It’s possible that some NeverTrumper has already gone there, but I haven’t seen it.
Up until now, one complaint of the NeverTurmpers has been that Mr. Trump will hurt Republicans running for Senate, the House, and state offices. They make this claim knowing full well that Trump is ahead of Romney in every poll and with every demographic group. I predict that, come October, people will be saying Trump is virtually running unopposed.
But that down-ballot concern will change because of psychology. NeverTrumpers have to support down-ballot Democrats to be consistent.
Yesterday, I wrote about the science of identity and consistency. I also explained how the brain decides before we decide. It’s all solid science.
Some NeverTrumpers will read stories like mine, bite the bullet, and turn around on Trump. They’ll come over to the light side and try to help the Republican win.
But some won’t. Some NeverTrumpers have deeply embedded their NeverTrump identities. They can only double down on their fantasies.
Not now, but soon, those committed NeverTrumpers will realize that consistency requires them to support Democrats running for the House and Senate. It’s pure logic.
If Mr. Trump is really as dangerous as NeverTrumpers say he is (and they say he’s Hitler), they must do anything to stop him. But they’ll come to know they might fail in stopping Mr. Trump from becoming president. They’ll realize that President Trump is a real possibility no matter what they do before the election. So they’ll have a contingency.
That contingency logic will work like this: a divided Congress will weaken President Trump. So NeverTrumpers will feel they have to work toward a divided Congress.
Think about it. If Trump is dangerous, he’s more dangerous if his party, the Republican Party, controls both houses of Congress, right? But if the Democrats control one or both Houses, Trump can’t get anything done.
The Senate is the most vulnerable, so expect George Will or Kevin Williamson to start encouraging True Conservatives to vote Democrat in their state’s Senate race.
Or maybe they already have and I missed it. I stopped reading NeverTrumpers a few weeks ago.
When you see a NeverTrump Republican encouraging other Republicans to vote Democrat, you’ll know two things:
*1. The NeverTrumpers know Mr. Trump will win. *2. Bill Hennessy’s predictive skills are scary good.
Pay attention. This is an amazing election year.