In 2016, when “Never Trump” Republicans began leaving the GOP for the Democratic Party, some political analysts mistakenly predicted that the exodus would make the Democratic Party more pro-market. They pointed out that Never Trumpers often described themselves as fiscally conservative or pro-free market, and assumed these Never Trumpers would take that ideology with them into the Democratic Party.
Nothing like that ever happened. Most of the Never Trumpers who migrated into the Democratic Party quickly adopted its support for more government spending, more welfare, and more regulations. Indeed, most Never Trumpers in the Democratic Party are now staunch progressives who think big government is the solution to our problems. They are not part of the moderate wing of the Democratic Party, which is almost extinct.
Many of these Never Trumpers are currently celebrating the victory of self-described “Democratic Socialist” Zohran Mamdani over former Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo in the New York mayoral election — or celebrating the victory of self-described socialist Katie Wilson over progressive Democratic incumbent Bruce Harrell in the Seattle mayoral election.
Bill Kristol is the nation’s most prominent “Never Trump” ex-Republican. He endorsed Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani over the former Democratic governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo. Mamdani is a self-described “Democratic Socialist” who has called for the government to “seize the means of production.” Mamdani has proposed government-run grocery stores, even though they have a track record of letting food rot, and leaving shelves empty. Mamdani has called for a multi-year rent freeze that could turn parts of New York into a slum and a $30 minimum wage that would bankrupt many small businesses and drive up unemployment. Mamdani denounced the police, writing, “We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer, and a major threat to public safety. What we need is to Defund The NYPD.” Mandani also said that “Queer liberation means defund the police.” Zohran Mamdani has called for emptying jails, saying that “violence is an artificial construct.” Many Never Trumpers who fancy themselves intellectuals have endorsed Mamdani.
On the progressive website Bluesky, Never Trumpers call for the replacement of moderate Democrats with progressive Democrats in Democratic primary elections.
Ben Jacobs wrote about the leftward evolution of Never Trumpers in 2023 in The New Republic, in an article titled “Are ‘Never Trump’ Republicans Actually Just Democrats Now? Some are already hardcore progressives. And pollsters, politicians, and analysts from both parties say it may just be a matter of time before the rest switch parties, too.” They are even more progressive now. On the progressive web site Bluesky, many Never Trumpers gloated over the victory of Jay Jones, the left-wing Democratic candidate for attorney general of Virginia. Jones yearned for the death of Virginia’s former House Speaker because the speaker said nice things about a moderate Democrat Jones hated (Jones also expressed the hope that his colleague’s children would die).
When Never Trumpers criticize Trump, their criticism is not usually focused on the ways that Trump rejects free-market thinking, such as his misguided tariffs and trade restrictions, or his having the government take ownership interests in five private companies. Instead, they attack Trump for sensible stances, like Trump’s attempt to scale back pandemic-era increases in Obamacare spending that cost over $400 billion, or Trump’s attempt to slow the growth of food-stamp spending, or the Trump administration considering privatization of inefficiently-run government enterprises. It is unreasonable for Never Trumpers to attack Trump for trying to limit spending at a time when America’s federal budget deficit is a whopping $2 trillion. Trump has spent way too much taxpayer money, not too little. Trump should be more pro-free-market than he is now, not less pro-free-market than he is now.
In The New Republic, Jacobs gives examples of Never Trumpers who went from being fiscal conservatives to enthusiastic progressives who feel ashamed that they didn’t vote for Barack Obama:
A decade ago, Kristen Daddow-Rodriguez was a loyal Republican. Raised in Michigan, she voted automatically for the GOP in each election, even though she wasn’t wild about every candidate offered up by her party. She considered herself a fiscal conservative and social liberal who happily backed John McCain and Mitt Romney. Now, she is a dedicated Democratic activist in suburban Atlanta…..
A number of these figures are now essentially Democrats. In 2021, longtime Republican and erstwhile Clinton nemesis Bill Kristol endorsed and actively campaigned for Terry McAuliffe, the über Clinton loyalist, during his unsuccessful Virginia gubernatorial bid….
Looking back at her past politics, [a Never Trumper who left the GOP because of Trump] noted, “One of my biggest regrets to this day is I never voted for Barack Obama. That will go down in my own personal history as one of my biggest regrets.”
Mitt Romney, who ran against Barack Obama, was much more pro-market than Obama, and more fiscally conservative. Romney was also prophetic about the dangers of Putin’s Russia, for which the short-sighted Obama mocked him. No one who has a conservative bone in their body would vote for Obama over Romney. But that is a common sentiment of Never Trumpers who left the GOP for the Democratic Party.
At the state level, Republicans are still more pro-market than the Democrats, but Never Trumpers like Bill Kristol and Max Boot have urged people to vote for intolerant, anti-market progressive Democrats over moderate, pro-free-market Republicans in state and local elections.
The Forum reported earlier on how Bill Kristol, the nation’s prominent Never Trump ex-Republican, endorsed Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani over the former Democratic governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo.
In an interview with The Forum on October 9th, Bill Kristol told Dhriti Jagadish and Shiv Parihar that he would vote for Zohran Mamdani if he were a resident of New York City. He referred to the alternative of “going back” to former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as “ridiculous.”
Kristol, the son of famed conservative intellectual Irving Kristol, was born and raised in New York City. He served as chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle from 1989 to 1993. In 1994, he founded political magazine The Weekly Standard. Kristol broke with the Republican Party in 2016 over the candidacy of Donald Trump and, in 2018, co-founded The Bulwark, where he now serves as editor-at-large. He is also Chairman of the Board of the Salvatori Center at CMC, which hosts The Forum.
Zohran Mamdani is a democratic socialist and candidate for mayor of New York City. He rose to prominence earlier this year, winning the New York City Democratic Mayoral primary in June. Mamdani has received endorsements from various figures on the American left, but Kristol’s statements may mark the first show of support from the Never-Trump Republican movement.
Kristol has also endorsed reparations, which would cost trillions of dollars and require massive tax increases that would damage our free-market economy.
Libertarian “Never Trumpers” have taken aggressively left-wing stances at odds with free-market principles, such as supporting socialist Zohran Mamdani; supporting pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies that cost taxpayers over $400 billion; supporting spending trillions of dollars on reparations; and supporting trillions of dollars in government stimulus payments under Biden and Trump.
On the progressive website Bluesky, the head of the Libertarian Party from 2014-2020 endorsed socialist Zohran Mandami over his competitors, such as Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate for mayor. Sliwa is pro-free-market and also pro-LGBT (making Sliwa more similar to New York City libertarians than any other candidate in the race). Here is his Bluesky post endorsing socialist Mamdani:
Ironically, the socialist Mamdani, who is a left-wing populist, was also endorsed by a Never Trump intellectual who founded a publication called The Unpopulist. She lauds Mamdani in her Bluesky posts below. She was once employed by a free-market, libertarian think-tank. But today, her organization receives funding from the anti-free-market Hewlett Foundation, which has given her $965,000. She has also written many social media posts attacking libertarians and pro-free-market people, including a libertarian publication she once worked for:
