I really like Gary Johnson, but I really, really preferred the continuity Ron Paul version of Johnson from 2012 than I do this Johnson 2.0 experiment in moderate Republicanism.
I'm voting Johnson since Trump and Hillary are unacceptable, but I am upset that he's making a play for disaffected liberals rather than presenting himself as the true conservative alternative to Trump.
I suspect they've done this because of the refusal of just about all of the #NeverTrump crowd to jump on the Johnson-Weld bandwagon.
The failure of just about all of the #NeverTrump crowd to jump on the Johnson-Weld bandwagon is, to me, a sign of their insincerity. Johnson and Weld are both former GOP Governors who are both small government Republicans who are socially liberal, but not a stretch for most of the non-Neocon #NeverTrump crowd. They'd be a natural for Susan Collins to endorse, but she's not doing so. Many of the #NeverTrump GOP could credibly endorse Johnson-Weld as a viable alternative to Trump.
What I believe most of these #NeverTrump types are hoping for is for Trump to suddenly repudiate his ideological apostasies and become a Marco Rubio Republican, so they can say "Gee, he's come around and while I won't be seen with him, I'll vote for him in the privacy of the voting booth." They're dreaming, of course, but their #NeverTrump posture has little to do with principle, and nothing to do with the idea that "Trump Is Nuts". If folks REALLY believed that Trump was mentally unstable (and they don't really believe that), what is their excuse to not endorse Hillary Clinton, putting Country First?
