When Principled Acts of Heroism Fail

#NeverTrumpers don't cease to amaze me in their so called principled acts of heroism (that is their current coarse and ill-mannered antics)

Listen, trying to either push Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, or #NeverTrump candidate Evan McMullin is one thing – non forgivable, but the nevertheless we live in a democracy, and I am all for freedom of expression – no matter how boorish.

For the record however, I think it is rather amusing - and was pointed out by Stephen Moore here - how for the last few election cycles the "GOP establishment" would lecture us about putting aside our differences so we can build a so called “big tent.”- That is, for the greater good of the party... And like a good sheep, that is exactly what I did...Because despite of the fact that I did not like McCain or Romney (being that I felt very strongly that they were week candidates who did not stand up enough for the for the voter base, and instead of giving Obama a run for his money they pretty much gave him a free pass...
The day they were up for election, I stepped into the ballot and voted for 'em because not only was the opposition was far worse - but because as a true conservative, I vote for the conservative candidate no matter who he is, and I still believe that...

However, apparently Chutzpa of some of the #Never Trump camp knows no bounds - as the Washington Post gleefully reports - apparently “dozens of big-name Republicans (who) [will be] supporting Hillary Clinton for president”...

Here it the list as it stands – and a video from the InfoWars with a list of all #NeverTrumpers to top it off for good measure:

Members of Congress

• Rep. Richard Hanna (N.Y.), a moderate Republican who is retiring this year, told Syracuse.com that he will support Clinton and that Trump is unfit to lead. He cited Trump's criticism of Khizr Khan. "I think Trump is a national embarrassment," Hanna said. "Is he really the guy you want to have the nuclear codes?"

Bush administration officials

• Henry Paulson, treasury secretary
• Carlos Gutierrez, commerce secretary
• Rosario Marin, U.S. treasurer -- "I will stand up for my communityagainst the menace of a tyrannical presidency that does not value the countless contributions of immigrants."
• John Negroponte, director of national intelligence and deputy secretary of state under Bush, five-time ambassador and Reagan deputy national security adviser
• Richard Armitage, deputy secretary of state and adviser to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush — Trump "doesn't appear to be a Republican, he doesn't appear to want to learn about issues. So I’m going to vote for Mrs. Clinton."
• Brent Scowcroft, chairman of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board and adviser to three previous Republican presidents — "The presidency requires the judgment and knowledge to make tough calls under pressure. ... [Clinton] has the wisdom and experience to lead our country at this critical time."
• William Reilly, Environmental Protection Agency adminstrator
• Alan Steinberg, regional EPA administrator
• Robert Blackwill, former deputy national security adviser and ambassador to India
• Scott Evertz, former director of the Office of National AIDS Policy
• Lezlee Westine, former White House director of public liaison and deputy assistant to the president — “Our nation faces a unique set of challenges that require steady and experienced leadership. That is why today I am personally supporting Hillary Clinton."
• Shirin Tahir-Kheli, special assistant to the president and ambassador and senior adviser for women's empowerment under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
• Ashley J. Tellis, special assistant to the president and senior director for strategic planning and Southwest Asia
• David A. Gross, State Department coordinator for international communications and information policy
• James Kunder, assistant administrator for Asia and the Near East at USAID
• Matthew Waxman, senior official in the State Department and Defense Department
• Kori Schake, National Security Council and State Department aide

Officials in previous GOP administrations

• Frank Lavin, former Reagan political director and ambassador to Singapore — "It might not be entirely clear that Hillary Clinton deserves to win the presidency, but it is thunderingly clear that Donald Trump deserves to lose. From this premise, I will do something that I have not done in 40 years of voting: I will vote for the Democratic nominee for president."
• Doug Elmets, former Reagan spokesman — "I could live with four years of Hillary Clinton before I could ever live with one day of Donald Trumpas president." Elmets spoke at the Democratic National Convention, along with other Republicans now backing Clinton.
• Jim Cicconi, former Reagan and George H.W. Bush aide — "Hillary Clinton is experienced, qualified and will make a fine president. The alternative, I fear, would set our nation on a very dark path.”
• Fred T. Goldberg Jr., former assistant U.S. treasury secretary and IRS commissioner under George H.W. Bush
• Charles Fried, former U.S. solicitor general under Reagan and current Harvard Law professor — "Though long a registered Republican, this will be the third consecutive presidential election in which my party forces the choice between party and, in John McCain’s words, putting America first. ... It is to [Mitt] Romney's credit that this year, like John Paulson and George Will, he is standing up against the brutal, substantively incoherent, and authoritarian tendencies of Donald Trump."
• Pete Teeley, press secretary to then-Vice President George H.W. Bush, former U.S. ambassador to Canada and U.S. representative to UNICEF
• Richard Howill, former deputy assistant secretary of state and ambassador to Ecuador under Reagan
• William Ruckelshaus, former Environmental Protection Agency head, deputy attorney general and acting FBI director
• Carla Hills, U.S. trade representative under George H.W. Bush

Foreign policy leaders

• Robert Kagan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, former Reagan State Department aide and adviser to the presidential campaigns of John McCain and Mitt Romney
• Max Boot, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and adviser to GOP presidential candidates — "I'm literally losing sleep over Donald Trump. She would be vastly preferable to Trump."
• Peter Mansoor, retired Army colonel and former aide to former CIA director David Petraeus — "It will be the first Democratic presidential candidate I’ve voted for in my adult life."

Business leaders/donors

• Meg Whitman, former Hewlett-Packard chief executive and California gubernatorial nominee — "Donald Trump's demagoguery has undermined the fabric of our national character. America needs the kind of stable and aspirational leadership Secretary Clinton can provide."
• Marc Andreessen, venture capitalist — "[Silicon] Valley wouldn't be here, we wouldn't be doing any of this if we didn't have the amazing flow of immigrants that we've had in the last 80 years. And the idea of choking that off just makes me sick to my stomach."
• Harry Sloan, head of Global Eagle Acquisition — "He is unprepared and temperamentally unfit to be our president. Most of my Republican friends feel the same way. As a businessman, a father and a conservative, it is clear to me that Hillary Clinton is the right choice in this election."
• Dan Akerson, former chairman and chief executive of General Motors — "Serving as the leader of the free world requires effective leadership, sound judgment, a steady hand and, most importantly, the temperament to deal with crises large and small. Donald Trump lacks each of these characteristics."
• Chuck Robbins, chief executive of Cisco
• Hamid Moghadam, chairman and chief executive of Prologis — "Our country is about tolerance and inclusion and that's why, as a lifelong Republican supporter, I endorse Hillary Clinton for president in this election."
• William Oberndorf, donor of $3 million to GOP candidates since 2012 — "If it is Trump vs. Clinton, and there is no viable third-party candidate, I will be voting for Hillary Clinton."
• Mike Fernandez, $4 million to GOP candidates in recent years — "If I have a choice — and you can put it in bold — if I have a choice between Trump and Hillary Clinton, I’m choosing Hillary. She’s the lesser of two evils."

Former Republican elected officials

• Chris Shays, former congressman from Connecticut — "I have friends who are up for office and they say, you know, if you don't support Donald Trump, you're hurting us because then we have to answer the question.And now I'm going one step further. So I am hurting them. But, you know, there's a time when you put your country first."
• Connie Morella, former congresswoman from Maryland
• David Durenberger, former senator from Minnesota
• William Milliken, who served as governor of Michigan from 1969 to 1983 — "Because I feel so strongly about our nation's future, I will be joining the growing list of former and present government officials incasting my vote for Hillary Clinton for president in 2016.”
• Larry Pressler, former three-term Republican senator from South Dakota who lost an independent campaign for his old seat in 2014 — "I can’t believe I’m endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, but I am. If someone had told me 10 years ago I would do this, I wouldn’t have believed them."
• Arne Carlson, a former two-term Republican governor of Minnesota who supported President Obama
• Robert Smith, former judge on New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals — "This year, I’m going to vote for a Democrat for president  —  the first time I’ve done it in 36 years  —  and I think the decision is easy.Hillary Clinton is the only responsible choice, and I don’t understand why so few of my fellow conservatives see it that way."

Political operatives

• David Nierenberg, finance chairman to Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign
• Mark Salter, former top adviser to John McCain — "Whatever Hillary Clinton’s faults, she’s not ignorant or hateful or a nut. She acts like an adult and understands the responsibilities of an American president. That might not be a ringing endorsement. But in 2016, the year of Trump’s s campaign, it’s more than enough."
• Sally Bradshaw, former top Jeb Bush adviser, told CNN that she had left the Republican Party to become an independent because of Trump's presence at the top of the ticket — and that if the race were close in her home state of Florida this fall, she would be voting for Clinton. "As much as I don't want another four years of [President Barack] Obama's policies, I can't look my children in the eye and tell them I voted for Donald Trump."
• Maria Comella, former spokeswoman for two of Trump's top backers, Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani — "Instead of speaking out against instances of bigotry, racism and inflammatory rhetoric whether it's been against women, immigrants or Muslims, we made a calculus that it was better to say nothing at all in the interest of politics and winning elections."
• Kurt Bardella, former top aide to Rep. Darrel Issa (R-Calif.) and ex-spokesman for Breitbart News -- "A big reason why I decided that Hillary Clinton is the candidate who I’m voting for -- the first Democrat I’m voting for in my life -- is because this is a time where what’s going on is much bigger than partisanship, bigger than Republican or Democrat, or single issues that traditionally these campaigns are about."
• Mike Treiser, former Mitt Romney aide — "In the face of bigotry, hatred, violence, and small-mindedness, this time, I’m with her.”
• Craig Snyder, former chief of staff to then-Republican Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) and an ex-colleague of former top Trump adviser Roger Stone and current top Trump adviser Paul Manafort.

The way I see it, it’s time to erect a wall of shame for these so called conservatives, who like Bret Stephens, want to “make sure Trump is the biggest loser in presidential history” so that we can “rebuild the conservative movement.”…

Well I wonder how well that's going to work out for them. I firmly believe that Stephen Moore is correct when he states (full article here) “if Obama/Hillary win a third straight presidential race, there won’t be a conservative movement left to rebuild. The Republicans will move to the left. Worse, for Obama to win effectively a third term will ‎be a voter validation of all of the destructive policies of the last eight years. This will be one of the greatest victories for liberal governance of all time.

 “Never Trumpers” apparently want to facilitate that…. They must want to ‎hand the left its greatest victory for liberal governance of all time…. And yes, if they do, they are the unforgivable betrayers of conservative principles. And sadly, it is then that principled acts of heroism totally fail…