The GOP has left Never Trumpers. Will Never Trumpers leave the GOP?

The last vestige of Nikki Haley’s role as a Republican alternative to Donald Trump has now vanished along with her self-esteem. On Tuesday, she released her delegates and encouraged them to support Trump, whom she recently called “diminished” and “unhinged.” But where does that leave Republicans in state after state who gave their votes to Haley or other candidates as a protest against their party’s embrace of Trump?

Some Never Trump Republicans appear serious about refusing to vote for a man they see as a threat to the viability of the GOP and the stability of the nation. That includes former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan who said in May that Trump had “disqualified himself through his conduct and character,” and urged Republicans to vote for a Biden as the first step in rebuilding a post-Trump Republican Party. 

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who voted for Trump in 2020, followed suit in June, calling Trump “a direct threat to every fundamental American value” and insisting that he was voting for Biden to “protect the very thing that makes America the best country in the world: our democracy.”

But the biggest thing Kinzinger and Duncan have in common is that first word in their titles: “former.” Again and again, Republican politicians have found that opposing Trump is a ticket to a swift departure from a party now defined by loyalty to one man. Republicans who once sneered at Trump have become some of his most sycophantic supporters.

The voters who went with Haley in the Republican presidential primary could easily make the difference in November. But where will they go now?