#NeverTrump GOP endorsements LATEST: Graham and Lee voted McMullin

[Mr. Morden]

Alright, I've retitled the thread so that it's an omnibus thread to report on any Republican who refuses to vote for Trump in the GE.

[Mr. Morden]

In these two segments from WADR, former NJ Gov. Christine Todd Whitman says that if Trump's the nominee, she'll either write in a name or vote for Clinton, while former Romney advisor Dan Senor also says that he won't vote for Trump in the GE, but is convinced that there'll be another Republican option who'll be running 3rd party/Independent:

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/videos/2016-02-29/christie-whitman-i-ll-probably-vote-for-clinton-over-trump

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/videos/2016-03-01/is-the-trump-phenomenon-an-existential-crisis-for-gop

[Mr. Morden]

Politico has a story about all the “neocons” who have vowed not to back Trump in the general election:

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/trump-clinton-neoconservatives-220151

Bill Kristol has already talked about the fact that he’d back a 3rd party candidate rather than go with Trump, but there’s also this letter signed by 60 Republican “foreign policy insiders” (including conservative author Max Boot, former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, and Bush State Department officials Elliot Cohen and Robert Zoellick) who say they won’t support a Republican ticket led by Trump:

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[Mr. Morden]

To be fair, there are always non-endorsers. Chafee refused to support Bush in 2004, Boren refused to support Obama in 2008.

Usually just a max of one or two major officeholders per election though.

Let me put it this way: Have any sitting statewide Democratic officeholders so far ruled out supporting Hillary Clinton in the general election, should she be the nominee?  Are we actually expecting that any will?  On the off chance that more than one does, do you really think they'll represent such ideologically diverse constituencies as we have here (Baker from MA and Sasse from NE)?

[Mr. Morden]

https://twitter.com/SopanDeb/status/705821893207560192

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Harry Enten’s response:

https://twitter.com/ForecasterEnten/status/705825895978635265

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[Mr. Morden]

Sasse remains the only sitting Republican Senator who has ruled out voting for Trump in the general election.  But the WaPo tried contacting every sitting Republican Senator to see where they stand on this.  More than half said that they'd support whoever the nominee was, even if they have reservations about Trump and he isn't their first choice.  But there's a significant minority who are holdouts, who haven't explicitly committed themselves to backing the party's presidential nominee no matter what.  Here's a list of possible holdouts:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/03/08/most-gop-senators-appear-ready-to-support-donald-trump-but-plenty-would-rather-not-talk-about-it/?tid=sm_tw

Explicitly ruled out supporting Trump in the GE:
Sasse

Basically said they’re undecided, as they expressed reservations about Trump:
Flake
Coats

Dodged the question:
Gardner
Risch
Kirk
Grassley
Cassidy
Collins
Burr
Graham
Alexander
Enzi

Will back Trump if he’s the nominee “unless something crazy happens”:
Portman

Weirdly said he’d vote for Trump if the nominee, but then said Sasse is probably right about Trump:
Inhofe

Listed as “Undecided”, but WaPo doesn’t provide details:
Murkowski
Moran
Vitter
Cochran
Lankford
Scott
Corker
Lee

Didn’t get back to the WaPo for this story, so no idea what they think:
Cotton
Daines

[Mr. Morden]

Rep. Chris Stewart (UT), while not explicitly committing to #NeverTrump, nonetheless compared Trump to Mussolini earlier this week, so I'm guessing he's not a fan:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/natemcdermott/utah-republican-on-trump-hes-our-mussolini#.swVKnv0XP

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[Mr. Morden]

Rep. Chris Stewart (UT), while not explicitly committing to #NeverTrump, nonetheless compared Trump to Mussolini earlier this week, so I'm guessing he's not a fan:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/natemcdermott/utah-republican-on-trump-hes-our-mussolini#.swVKnv0XP

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I find it quite amusing that someone who compares Trump to Mussolini thinks not voting for him in the general may be a bridge too far.

Partisanship is a hell of a drug.

He didn't say he would vote for Trump in the general, AFAIK.  I'm not sure he's said explicitly what he would do in that circumstance one way or the other.  I'm taking his Mussolini comments as a suggestion that he probably wouldn't, but I just wanted to clarify that he didn't explicitly address that topic, while nonetheless  comparing him to Mussolini(!).

Someone should ask all 200+ Republican members of the House whether they'd vote for Trump in the GE, like the WaPo did for the Senate.

[Mr. Morden]

Why is Romney in the title? I don't think he's said that he won't back Trump in the general, has he?

He has. He'd vote third party or write someone in.

Link?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-mPf7hhQ1Q

I stand corrected.

I have a little more respect for Romney now.  I have no respect for the Republicans who will back Trump if he wins the nomination.  If Trump's THAT BAD a HUMAN BEING; if it's not just issue differences, then why would you support him at all if his character is that low?  Think about that.  The GOP (for the most part, is saying, "He's a scumbag, but if he's nominated, he's OUR scumbag."  If Trump's THAT bad, it's time for these folks to fish or cut bait.

Honestly though, I would respect him more if he voted for Clinton. Voting third party accomplishes nothing.

He now lives in highly non-competitive Utah, so voting for anyone accomplishes nothing.

[Mr. Morden]

Graham is still undecided on whether to go #NeverTrump, but he did suggest that his pledge to support the nominee doesn't apply anymore because he's no longer running for president.  (Then I guess he really didn't understand what the pledge was?):

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/face-the-nation-transcripts-march-20-2016-kasich-sanders-graham/

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[Mr. Morden]

Graham is still undecided on whether to go #NeverTrump, but he did suggest that his pledge to support the nominee doesn't apply anymore because he's no longer running for president.  (Then I guess he really didn't understand what the pledge was?):

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/face-the-nation-transcripts-march-20-2016-kasich-sanders-graham/

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You know, I bet he retires in 2020 or maybe even earlier. Why would he want to run for another term? It really seems to me like he's over it.

I think he should be the one to run 3rd party this year as the #NeverTrump candidate, if no one else wants to do it.  Trump's most significant break from GOP establishment orthodoxy is on foreign policy, and who better to run on the orthodox GOP foreign policy line than Graham?  (Well, McCain, but he's busy with his own reelection.)  What does he have to lose?

[Mr. Morden]

Why is Romney in the title? I don't think he's said that he won't back Trump in the general, has he?

He has. He'd vote third party or write someone in.

Link?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-mPf7hhQ1Q

I stand corrected.

I have a little more respect for Romney now.  I have no respect for the Republicans who will back Trump if he wins the nomination.  If Trump's THAT BAD a HUMAN BEING; if it's not just issue differences, then why would you support him at all if his character is that low?  Think about that.  The GOP (for the most part, is saying, "He's a scumbag, but if he's nominated, he's OUR scumbag."  If Trump's THAT bad, it's time for these folks to fish or cut bait.

Honestly though, I would respect him more if he voted for Clinton. Voting third party accomplishes nothing.

He now lives in highly non-competitive Utah, so voting for anyone accomplishes nothing.

Given the latest Utah poll, perhaps I spoke too soon? 

[Mr. Morden]

I guess this was a few weeks ago, but I don't see it in the thread.  Rep. Bob Dold (IL) says he won't support Trump in November:

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20160302/BLOGS02/160309958/illinois-gop-begins-to-take-sides-on-the-trump-juggernaut

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[Mr. Morden]

Sasse remains the only sitting Republican Senator who has ruled out voting for Trump in the general election.  But the WaPo tried contacting every sitting Republican Senator to see where they stand on this.  More than half said that they'd support whoever the nominee was, even if they have reservations about Trump and he isn't their first choice.  But there's a significant minority who are holdouts, who haven't explicitly committed themselves to backing the party's presidential nominee no matter what.  Here's a list of possible holdouts:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/03/08/most-gop-senators-appear-ready-to-support-donald-trump-but-plenty-would-rather-not-talk-about-it/?tid=sm_tw

Explicitly ruled out supporting Trump in the GE:
Sasse

Basically said they’re undecided, as they expressed reservations about Trump:
Flake
Coats

Dodged the question:
Gardner
Risch
Kirk
Grassley
Cassidy
Collins
Burr
Graham
Alexander
Enzi

Will back Trump if he’s the nominee “unless something crazy happens”:
Portman

Weirdly said he’d vote for Trump if the nominee, but then said Sasse is probably right about Trump:
Inhofe

Listed as “Undecided”, but WaPo doesn’t provide details:
Murkowski
Moran
Vitter
Cochran
Lankford
Scott
Corker
Lee

Didn’t get back to the WaPo for this story, so no idea what they think:
Cotton
Daines

Followup on this: Kirk won't attend the convention (apparently fearing the circus that would come from either a Trump nomination or a contested convention):

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/mark-kirk-on-gop-convention-ive-got-to-really-do-my-hair-tha#.bkoJe71Wq

I imagine that many others will be staying away as well.  Ayotte, Jeb Bush, and Charlie Baker have already said they're not going either, for example:

https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2016/04/14/gov-baker-attend-gop-convention

[Mr. Morden]

Some more #NeverTrump endorsements from weeks/months past that we missed:

Former Rep. Ron Paul (TX):

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/274811-ron-paul-i-will-not-vote-for-trump

Former PA Gov. and Sec. of Homeland Security Tom Ridge:

http://www.msnbc.com/mtp-daily/watch/ridge--not-a-chance-ill-support-trump-if-hes-gop-nominee-582361667654

Rep. Richard Hanna (NY):

link

Former Rep. Bob Inglis (SC):

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/04/heres-the-conundrum-for-the-never-trump-movement.html
(if I’m interpreting that right)

Former Rep. J.C. Watts (OK):

http://fortune.com/2016/03/01/republicans-oppose-trump/

[Mr. Morden]

any guesses which one of these Never Trumpers will speak at the DNC? My money is on Whitman.

Whitman is one of the few #NeverTrump Republicans who says that she'll likely vote for Clinton, rather than vote 3rd party or write in a name.  But even in Whitman's case, I don't think she affirmatively likes Clinton as a potential president.  She just thinks Clinton is the least bad option.  Normally, you wouldn't take the step of speaking at the other party's convention unless you affirmatively like that party's candidate, rather than think of them as the lesser of two evils.  Lieberman in 2008, for example, legit liked McCain as a potential president.

[Mr. Morden]

Sasse: "America’s greatness isn’t found in a strongman’s narcissism."

[Mr. Morden]

Sasse: "America’s greatness isn’t found in a strongman’s narcissism."

Ben Sasse 2020 is a certainty.

He visited Iowa last week:

https://twitter.com/jasonnobleDMR/status/726191718215766017

So yes, it looks like the groundwork is being laid.

[Mr. Morden]

Various DC conservative media types on Twitter talking about de-registering from the Republican Party.  Philip Klein of the Washington Examiner tweets a picture of his de-registration:



While Lachlan Markey of the Free Beacon burns his Republican registration card:

https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/727666316748935169

[Mr. Morden]

Any chance that a moderator could do an SE Cupp and edit the opening post to list all the #neverTrump folks in a neat list.

I'll make a list like that some time later this week.  Though if someone else wants to do it for me, please go ahead.

The Hill allegedly lists the #NeverTrumps here:

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/278141-republicans-who-vow-to-never-back-trump

However, I think they have been too broad in defining #NeverTrump for that list.  Pataki, for example, has been quite critical of Trump during the primary campaign, but I'm not aware of him actually saying that he wouldn't vote for him in the GE.

[Mr. Morden]

WaPo has a lengthy roundup of some of the Trump-as-presumptive-nominee reaction from prominent #NeverTrump conservative writers and bloggers:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2016/05/04/daily-202-after-trump-s-indiana-romp-anti-trump-republicans-consider-their-options-including-voting-for-hillary-clinton/572926d8981b92a22d51233f/

Meanwhile, we’ve gone into another dimension at Redstate, with blog posts at the staunchly conservative website now including such titles as “Republicans Should Confirm Merrick Garland ASAP”:

http://www.redstate.com/leon_h_wolf/2016/05/04/republicans-confirm-merrick-garland-asap./

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[Mr. Morden]

Now that everyone else has dropped out, I guess we wait and see over the next few days, what the fence-sitters decide to do.  E.g., Lindsey Graham and Jeb Bush initially pledged to endorse the nominee, then they backtracked to undecided.  Now what do they do?  What do Bush 41 and Bush 43 do?  What do Cruz and Kasich do?

And what about those ~20 Republican Senators who never gave a straight answer when asked if they'd endorse the nominee, even if it was Trump?

[Mr. Morden]

Looks like both Bush-41 and Bush-43 plan to endorse no one, and not even indicate who they're going to vote for:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/04/bush-41-and-43-have-no-plans-to-endorse-trump/

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[Mr. Morden]

Larry Hogan’s previous statement on this left a little wiggle room, but he now reiterates that he will not endorse Trump:

http://www.tbo.com/maryland-governor-says-he-still-wont-support-trump-ap_election697e1637a9244459bcf0cb6abb28a7f9

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[Mr. Morden]

Hoeven is taking the Ayotte line of “support but not endorse”:

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/2016-senate-republicans-say-nothing-on-trump-222795

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Heller, on the other hand, appears to be #NeverTrump:

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Also, many Senate Republicans aren’t going to the RNC this summer or are leaning against it:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article75615352.html

Blunt
McCain
Kirk
Ayotte
Johnson
Moran
Burr
Murkowski