'Throwing in the towel': NYT columnist slammed for urging Trump critics to 'wish new admin well'

25 December 2024

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Veteran New York Times opinion columnist Bret Stephens has often described himself as a "Never Trump conservative," vehemently criticizing President-elect Donald Trump on many occasions.

But in a December 17 column, Stephens called for Trump's critics on the right to "drop the heavy moralizing and incessant doomsaying that typified so much of the Never Trump movement."

In the column, headlined "Done With Never Trump," Stephens wrote, "So here's a thought for Trump's perennial critics, including those of us on the right: Let's enter the new year by wishing the new administration well, by giving some of Trump's cabinet picks the benefit of the doubt, by dropping the lurid historical comparisons to past dictators, by not sounding paranoid about the ever-looming end of democracy, by hoping for the best and knowing that we need to fight the wrongs that are real and not merely what we fear, that whatever happens, this too shall pass. Enjoy the holidays."

Stephens' column has been drawing a great deal of criticism from liberals and progressives as well as from Never Trumpers. And the Times has been receiving letters from readers who find Stephens' arguments unconvincing.

Santa Rosa, California resident John Mason said of the incoming second Trump Administration, "I want them to fail at every horrible thing they try to do. Does wishing them well include hoping they will have a change of heart, pursue less cruel and destructive policies? Not much chance of that happening under Donald Trump. So I'm sorry, Bret, but I can't bring myself to wish them well."

Philip A. Paoli Jr. Seaford, New York told the Times that seeing Stephens "throwing in the towel" gave him "great sadness."

Paoli argued, "It is also not paranoia to take seriously and to act preemptively against the anti-democratic ideas and policies put forth by Mr. Trump and those in his immediate orbit. These include political retribution, use of the Insurrection Act to deploy the military, negating the 14th Amendment's guarantee of birthright citizenship through an executive order and other end runs around the Constitution."

Peter Der Sarkisian of Reading, Massachusetts told the Times, "Bret Stephens' column is a recipe for making lemonade out of the political lemon facing the United States. There isn't enough sugar in the world to make the only person who has disrupted America's peaceful transition of power palatable."

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