It seems that Reluctant Trumpers often draw considerable fire – if not open hostility – from some elements of MAGA conservatism. Leaning into this issue, the purpose of this essay is to posit that being a Reluctant Trumper is (certainly was) a legitimate position to hold, and more importantly, argue that Reluctant Trumpers are our allies, deserving our respect and our thoughtful persuasion.
There appear to be at least three kinds of Reluctant Trumpers:
- Those who are bothered by Trump’s personal behavior, including philandering, insults, and blatant narcissism. This is the least important reluctance reason at this time. But this did concern many conservatives during his first presidential campaign.
- Those who thought he wasn’t conservative enough. Trump was a New York Democrat, essentially non-political. There was legitimate fear that his roots wouldn’t lead him to embrace conservative principals. Looking back at his largely successful first term, there were aspects of his governance that, a case could be made, were less than optimal and not fully conservative.
- Poor personnel choices. Too many to list but think of Christopher Wray as a prime example.
- Rolled by Fauci. Probably his biggest failing, one that likely contributed to his defeat.
- Reticence to use his executive power. This is especially the case with the George Floyd/ “summer of love” riots where Trump could have called out the National Guard to quell the destruction.
- Star-struck by the “Five-stars.” Trump absolutely should have tried Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley for treason given his back-channel communication with the CCP.
- Those worried about Trump’s electoral chances. He is a highly polarizing figure that polls show 40% -45% will never vote for.
We simply must be clear eyed about the situation we face.
Over the years, Reluctant Trumpers included conservative luminaries such as Mark Levin, Glenn Beck, Powerline’s John Hinderaker, and The Daily Wire talent Matt Walsh and Ben Shapiro. In fact, Shapiro is now holding fundraising events for the Trump campaign after supporting DeSantis in the recent primaries. There is nothing quite like the zealotry of a convert, especially when the stakes are this high.
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