Of Course, Democrats Should Welcome the Help of Never Trumpers

[George II]

(came across this in a search for something on another issue this morning)

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Of Course, Democrats Should Welcome the Help of Never Trumpers

There will be plenty of room for policy debates once Biden is president.

by Nancy LeTourneau July 23, 2020

When the Associated Press reported that former Governor John Kasich had been asked to endorse Biden in a speech at the Democratic Convention, a bit of a controversy broke out over whether that was a good idea. It then broadened into a discussion about the wisdom of welcoming the assistance of Never Trumpers in electing the former vice president.

Especially given the fact that the convention will be virtual, I don’t think it is all that important whether a Republican is given a platform to speak. But Charles Pierce made the case against doing so. He points out the policy differences between Kasich and the Democratic Party:

[H]is politics don’t belong within an area code of any Democratic convention. He’s radically anti-choice, radically anti-union, and a career-long adherent to the worst idea in American politics, the Balanced Budget Amendment. He opposed marriage equality; the Hodges in Obergefell v. Hodges was a Kasich appointee in Ohio. He’s a fan of private prisons, despite the customary problems.

Most of the critique of Never Trumpers, however, has focused on the Lincoln Project, a political action committee formed by George T. Conway III, Steve Schmidt, John Weaver and Rick Wilson. As I’ve pointed out before, they are hardly the only ones. Other groups of Republicans who have formed to defeat Trump include the Right Side PAC, 43 Alumni for Biden, and Republican Voters Against Trump. I suspect that the reason the Lincoln Project is being singled out is because the ads they have produced have gone viral on social media and the group has successfully lodged themselves in Trump’s head—which is actually one of their goals.

The criticism of the Lincoln Project has varied. It goes from a suggestion that the people involved are only in it for the money, to a claim that they are ineffective, to the fact that they have focused on negative ads, which are harmful to our politics. But perhaps the most important criticism to consider is the idea that the group will claim credit for electing Biden and then attempt to use that to influence his policies. That is the case made by Jeet Heer—specifically as it relates to militarism in foreign policy:

This suggests that these ads should be seen as an attempt to stake a claim in Joe Biden’s victory so that if he becomes president he’ll give hawkish Republicans a seat at the table. Biden already has a tropism toward bipartisanship, especially in foreign policy. He voted for the Iraq War and has been criticizing Trump from the right for not being sufficiently hard-line on Venezuela and China.

(much more.....)

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/07/23/of-course-democrats-should-welcome-the-help-of-never-trumpers/

[Me.]

1. We Need All The Help We Can Get

later on we'll sort out the rest especially if we have House, Senate and Presidency

[George II]

2. Yes, that's essentially the point of the sub-headline - first things first.

[RKP5637]

3. Yes, there are many republicans that want this ass out of the White House. I really

had no problem with the old-time republicans and apparently there are some of them left that want to help get rid of the disease currently in the White House.

[Midnight Writer]

4. Washington Monthly is a National Treasure. Everyone should read it. Always thought provoking.

And informative.

It is a shame they have such poor circulation.