When This Blows Over

Throughout the course of the 2016
election, the conventional groupthink
was that the renegade Donald Trump
had irrevocably torn apart the Republican
Party. His base populism supposedly
sandbagged more experienced and electable
Republican candidates, who were bewildered
that a “conservative” would dare to pander to
hoi polloi by promising deportations of illegal
aliens, renegotiation of trade agreements that
“ripped off” working people, and a messy
attack on the reigning political correctness.
It was also a common complaint that Trump had neither
political nor military experience. He trash-talked his way
into the nomination, critics said, which led to defections
among the outraged Republican elite. By August, a
#NeverTrump movement had taken root among many
conservatives, including some at National Review, The
Weekly Standard, and the Wall Street Journal. Many
neoconservatives who formerly supported President
George W. Bush flipped parties, openly supporting the
Clinton candidacy.