The former RedState CEO Erick Erickson caused quite a commotion in 2016 when he became one of the first conservatives to publicly declare himself a “NeverTrump” Republican.
Shortly after that, Erickson left RedState, divorced himself from CPAC, and joined the rest of the NeverTrump conservative movement in their increasingly-irrelevant punditspheres.
But instead of getting hired on with The Bulwark, the internet’s new home for wayward neocons who have no other place to bash Trump while still pretending to be against the Democrats, Erickson admitted Monday that he was done flirting with the squishy middle.
From Erickson’s column in The Resurgent:
I could stay home or vote third party as I did in 2016. But what will that get me? The ability to say “not my problem” or the self-assurance that I didn’t get dirty in having to choose? I have many Christian friends who, when I have discussed this, tell me I should just stay home and turn my back. Both parties, they tell me, are profoundly corrupt. And they’re right. But I am not looking for a messiah in politics and don’t have some religious sentiment tied to my vote. While I understand and accept the sincere conviction of some of my friends who have decided they will just sit out the process, I have decided otherwise. In 2016, we knew who the Democrats were and were not sure of who Donald Trump was. Now we know both and I prefer this President to the alternative.
I will vote for Donald Trump and Mike Pence. And, to be clear, it will not be just because of what the other side offers, but also because of what the Trump-Pence team has done. They’ve earned my vote.
That’s all fine and well, and we get what Erickson is saying about how the Trump administration has proven itself over the last two years. And we applaud his decision to finally recognize that Trump has made America great again in a lot of very real, very tangible conservative ways.
But to pretend, as he does throughout his column, like it is some sort of revelation that the Democratic Party stands for infanticide, hostility towards religion, economic insanity in the service of climate change, or the weaponization of race and gender is just too much to take.
Erickson knew all of this in 2016 when he voted third-party and put the future of our nation in serious jeopardy. It is only through God’s grace that his decision – and the decisions of other “conservatives” like him – did not result in President Hillary Clinton.
Now he realizes that there’s “much to like” about President Trump. Well, good for you, dude. Glad to have you on board finally.
But don’t expect anyone to ever again take you seriously as a conservative pundit. That ship sailed in 2016.