Establishment Republicans Blast Never-Trumpers for ‘Moral Preening’

The Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim explains why some Republicans think Never-Trumpers are missing the point – and why they should keep their “commercial self-interest masquerading as ideological purity” to themselves.

From The Huffington Post:

Every day of the Donald Trump campaign seems to bring with it a new article about an establishment Republican whose conscience can’t bear to back the reality TV star.

For those who haven’t made that decision, these relentless news items are starting to smart. Some Washington Republicans wish these folks and their consciences would shut up.

…

One establishment Republican, who like Geduldig is a former aide to House GOP leadership, said that many of the defectors had already defected. “Looks like she gave to Obama in 2008,” he said (accurately) of Westine. “Weird, I don’t remember The Washington Post covering her endorsement then.”

Another member of the GOP establishment, who also offered his criticism anonymously, called the public parade of conscience “commercial self-interest masquerading as ideological purity.”

A fourth Washington Republican, who is voting for Trump but doing so quietly, lamented:

“The slick moral preening in the media by former Bushies and NeverTrumpers at bottom reflects their desperate need to be accepted in the liberals’ putative morally superior universe. Thus their public shaming of Trump and his supporters has nothing to do with the Republican Party or conservatism ― the latter of which they know very little, as evidenced by the egregious big-government achievements that they enabled and advanced in the Bush administration. What they really want is to be liked by their enemies. And oh yes: to assure their well-paying clients who may be thinking of cutting them loose that they are on the side of the right and the true. It’s all so pathetic and disgusting.”

That assessment is shared by others around K Street, albeit not for attribution.

Read the rest of the article here.