NeverTrump ‘Republicans’ Gloat over Democrat Victory in Virginia

The small but vocal contingent of “NeverTrump” Republicans — those who swore never to vote for Donald Trump in the 2016 election, even if that meant handing the country to Hillary Clinton and the Democrats — were exuberant Tuesday night, as Republican gubernatorial candidates went down to defeat in New Jersey and Virginia.

It was the first “victory” for NeverTrump, who cast Tuesday’s result as a vindication of their warnings about Trump.

Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard cited Winston Churchill’s speech after the Allies defeated Nazi Germany at El Alamein in 1942 (casting Trump as Adolf Hitler, perhaps not coincidentally):

Elsewhere, NeverTrump flamethrower Rick Wilson was exuberant, savoring the “tears” of his critics and then denying his evident glee at “the reckoning we warned you was coming.” He added that he was “rubbing it in your faces” to make a point about running conservative campaigns in politically diverse states:

Conservative commentator Eric Erickson suggested that Republicans impeach Trump to save their 2018 prospects — and had a good chuckle at his own joke:

Mindy Finn, who was NeverTrump’s vice presidential candidate on Evan McMullin’s independent ticket in 2016, called Tuesday’s result a “backlash” against Trump, adding that it was better to “lose with honor” than to win:

Finn may have been referring to McMullin’s charge, earlier in the day, that Gillespie had thrown his lot in with “white nationalism.”

For good measure, Finn recommended that the GOP “dust off the old autopsy” — a 2013 document that recommended the party adopt comprehensive immigration reform without further debate.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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