Historic Republicans/Conservatives that have bailed due to Trump

[Aristotle]

Why I’m Leaving the Republican Party - Tom Nichols, professor at the U.S. Naval War College.

The Republicans, however, have now eclipsed the Democrats as a threat to the rule of law and to the constitutional norms of American society. They have become all about winning. Winning means not losing, and so instead of acting like a co-equal branch of government responsible for advice and consent, congressional Republicans now act like a parliamentary party facing the constant threat of a vote of no confidence.

That it is necessary to place limitations, including self-limitations, on the exercise of power is—or was—a core belief among conservatives. No longer. Raw power, wielded so deftly by Senator Mitch McConnell, is exercised for its own sake, and by that I mean for the sake of fleecing gullible voters on hot-button social issues so that Republicans can stay in power. Of course, the institutional GOP will say that it countenances all of Trump’s many sins, and its own straying from principle, for good reason (including, of course, the holy grail of ending legal abortion).

Politics is about the exercise of power. But the new Trumpist GOP is not exercising power in the pursuit of anything resembling principles, and certainly not for conservative or Republican principles.

Free trade? Republicans are suddenly in love with tariffs, and now sound like bad imitations of early-1980s protectionist Democrats. A robust foreign policy? Not only have Republicans abandoned their claim to being the national-security party, they have managed to convince the party faithful that Russia—an avowed enemy that directly attacked our political institutions—is less of a threat than their neighbors who might be voting for Democrats. Respect for law enforcement? The GOP is backing Trump in attacks on the FBI and the entire intelligence community as Special Counsel Robert Mueller closes in on the web of lies, financial arrangements, and Russian entanglements known collectively as the Trump campaign.

But whatever my concerns about liberals, the true authoritarian muscle is now being flexed by the GOP, in a kind of buzzy, steroidal McCarthyism that lacks even anti-communism as a central organizing principle. The Republican Party, which controls all three branches of government and yet is addicted to whining about its own victimhood, is now the party of situational ethics and moral relativism in the name of winning at all costs.

[Aristotle]

George Conway, the husband of presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway:

The administration is like a shitshow in a dumpster fire.

Conway has emerged as an outspoken and notable critic of the President in large part due to his marriage to one of Trump's closest aides. He first began using his Twitter account to weigh in on the President's decisions and retweet articles that are less than flattering for the White House. More recently, he's taken to penning op-eds criticizing Trump's policies and decisions. Conway recently called Trump's appointment of acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker and the President's proposal to end birthright citizenship "unconstitutional."

Conway admitted that he didn't know if he would support Trump in the election if given a chance to do it again.

"My view was he was the lesser evil," he said. "I don't know. If faced with the choice again, I'd probably move to Australia."