Bret Stephens, a conservative writer and deputy editorial page editor at the Wall Street Journal, is telling his fellow conservatives to consider sacrificing the next presidential election for the sake of “political hygiene.”
Stephens wrote in an op-ed for the Journal on Monday night that if likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton became president, it would mean more liberal policies. But under presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, it would mean unmarrying pure conservatism from the GOP. That, according to Stephens, would be worse.
“For conservatives, a Democratic victory in November means the loss of another election, with all the policy reversals that entails,” Stephens wrote. “That may be dispiriting, but elections will come again. A Trump presidency means losing the Republican Party. Conservatives need to accept that most conservative of wisdoms — sometimes, losing is winning, especially when it offers an education in the importance of political hygiene.”
Trump saw his unconventional candidacy thrive by regularly bucking GOP orthodoxy and traditional conservatism. The chaos left many longtime Republican voters feeling without a party anymore.
In December, Stephens wrote that he was already resigned to a Clinton presidency, telling conservatives in an open letter that they should brace themselves to “lose badly” on Election Day.
