Donald Trump at the Trump International Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey on July 28, 2022 (Image: Shutterstock)
In his latest piece for The Bulwark, neoconservative Never Trumper Bill Kristol stresses that President Donald Trump's crude antics underscore two painful truths: He is an embarrassment to the GOP, but Democrats still lost two elections to him.
Referring to Trump's posting of a "racist and fake" AI-generated video depicting House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) in a sombrero and exaggerated mustache and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in a fake voice, arguing for immigrants to get "free health care," Kristol says that while Jeffries and Schumer showed impressive discipline in their responses, their tone was "too mild for my taste."
"But I do feel, both for the sake of political hygiene and the historical record, that someone should tell the simple truth: Donald Trump is a vulgar bigot and a reprehensible human being," Kristol says.
And though Kristol does note that the two sides "hurling charges at each other" may indeed be what Trump wants, he also describes the obligatory need for pushback.
"He is unworthy to serve in any high office in this country, let alone its highest. Just because he’s acted this way before doesn’t mean we should let it go unremarked upon," Kristol says, adding, "If anything, it makes the obligation to call him out in these moments that much greater."
Kristol also says that as reprehensible as he finds Trump to be, there are still too many people who don't feel that way, arguing there needs to be a serious wakeup call among theGOP.
"At some point, Republicans will have to face up to the fact that they have nominated this lowlife three times for president, and that their party continues to slavishly support him," Kristol says. "Democrats will have to face up to the fact that they have twice failed to defeat him."
"Americans will have to face up to the fact that we have twice elected this man as president, and that far too many of us are still not repulsed by him. It would be good if that point came sooner rather than later," Kristol says.