Evan McMullin, #NeverTrump's Pointless Desperation Candidate

Daniel R. DePetris

Politics, United States

His bid is an airline seat that converts into a life jacket as the GOP plane crashes into a mountain.

Prominent conservatives continue to shake their heads in utter disbelief that the Republican Party is now for all intents and purposes the Party of Trump. Writers like Bill Kristol, David French, Erick Erickson and Jay Cost are apoplectic that the Party of Lincoln and Reagan is now being led by a man who is happy taking potshots at members of his own party and playing gutter politics the likes of which would make Reagan roll over in his grave. Conservative columnist George Will has left the Republican Party after decades as a proud member; to Donald Trump and millions of his supporters, good riddance.

But, to borrow a phrase from Lenin (and Chernyshevsky before him), what is to be done? Some #NeverTrump diehards will be crossing party lines and voting for Hillary Clinton in the fall. The launch of an independent conservative candidate in Evan McMullin, however, could in fact persuade some conservatives who have thought about voting for Hillary from taking a second look towards someone who shares their ideology. And they can hardly be faulted for thinking there’s an opening for someone. With the stark exception of a July 21–August 4 Reuters/Ipsos poll that places Donald Trump within three percentage points of Clinton, the Trump campaign has been murdered in virtually every poll released this month. The latest Monmouth University poll puts Clinton ahead of Trump by twelve points nationally (46 percent–34 percent). Another poll from last week has the former Secretary of State ahead by a massive fifteen points (a margin greater than the blowout Reagan-Carter contest). And the battleground states aren't much better for the billionaire: down six in Florida, down fifteen in New Hampshire, and down four in Georgia.