Has the NeverTrump Cash Cow Run Out of Milk?

Plus: BRIGHT Pun Gets Results

In Today’s BRIGHT

Has the NeverTrump Cash Cow Run Out of Milk?
BRIGHT Pun Gets Results
China’s Not Ready for Trump 2.0
The Democrats’ Bud Light Moment
Transformation Tuesday: Muscle At Any Age

Has the NeverTrump Cash Cow Run Out of Milk?

At The Spectator, Ben Domenech examines the delicious demise of the NeverTrump movement following Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory. Initially formed to oppose Trump, the NeverTrumpers evolved into a lucrative enterprise for former Republicans and media figures, mostly supported by Democratic donors. Bill Kristol, Liz Cheney and organizations such as the Lincoln Project spearheaded these efforts, engaging in high-profile campaigns that often backfired. The “movement” lacked a coherent ideology beyond opposing Trump and Republicans broadly, which is why Domenech thinks we aren’t likely to see these efforts continue with a second Trump victory.

More from Domenech:

The return of Trump should theoretically boost the prospects of these #Resistance efforts. The whole approach was based on an assumption that enough ex-Republican voices sounding a note of caution or openly campaigning for Democrats would prove politically helpful. But experience shows the opposite is true.

No NeverTrump individual exemplifies this more than Liz Cheney, who endorsed and backed Trump for years — but when her support for impeachment led to her removal from her GOP leadership post, she turned against her former colleagues, leading a January 6 inquiry designed to embarrass them. In 2024, the now-former congresswoman was joined at the hip with Kamala Harris, campaigning with her and endorsing Democratic efforts more broadly, promising the country that she would work tirelessly to ensure Republicans would “not be in the majority come 2025.” Her presence generated discomfort for longtime liberals, considering the massive evidence that her position was about access to power, and preventing people she disliked from having it. The effort fell flat — and may have hurt Harris in states with key Muslim populations like Michigan.

Cheney’s failure and Trump’s return mark the death knell for the NeverTrump movement, which achieved almost none of its aims and is now on the outs even with the Democrats who funded it. It turns out that just employing the enemy of your enemy isn’t enough — you have to have an alternative to what they’re offering, too.

RELATED: Lincoln Project Co-Founder Just Found a New Anti-Trump Grift and It's Hilarious (Townhall)