Conservative insider rips Republicans: Should 'take the keys away' from Trump

Having unseated at least five Indiana state lawmakers and Sen. Bill Casssidy (R-Louisiana) via GOP primaries, President Donald Trump is hoping to do the same thing to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) — whose fate will be decided this Tuesday, May 19, when Kentucky voters choose between him and Trump-backed MAGA challenger, Ed Gallrein. Veteran conservative consultant Stuart Stevens weighed in on that race and others during a Monday afternoon appearance on MS NOW, arguing that Republicans are tearing their party apart by living in nonstop fear of Trump.

Stevens himself has a long history in the Republican Party. As a GOP consultant, he worked closely with everyone from former President George W. Bush to the late Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona). But the Never Trump conservative is a scathing critic of Trump and the MAGA movement, and he is rooting for Democrats in the 2026 midterms.

When MS NOW's Chris Jansing noted Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-South Carolina) statement on Trump — "If you try to destroy him, you're going to get destroyed" — Stevens responded, "Well, you know, I'm just glad these guys weren't around in 1776, because we'd still be celebrating the king's birthday."

Stevens continued, "I mean, what? Like, the idea that we're going to go up against the most powerful army in the world and the English king? Of course not. You'd be destroyed. These are really sort of weak Americans who represent, I think, the worst of politics. They are public figures that become smaller every day. And you know, Cassidy — Sen. Cassidy, Dr. Cassidy — is just a tragic figure. Though anything that involves Donald Trump seems to be more of a farce. He's someone who, as a young doctor, a lot of his career was dedicated to helping create vaccine programs in schools, particularly for underprivileged kids. And yet, he cast the deciding vote to nominate (Robert F. Kennedy) Jr. And, you know, nobody makes these people vote for Donald Trump."

Cassidy, Stevens lamented, "didn't have to support Trump" with the RFK Jr. nomination but did so anyway.

The Never Trump conservative told Jansing, "He's someone who, as a young doctor, a lot of his career was dedicated to helping create vaccine programs in schools, particularly for underprivileged kids. And yet, he cast the deciding vote to nominate RFK Jr…. I think that the Republican Party is no longer a traditional American y political party. It's an extremist movement. And everything we're seeing play out here is how extremist movements operate. They just become more extreme, with higher and higher levels of purity test. And it wasn't like a moderate element of the Red Guard finally ended the Red Guard. And it's not going to happen. And that's why somebody like me that's spent a lot of my career pointing out flaws in Democratic Party — you have to vote for the Democratic Party. It's the only pro-democracy party in America."

Stevens warned that one need only read Trump's rants on Truth Social to realize that his mental health is not good.

Stevens told Jansing, "If Donald Trump was a member of your family and was staying up late at night posting these absolutely nutty things, saying, I'm Jesus Christ — I mean, what would you do? You would start talking about how to take the keys away and how to get this guy some help. And it's going to just get worse."

Stevens made it clear that flaws and all, he considers voting Democrat a no-brainer in the 2026 midterms.

The veteran conservative consultant told Jansing, "It's just proving that they're digging themselves in deeper, that there's no course correction here — that when you say that there's only one thing that matters to Republicans and that is: is Donald Trump happy?.... The party has just collapsed…. (Sen. John) Cornyn went by the idea that you can feed the alligator, hoping the alligator will eat you last. And that just never works."