Never Trumpers Talk, But Don't Do Much

(h/t John) But at least they talk:

Q: To what extent has President Donald Trump and his influence on the Republican Party contributed to your decision to retire?

STIPANOVICH: ... Let me be as subtle as I can. I think he’s a disgusting man and a disgraceful president. And I believe that he and what he stands for poses an existential threat to American democracy. But other than that, I have no strong views.

As for the party, Trump hasn’t transformed the party, in my judgment, as much as he has unmasked it. There was always a minority in the Republican party ― 25, 30 percent — that, how shall we say this, that hailed extreme views, aberrant views. They’ve always been there, from the John Birchers in the ’50s, who thought Dwight Eisenhower was a communist, to the Trump folks today who think John McCain’s a traitor. They had different names — the religious right, tea partiers — but they’ve always been there. They were a fairly consistent, fairly manageable minority who we, the establishment, enabled and exploited.

But ... because of profound changes in the economy worldwide as we transition from an industrial economy to a service economy and as the browning of America continues over time ... and all of the roiling in society on various cultural issues, whether it’s gay rights or whatever, all of those pressures caused that minority to metastasize.

It became a majority and a growing majority. It was Trump’s genius that he sensed the rot in the party and rather than making a quixotic third-party run, like Ross Perot or George Wallace, and losing, he had the vision to hijack the party of Ronald Reagan. I think he’s doing very, very significant damage that I hope is not irreparable.

He daily attacks and batters the guardrails of democracy, whether it’s a free press, an independent judiciary, congressional oversight. ... He’s an authoritarian, which explains his affinity for authoritarians, and to the extent that he has brought a significant portion of America to doubt even the existence of objective truth, it’s dangerous.