#NeverTrump Officially Becomes a Bad Joke

Neoconservative #NeverTrumper Bill Kristol’s fantasy of an independent “white knight” candidate appearing in the nick of time to save him, his cohorts at The Weekly Standard, and the three people left in America who read that magazine from the nefarious wiles of Donald Trump came crashing down this weekend.

Kristol has succeeded unquestionably in turning the #NeverTrump “movement” into a bad joke.

David French, the National Review writer, lawyer, and Iraq War vet hand-picked by Kristol — in what will surely go down as one of the most anticlimactic announcements in U.S. political history — to be that #NeverTrump white knight has unequivocally rejected the honor.

“After days of prayer, reflection, and serious study of the possibilities, I am not going to run as an independent candidate for president of the United States,” French wrote in a statement published in the National Review Sunday.

Kristol is likely devastated — indeed, French’s tactical retreat from consideration seems to have hurled the pundit into a profound existential crisis. “In era of Trump, what is a Republican? A defender of constitutionalism? Rule of law? Limited government? Defense of liberty? Sound finances?” a confused and disillusioned Kristol tweeted on Monday morning.

But Kristol should also be embarrassed. While he has failed in his quest for a viable #NeverTrump alternative, he has succeeded unquestionably in turning the #NeverTrump “movement” — which at this point probably consists solely of Kristol and his neoconservative cabal — into a bad joke.

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This slow transformation of a once-respected political pundit into a walking punchline started, of course, with Kristol’s incorrect prediction that Trump would not run. This was followed quickly by many incorrect predictions that Trump’s candidacy would fail, and eventually by the also-incorrect prediction that even if Trump managed to do well, he would not get the GOP nomination.

Oops.

When it finally became clear that the days of the GOP as the party of neoconservatism were waning, if not over, a bitter Kristol announced the launch of the new “Renegade Party” and went all-in in his efforts to find and field an independent candidate ready and willing to Perot Trump’s chances of victory in November.

“There will be an independent candidate — an impressive one, with a strong team and a real chance,” Kristol finally teased on Twitter. And like that, those who inhabit the world of political punditry and journalism held their collective breath, waiting for what was sure to be Kristol’s game-changing announcement.

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Would it be former GOP nominee Mitt Romney? Former Defense Secretary Bob Gates? The #NeverTrump crowd eagerly awaited the news of which high-profile, powerhouse third option Kristol would recruit.

Then Kristol announced his mystery candidate — David French — and cemented his status as living, breathing political farce. To build so much hype surrounding an “impressive” candidate with a “real chance” of victory only to announce the selection of someone with visibility so low that aircraft are advised not to take off or land in his proximity is surely one of the most inexplicable moves of Kristol’s career.

It also shows the extent to which he was unprepared for GOP voters rejecting resoundingly the neoconservative agenda and Washington-bubble-think he and his allies foisted upon the Republican Party. “What’s now evident is that the crisis of Trump is a crisis of the Republican Party,” Kristol tweeted on Monday. “Unclear what future is. Or if it has one.”

A reinvigorated Republican Party ready to fight for national sovereignty and economic opportunity for all Americans — as opposed to a GOP obsessed with doomed adventures in foreign nation-building and cheap labor for the Chamber of Commerce — absolutely has a future. There just won’t be any room in it for Kristol and his ilk.