As it became increasingly apparent that Donald Trump might actually become the Republican party's 2016 presidential nominee, alarmed conservatives coalesced behind a simple, uncompromising slogan: Never Trump. Although the movement initially included a large number of Republican office-holders, its white-hot core was always comprised of the policy experts, public intellectuals, and campaign professionals who play a critical role in the modern political party system. They saw in Trump a repudiation of longstanding conservative doctrine and, in his unprincipled appeals to voters, the kind of demagogue the founders famously warned about. Never Trumpers took their shot at denying Trump the presidency-everything from flailing attempts to coalesce around other Republican candidates and collective letters of opposition, to a desperate third party challenge and even supporting their longtime nemesis Hillary Clinton. But in their attempt to kill the king, they missed. Now on the margins of a party that has enthusiastically united around the president, Never Trumpers have been reduced to the status of a remnant, shut out from government and hoping for a day when their party awakens from its Trumpist spell. Based on extensive interviews with conservative opponents of the president, Robert P. Saldin and Steven M. Teles reveal why such a wide range of committed partisans chose to break with their longtime comrades in arms. Never Trump provides a window into the motivations of these conservative professionals and a guide to the long-term consequences that their unprecedented revolt holds for the Republican and Democratic parties, conservatism, and American democracy.

About the Author
Robert P. Saldinis Professor of Political Science at the University of Montana. He is the author ofWhen Bad Policy Makes Good Politics(Oxford, 2017) andWar, the American State, and Politics since 1898(2011). He is also a frequent contributor to the popular press, having written for, among others,The Washington Post,National Affairs, The American Interest, and The Washington Monthly. Steven M. Telesis Professor of Political Science at the Johns Hopkins University and a Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center. He is the author or co-author of The Captured Economy(Oxford, 2017); Prison Break(Oxford, 2016); The Rise of the Conservative Legal Movement(2008);and Whose Welfare: AFDC and Elite Politics(1996). In addition, he is the co-editor of Conservatism and American Political Development(Oxford, 2009) and Ethnicity, Social Mobility and Public Policy(2005). He has also written widely in a number of general interest publications, fromThe Nation,Democracy,The Washington Monthly,and The American Prospect, toThe Public Interest, National ReviewandNational Affairs.

Reviews
"What was the Never Trump movement within the Republican Party: the last rattle of something old--or a harbinger of something new? Saldin and Teles delve deep into the conservative resistance to Trump's ascendancy, seeking to predict what happens next, not only for conservative politics, but for American democracy."-David Frum, author of Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic "This is a fascinating study of the Republican Establishment's utter failure in 2016 to prevent its nightmare candidate, Donald Trump, from becoming its party's presidential nominee. Filled with amazingly candid on-the-record interviews with the major players, it offers a fair-minded and precise portrait of the Never Trumpers. There are lessons for Democrats here, too, and not just about life in the other party." -Nicholas Lemann, Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Professor of Journalism and Dean Emeritus, Columbia Journalism School, and author of Transaction Man "Who are the Never Trumpers, what do they want, and what are their stories? Robert P. Saldin and Steven Teles have produced the go-to work on a movement that will likely prove of enduring influence in American politics." -Tyler Cowen, Professor of Economics, George Mason University, and author of The Complacent Class "An object of both scorn and celebration, the Never Trump movement has yet to be the subject of serious analysis. Never Trump fills this vacuum with fresh arguments, evidence, and revelations. Drawing in part on dozens of interviews with prominent Never Trumpers, Saldin and Teles explain why, even as virtually all elected Republicans bent the knee, a broad set of conservative intellectuals and policy insiders remained (and remain) in opposition. Whatever your view of Never Trumpers, you will be enlightened--and challenged--by this book." -Jacob S. Hacker, Professor of Political Science, Yale University, and co-author of Let Them Eat Tweets: How the Right Rules in an Age of Extreme Inequality "A fascinating contemporary history of the Conservative Establishment and its astonishing defeat in 2016 by Donald Trump. Featured are the eddies and counter currents typical of political thinking and the authors' own even-handed analysis. As ever in politics, the theme is honor and how it is construed." -Harvey Mansfield, Kenan Professor of Government, Harvard, and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford



Book Information
ISBN 9780190880446
Author Robert P. Saldin
Format Hardback
Page Count 304
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 590g
Dimensions(mm) 163mm * 239mm * 25mm