Prominent “never-Trump” conservative Bill Kristol said Saturday that Republican voters should back a presidential ticket led by Gretchen Whitmer in 2024.
Kristol made the comments during the Principles First Summit, a gathering of Never Trump conservatives in D.C., Politico reports. The event featured panels with titles such as “Looking to 2024: Hope and Despair — but Mostly Despair” and “Can the GOP survive?” (RELATED: ‘Girls Are Going To Be Just Fine’: Dem Lawmaker Dismisses Female Athletes’ Concerns About Trans Competitors)
While some conference attendees were focused on reforming the Republican Party from within, others backed a strategy of promoting moderate Democrats in order to push out populist, right-wing GOP candidates.
“It turns out that once you let the toothpaste out of the tube, so to speak, demagoguery and bigotry and all that, some people like it. It’s hard to get it back,” Kristol said. “You can’t just give them a lecture.”
never-trump hosted a counter event to CPAC with david frum, charlie sykes, adam kinzinger, bill kristol, and john kasich. only 300 people showed up and attendees were wearing ukraine pins 😂 pic.twitter.com/krGhQ2dCFc
— Logan Hall (@loganclarkhall) March 7, 2023
Kristol then suggested that never-Trump Republicans should back a presidential ticket made up of Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Democratic Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger.
“We need to defeat the Trump Republicans. And if that means being with the Democrats for a while, that’s fine,” Kristol said.