Don’t blame Never Trumpers for Biden’s failures

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For his enthusiastic supporters, President Joe Biden was meant to be a fresh and necessary change after four years of President Donald Trump.

The events of January 6 worked in favor of the president-elect. The country has learned that an embarrassing, inept and undemocratic chapter is coming to an end. Biden’s America would be better. Only eight months after the start of this new administration, the opposite is true. In addition to dismal failures abroad, COVID-19 continues to rage and illegal immigration is exploding, to name just a few problems. All of this is happening as a man too far advanced to lead tries to do so.

For many who have called themselves Never Trump, this current reality is not what they wanted. An unknown amount of those who loudly rejected the former president did not do so as Biden supporters. Contrary to what some disgruntled Republicans believe, not supporting Trump was (and is) not a hug from a Democratic opponent.

Immediately after the disaster of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, Republicans backing Trump sarcastically proposed, “At least there are no mean tweets. Like it or not, Trump’s character as president was an issue. Nasty tweets are, in fact, non-presidential. But tweets do not represent the full value or success of someone as a leader of our nation. There may not be a daily Twitter misstep attached to Biden, but his blunders are remarkable and quite damaging in themselves.

At the start of Biden’s presidency, some well-known Trump supporters were already blaming Never Trumpers for the new president’s mistakes. And that was before the recent catastrophes on foreign soil. Unsurprisingly, the weight of blame has only increased since then. On the flip side, pundits like Max Boot have even grabbed their pearls in reaction to the GOP’s criticism of Biden. In his mind, a Trump-led GOP no longer has any credibility. This unfairly shields Biden from all the guilt.

As supporters bicker and point fingers, the Never Trumpers contingent that could not support either Trump or Biden sees guilt on all sides. Part of the reason there is a President Biden is that President Trump opened the door for a Democratic challenger while he was Commander-in-Chief. Democrats saw the opportunity, came up with a supposedly harmless candidate, and won. But not being Trump is not enough to make someone competent. The words, actions and continued policies of the current administration reinforce this fact.

Neither Trump nor Biden are entitled to the votes of disgruntled individuals, regardless of their party affiliation. Yes, their respective candidacies and presidencies have won over many fans. These admirers were and will remain, no matter the tweets or the foreign policy disasters.

According to staunch Biden supporters, this administration continues to be an improvement over the previous one. If you ask those who are loyal to Trump, they will say the opposite is true and want Trump back. Biden may not be sparking his own Never Trump movement, but that doesn’t mean he’s a favorable choice. It doesn’t mean Trump should have another chance at the helm, either.

Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a columnist at Arc Digital.

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