President Donald Trump in the White House Oval Office after the swearing-in ceremony for Jeanine Pirro, interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, on May 28, 2025 (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian/Flickr)
Conservative Peter Wehner, now 64, was a speechwriter in the administrations of three Republican presidents: Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. But Wehner's relationship with the Republican Party started to go sour when, in January 2016, he wrote a New York Times op-ed headlined, "Why I Will Never Vote for Donald Trump." And unlike all the prominent Republicans who were major Trump critics in 2016 but went on to become strong supporters — a group that includes now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York) and now-Vice President JD Vance — Wehner has remained firmly in the Never Trump camp.
In a scathing article published by The Atlantic on May 31, Wehner describes Trump's second administration as a "thugocracy" that defies "constitutional conservatism."
"Not too long ago," Wehner explains, "many Republicans proudly referred to themselves as 'constitutional conservatives.' They believed in the rule of law; in limiting the power of government, especially the federal government; in protecting individual liberty; and in checks and balances and the separation of powers…. One of the reasons Roe v. Wade was viewed as a travesty by conservatives is that they believed the 1973 Supreme Court decision twisted the Constitution to invent a 'right to privacy' in order to legalize abortion. The decision, they felt, was driven by a desired outcome rather than a rigorous analysis of legal precedent or constitutional text, which is why it’s hard to think of a more anti-conservative figure than President Donald Trump or a more anti-conservative movement than MAGA."
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Wehner adds, "Trump and his supporters evince a disdain for laws, procedures, and the Constitution. They want to empower the federal government in order to turn it into an instrument of brute force that can be used to reward allies and destroy opponents."
The Never Trump conservative cites a variety of ways in which Trump is rejecting "constitutional conservatism" during his second presidency.
"Trump and his administration have abolished agencies and imposed sweeping tariffs even when they don't have the legal authority to do so," Wehner observes. "They are deporting people without due process. Top aides are floating the idea of suspending the writ of habeas corpus, one of the most important constitutional protections against unlawful detention. Judges, who are the target of threats from the president, fear for their safety. So do the very few Republicans who are willing to assert their independence from Trump."
Wehner continues, "In one of his first official acts, Trump granted clemency to more than 1500 people charged in connection with the violent attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, including those convicted of seditious conspiracy. The president and his family are engaging in a level of corruption that was previously unfathomable. And he and his administration have shown no qualms about using the federal government to target private companies, law firms, and universities; suing news organizations for baseless reasons; and ordering criminal probes into former administration officials who criticized Trump. The Trump Administration is a thugocracy, and the Republican Party he controls supports him each step of the way. Almost every principle to which Republicans once professed fealty has been jettisoned. The party is now devoted to the abuse of power and to vengeance."
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Peter Wehner's full article is available at this link (subscription required).