#NeverTrump GOP endorsements LATEST: Graham and Lee voted McMullin

[Coolface Sock #42069]

You people are ridiculous. Pick your poison.

If having free trade is the most important thing to you, then vote Democratic.

If having an aggressive foreign policy is the most important, then vote Democratic.

If keeping taxes and regulations low is your top priority, then vote Republican.

If maintaining the traditional GOP social-cultural policies (pro-life, pro-gun, anti-LGBT) is most important, then vote Republican.

There are only two major parties in this country. The idea that you think you're entitled to have a party that gives you EVERYTHING you want is absurd. Prioritize your issues and make trade-offs. A lot of us who are unaffiliated or moderate voters have been doing that for years.

No, the point of voting third-party is to show that there's enough popular support for a particular policy position that it forces one of the major parties to put it on the party platform. And that may be what conservatives have to do to bring the GOP back into line.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Add Gov. Charlie Baker to the list:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/03/02/charlie-baker-won-vote-for-trump-november/PxZyCgPp3hvZb5MfQSjt7K/story.html

Not remotely surprised.

Does this hurt his popularity at all given that 40% of his state's Republicans just voted for Trump?

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Its really interesting seeing how diverse the opposition is to Trump.  You've got some moderates, some ideological conservatives, some neocons...

That's because he doesn't embody any portion of the Republican Party platform.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

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.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

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?

I would argue that his most serious break is on economic issues, while his second is on overall policy seriousness (of which foreign policy is a component).

There are a few Republicans who would be better suited to run on that foreign policy line, though. One is Tom Cotton.

Graham needs to honor his pledge for the good of the party, as do all the other candidates who made the pledge. It's vital for any hope of party unity in the future, particularly party unity if establishment candidates are nominated.

I, however, have made no such pledge, and I'll be voting Libertarian if Donald is the nominee.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

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

Not exactly sure why Jeb! isn't going, but I guess the vulnerable senators cannot afford to associate themselves with any of the fighting that will happen in Cleveland since their only hope to win in November is with a united party behind them.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

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

I thought at the start of this election season that we'd see a prominent disgruntled Democrat like Jim Webb at the RNC. Now, the reverse is possible.

Any chance of any prominent Republicans speaking at a third-party convention?

[Coolface Sock #42069]

It shows just how little Lindsey Graham's and Jeb Bush's word is valued at. They broke a solemn oath! Who does that?

Bill Clinton.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

What's with Rauner (R-IL)?

He's doing the same as Ayotte by saying that he supports the nominee but won't endorse (as if endorse and support are different things).  I didn't list people in that category, because it's such a mind-numbingly stupid position.

I think the "support the nominee" position means he doesn't like Trump or his positions but plans to stay loyal to his party and thinks supporting the nominee is what's required to display that loyalty.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

In this interview (at about the ~4:20 mark) Mitch McConnell is asked if he thinks Donald Trump is fit to be president, and he dodges the question, simply saying that “The American people will decide” in November:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-utLdJo69U

So we have the Republican Speaker of the House endorsing the party’s presidential nominee, yet accusing him of making racist comments, and the Republican Senate Majority Leader endorsing the party’s presidential nominee, but not answering the question when asked if he’s actually fit to be president.

Seems like a healthy political party.

Yeah, this is bad.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Susan Collins will not be voting for Trump.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/gop-senator-why-i-cannot-support-trump/2016/08/08/821095be-5d7e-11e6-9d2f-b1a3564181a1_story.html

that's a pretty big deal, especially as Trump is trying to win Maine or at least ME2.

I really like Collins. I'm glad she dumped trump.

Collins may switch parties. 

If Trump is THAT BAD, why isn't Collins endorsing Clinton?  She's not a conservative Republican; she's the most liberal Republican in the Senate, and no less than a moderate, in terms of the overall spectrum.  If Trump is such a scumbag, why isn't an endorsement of Hillary Clinton too much of a leap for Susan Collins?

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I hear this a lot from the #NeverTrump crowd.  I just love being "understood" by the elitists of politics, Susan Collins being a personification of that elitism.  But the public HAS demanded action, and Susan Collins' response is to reinforce the Globalism that has ruined the lives of so much of the "public" that is demanding "action".  If Susan Collins will not respond affirmatively to the demands of the public with its accompanying real passions that chose Donald Trump as the nominee of her party, they what will it take to get her to respond affirmatively to those demands for action?  Riots in the streets?  A March On Washington like the 1931 Bonus Marchers?  Susan Collins cares not one whit for the folks that are, in fact, demanding action.  She doesn't want to act on their demands.  That's the condescending excrement she throws out.  If there's one thing I hate, it's folks who want to tell me how justified my grievances are, yet not want to address a single one of them, except for MAYBE the most trivial.

Collins would stand far removed ideologically from the rest of the D caucus, far more so than she is currently separated from the rest of the GOP caucus.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Senator Kirk (R-IL): "I'll write in Colin Powell".

He's lost it. How in the world can you even justify this? At least have the decency to write in Cruz.

This RINO deserves to be hunted.

Dude, you were a Democrat until like yesterday, and I'm pretty sure you don't believe in small government. Who are you to decide who's a RINO?

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Dude, you were a Democrat until like yesterday, and I'm pretty sure you don't believe in small government. Who are you to decide who's a RINO?

And this coming from someone who thinks John Kasich is a RINO, lol.

I really don't. I misspoke in the post you're referencing.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Cory Gardner Backs Trump
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/cory-gardner-donald-trump-colorado-227085

Sad!

[Coolface Sock #42069]

I think Graham will come around. Fmr. Governor Sununu endorsed Trump today by the way.

Why would Graham endorse Trump? What does he have to gain? He isn't up for reelection until 2020, he'll probably get a primary challenger anyway, and there's a good chance he'll retire (and I wouldn't blame him).

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Seems like it'd be about time for Bruce Rauner to denounce Trump.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

CO-SEN candidate Darryl Glenn is backpedaling from his unendorsement of Trump, although he hasn't officially ununendorsed him yet.  http://www.coloradopols.com/diary/88235/republican-base-outraged-by-flight-from-trump

CO GOP really swung and missed with this Senate race.

They fumbled big time here. They easily could have had someone better.

They wouldn't have won this race unless the top of the ticket got within a few points of winning Colorado, though, which means nominating a much less horrible candidate.