‘It’s Not Too Late’: National Review Begs Republicans to Stop ‘Grotesquely Selfish’ Trump
AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez
One of the oldest and most influential publications in conservative politics is pleading with Republican voters to see reason and nominate someone other than Donald Trump as the GOP’s presidential nominee ahead of next week’s Iowa Caucus.
In an editorial published on Wednesday, National Review argued that all of the alternatives to Trump “are far and away better on the merits, more likely to win in November, and, if elected, more likely to deliver — free from the wild drama of a second Trump term — conservative results.”
The editorial minced no words in prosecuting its case against Trump, bluntly stating that Trump “lost to Joe Biden in 2020″ and “did everything he could to overturn the result, including trying to bully his vice president into violating his oath and preventing and delaying the counting of the electoral vote.”
“When a mob, fervently believing Trump’s lies, fought its way into the U.S. Capitol to try to end the count, Trump did little or nothing to try to stop it,” it added.
The editors continued, assailing both Trump’s fitness for office and his effectiveness in it during his first term:
These were infamous presidential acts and represented serious offenses against our constitutional order. Nothing can justify them, and it’s wrong to simply pretend that they didn’t happen. It’s impossible to imagine Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley, whatever their other flaws, engaging in such grotesquely selfish behavior injurious to our republic. On this basis alone, both are vastly preferable to Trump.
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In his first term, Trump notched some important conservative wins and even forged some creative victories (think the Abraham Accords). He’d be an enormous improvement over Joe Biden on many policy questions. But much energy would be wasted on his personal vendettas and fighting back against the Left’s sure-to-be-unhinged reaction to his return to the White House. He’d have trouble attracting talent to serve him. His bad instincts on trade and NATO, tendency to personalize everything including foreign relations, contempt for rules that get in his way, and erratic nature would risk real harm to the country. He’d be an easily distracted 78-year-old one-termer sure to get wiped out in the midterms, once again.
Again, whatever their downsides, both DeSantis and Haley would avoid almost all these pitfalls. DeSantis, in particular, is an accomplished governor of a major state, with an impressive agenda of conservative reform under his belt. He is a serious-minded policy maven who wouldn’t fail as president for lack of discipline or knowledge.
“It’s not too late to choose one of them, and forge a better path for the party and for the country,” concluded the editorial.
The publication also opposed Trump during the 2016 primary, devoting an entire issue of its print magazine toward persuading voters to back someone else. It did not institutionally endorse him in the 2016 or 2020 general elections.
