Hmmm, Never Trump is fracturing?

I make no apologies for keeping an eye on some Never Trump former Republicans. I in general lump them into one of two categories. There are those who upon seeing the tangerine tyrant waddle down the Escalator in 2015, and immediately realized that the Cheeto-hued Shitgibbon was toxic and worked to counter him from the start.

While I don't always agree with them or their politics, people like Rick Wilson, Stuart Stevens, Charlie Sykes, and most of the gang at The Bulwark fall into this category.

As they are fond of saying, they were Never Trump from the jump. I give them props for that, even though I frequently point out that there is a direct line from their sainted Ronnie Reagan to Trump and that many of them had worked to further that arc.

But then, there's the other so-called Never Trump people. And that is what this is about. On Sunday, I was facially assaulted by this headline in the NY Times:

And the first picture is Chris Christie, former Governor of New Jersey, debate prep partner for Trump, and definitely NOT what I would call a "Never Trump" Republican.

Apparently, there was a hob-bobbing gathering of Republicans looking to what will come next after Trump leaves in early 2029 (my bet is that he will NOT leave office unless he is pushing up the daisies).

Some of President Trump’s most vocal Republican critics are divided over the future of a party that has pushed them to the margins, reflecting a fractured movement still trying to find its footing a decade after Mr. Trump rose to power.

Their differing views about what should come after the Trump administration were evident as they gathered at a summit near Washington that has become an annual stop for figures in what is known as the “Never Trump” movement.

Note the word: "Republicans". Not "Former Republicans", not "new Independents", nor "Reluctant Democrats". No for these fuckers, the label Republican is so core to their essence that they can't actually step away. They mistakenly think that once Trump is dead and gone, the party will snap back to something they recognize, and they all want to be there to snack up on the new world order.

How fucking naive are they?

Does the most promising path involve, as some believe, expanding a foothold in a Democratic Party strongly opposed to Mr. Trump? Is it simply a matter, as others maintain, of waiting — hoping, perhaps — for Republicans to move on from the president and his MAGA movement once he leaves office?

Gee, I seem to recall a lot of hand wringing after the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, that surely Trump was done, and that the Republicans would be able to move beyond that unpleasantness.

That lasted less than 20 days, until Kevin McCarthy crawled back to Mar A Lardo to kiss the ring, and prostate himself for the world to see.

The event, at a convention center in Maryland was a who's-who of Republican pols adrift, wondering if they should support "centrist" Dems, or just wait out the storm for whatever is next.

The event has included an eclectic lineup, including former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, who said he was open to supporting a Democrat in 2028, and former Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina, who said he was “not ready to go there.” (Centrist Democrats also made the guest list, including Conor Lamb, the former Pennsylvania congressman.)

I dunno, if you can't get there for someone as anodyne as Connor fucking Lamb, well, you deserve to rot in the 8th circle of hell with the rest of your Republican fuckers.

It seems like these ghouls are expecting that there will be something worth salvaging from the post Trump smoldering crater that was the Republican Party. The fact is, that even if Trump goes, the old guard, the elites and the Chamber of Commerce/Country Club Republicans will not be in the drivers seat.

No, the party is top to bottom MAGA-fied, and it will never go back to the quiet truce where the rank and file "culture war" driven, single issue voters who provided the heft to allow the old "conservative" Republicans to win. The old guard was always a small minority of the population, and never large enough to gain power, but with the rise of the New Right in the late 1970's, and with Reagan's embrace of the religious right in the early 1980's the stage was set.

And now that marriage of convenience will never go back to how it was, and these Republican power brokers will flail around, and then be fucking surprised when some MAGA chud is the next standard bearer.

And it will be delish.

Fuck Chris Christie.

Lastly, they all seem to be hanging their hopes on Lil' Marco Rubio to be their savior to save them from JD "couch rapist" Vance.

I shit you not:

Former Senator Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican who supported Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020 and Ms. Harris in 2024, likewise described Mr. Rubio as a promising option, approvingly calling him a “traditional” conservative.

That is the biggest laugh of them all. Rubio has gone full toe-suckler.

This is going to be fun to watch, all these fuckos getting pantsed, again.