may be right. Trump supporters hew closely to the words of their Great Leader.
Which is why the conventional wisdom is dead wrong.
Those of us who have said #NeverTrump will not go along just to defeat Hillary Clinton. That’s not out of personal pique – many of us didn’t like Mitt Romney (see my 2012 column, “No On Mitt Romney,” for example).
It’s because we believe that beating Hillary in 2016 is less important than defeating leftist visions of the government’s role, both in the Democratic Party and in the Republican Party. We may be entering an era in which conservatism is a minority philosophy. But so was nationalist populism until five minutes ago, when certain Republicans became so desperate for victory that they made common cause with disgruntled big government authoritarians in order to defeat Democrats. Those same Republicans must be forced back toward conservatism – and the only way to do that is to build up a conservative army loyal to principle rather than personality, and for that army to use their voting leverage to stop candidates like Trump. Trump’s whole pitch is that he’s bring disgruntled voters back to the polls, and many mainstream Republicans are falling for it. We can make that same pitch, but only if we leave Trumpism to its own peculiar nastiness.
Building a conservative movement is a far harder mission than cobbling together a coalition to win an election to hand power to a man who will implement a leftist vision of the world under the banner of the supposedly conservative party. But it’s a far more important mission, too.
We calculate that Donald Trump taking over the Republican Party for the foreseeable future and transforming the conservative movement into European-style authoritarianism, complete with riots, is far more dangerous to the future of the republic than Hillary Clinton continuing us toward the cliff for four years. If Trump wins, he guts the only movement we have. If Hillary wins, there may be a future for our movement yet.
And no, Trump won’t shut the border, fight the war on terror properly, or deport massive number of illegal immigrants. It just isn’t happening. If you believe Trump will do all those things, you’re being played.
So no, there won’t be détente, nor should there be.
I was #NeverTrump. I’m still #NeverTrump
Mar 18, 2016
Ben Shapiro – #NeverTrump Defined
By · 18 Comments
Queen Of Liberty™ 
I’m a Cruz supporter all the way, but Shapiro is certainly not my cup of tea, he’s just another arrogant attorney running his mouth and lying in the process. I’m not a huge fan of Trump, but I am a big fan of the truth, Trump never said “there would be riots,” he stated “there could be riots.” There is a vast difference between would and could
Furthermore, Shapiro has no idea what Trump will or will not do any more than you or I do, but Shapiro could at least speak the truth, which many lawyers have trouble doing, case in point Hillary Clinton is unethical and a liar. Any conservative Republican that thinks 4 to 8 years of Hillary is better than any Republican candidate needs t rethink their thought process. With Hillary as President the worst thing that could possibly happen to our great country will happen and that is having a Liberal Progressive Supreme Court. That type of Supreme Court is something that this country would not recover from for decades, and possibly never.
Hopefully, somehow Cruz pulls off the nomination, but if he doesn’t that doesn’t mean we should abandon a rational thought process. Trump isn’t stupid, and knows how much this country would suffer if he doesn’t appoint a conservative Justice. If Trump turns out to be a poor President, I firmly believe 4 years of him will never be as devastating to this great country as 4 to 8 years of Hillary. Conservative Republicans need to concentrate more on never Hillary than never Trump.
Alexis, I really enjoy your emails and letters and want to continue enjoying them, so please when posting thoughts of others make sure they’re at the least truthful.
I respectfully disagree with you Andrew. I think Trump will also give us a Liberal Progressive Supreme Court. I think Hillary is horrible but Trump is her equal. Please don’t believe that just because he is running with an R next to his name that he is different than Hillary. Trump is an extremely dangerous man. Obama, Hillary and Trump are all of the same ilk. The only way to beat Hillary is to beat Trump. Trump’s unfavorability numbers are too high to beat Hillary and the choice between Hillary and Donald is no choice at all. Trump is unhinged and not fit for the White House. There is no way we can let a man with his nature make it to the White House. That would be a scary situation. Conservatism is the answer. We will stand on our principles, not on our Party. The GOP has lost its way.
I have heard a lot of the same talk and agree with some of it, that Trump is a liberal. But he has made so many conservative promises and pulled together so many conservative followers that I think he would have a hard time abandoning his campaign speeches. As I posted below, if we had a Trump – Cruz ticket it may even balance out the ideology between the two.
There is a very interesting story on Breitbart this morning that compares the events of March 1980 with those of today. I think it puts a lot of this argument in perspective.
March 1980: When the Establishment Believed Ronald Reagan Would Lead the GOP to Certain Defeat http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/03/18/spring-1980-when-the-establishment-believed-ronald-reagan-would-lead-the-gop-to-certain-defeat/
I posted a reply there suggesting an obvious solution: Why not a TRUMP – CRUZ ticket? It would hopefully satisfy the followers of the Never Trump group and also those who would not vote for anyone else, and Heaven forbid, would even vote for Hillary.
I happen to agree with the thoughts written by Andrew. But let me express my reasons a little differently.
You can strip away all of your fancy words and convoluted arguments, doing anything that allows Hillary Clinton – or any Democrat – in the White House, is tantamount to aiding the destruction of the U.S. Constitution and our Bill of Rights.
To put it more simply, it is no different than the old expression: To cut off one’s nose to spite their face.
I have been a solid Republican since I watched Ronald Reagan’s endorsent speech of Barry Goldwater in 1964. Over the years I have encountered many who said they would vote only for principles, even for a third-party if there was no 100% conservative on the GOP ticket. We are not living in those days any more. America is literally on the brink of total destruction by the socialist Democrats. They want to create a Progressive Supreme Court to alter the Bill of Rights. They want to expand their voting block to include tens of millions of illegal voters. Should they succeed the Republican Party will never elect another Congress in 50 years. We must NEVER let another Democrat win the White House.
Hi Nelson! Thanks for this well thought out comment. It is 100 years of progressivism which has damaged our country. Progressives come from both Parties. For example, Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican progressive. Instead of thinking “We must never let another Democrat win the White House,” I think “We must never let another progressive win the white house” or “We must never let another statist win the White House.” This is why we must defeat Trump. Trump & Hillary are both statists. We must defeat Trump in order to defeat Hillary. They are both unthinkable and would be unbearable. Now is the time to fight like hell. Conservatism is the answer.
It is because of folks like Ben Shapiro we have Obama again. He would rather stand on his ideals than try to slow down the left’s race to flip the Republic to a Democracy, which we all know will not work. History taught me that in Jr. High. Because he cannot have his way now he will throw his tantrum and make us all suffer. Hillary vs Trump-I would prefer Cruz but I will take Trump over the Wicked Witch of the West.
Trump is the Left. Trump is Hillary. Trump is Obama. Read his history. I have posted dozens of videos and articles on him under “Trump is not a conservative.” Fox news lies. Trump is an extremely dangerous man and so are his supporters. A Trump presidency would be scary. Please research him more if you believe he is different than Hillary. He’s faking some of his beliefs to win the primary. He is a statist through and through.
We are on opposite sides. That being said there is certain information that is undeniable. Truth is Trump is an extremely successful business man who admittedly played both sides. However, one position that Trump has apparently consistently championed for at least almost 30 years is regarding trade. With hundreds of billions of dollars in trade deficits and little manufacturing, this is a crucial issue. Also Trump’s family – especially Donald Trump JUNIOR – seems to be avid users of firearms. Apparently, there are approximately 1500 carry permits in NYC and Junior, Junior’s father, Junior’s wife, and Junior’s brother have 4 of them. If Hillary is elected then it would seem that the Second Amendment would be lost; at least with Trump there is a chance that he would appoint justices like Scalia that would adhere to the original meaning of the U.S. Constitution (and respect the Second Amendment) – with Hillary there is no chance. Also, with Hillary it’s certain that massive illegal immigration will continue and there won’t be a wall – at least with Trump there is a chance that a wall will be built and the flood of illegal immigration will be stopped. With Hillary it’s certain that the coal industry will be under attack; with Trump there is a chance that the government will be more encouraging for coal. I could continue … Those waiting for the perfect match often end up very lonely – not to let the obsession with some imagined perfection be the enemy of the good or the possible good. Do you claim to be a mind reader? Do you know for certain that Trump hasn’t evolved on any important issue? THIS IS A REPUBLIC; IN A REPUBLIC WHO GETS 100% OF WHAT THEY WANT? Indeed, government itself has been described as a necessary evil. It’s always a choice between the lesser of two evils. Quite frankly, even though I have a strong preference for Trump, if I had to choose between Hillary and Cruz (if Cruz legitimately wins the most number of votes and delegates) then I would vote for Cruz; let’s not also forget Hillary apparently violated national security law(s) with her (mis)handling of secret emails etc. FINALLY, IF YOU (AND YOUR ALLIES) SUCCESSFULLY UNDERMINE THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE WITH THE MOST VOTES AND DELEGATES THEN NEXT TIME WHY EXPECT THE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE LIKE ME TO SUPPORT YOUR IDEAL CANDIDATE – AND THAT WOULD NOT ONLY BE A MATTER OF SPITE BECAUSE AFTER FOUR / EIGHT YEARS OF HILLARY, MUCH WOULD ALREADY BE MOOT (I.E. IRREVERSIBLE).
https://queenofliberty.com/2016/03/23/an-open-letter-to-trump-supporters/
I’m with you and Cruz Alexis. I will never support Trump!
I second that, Ben!
That’s my girl!!! 🙂 #NeverTrump
Thanks Ben! #NeverTrump all the way!
I’m a Cruz supporter. If Trump wins the nomination I will put Ted Cruz down as a write in.
I hate Trump. I would never vote for him. I’m only voting for conservatives.
Like I said before, I’m never voting for Trump regardless if he is the last man standing.
Still NEVER Trump!
As any good conservative should be. 🙂