never-trump
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Bill Kristol
Bill Kristol spent four decades as a top operative and editor of the American right - chief of staff to Dan Quayle, founding editor of The Weekly Standard, co-architect of the Project for the New American Century - before becoming one of conservatism's most prominent defectors. Today he runs Defending Democracy Together and is editor-at-large of The Bulwark, where the man once called 'Dan Quayle's brain' now spends his days arguing against the movement his family helped invent. In May 2026 he registered as a Democrat.
Charlie Sykes
Charlie Sykes spent 23 years as one of Wisconsin's most influential conservative talk-radio voices, then walked away and turned his fire on his own movement. He co-founded The Bulwark, became a fixture of the Never Trump opposition, and now writes the Substack newsletter and hosts the podcast 'To the Contrary.' Author of nine books and an MSNBC contributor, he is a rare media figure who publicly reckoned with the part talk radio played in remaking the American right.
David Frum
David Frum is a Canadian-American staff writer at The Atlantic and host of The David Frum Show, the podcast where he turns four decades of conservative argument on the movement that produced him. He coined the phrase 'axis of evil' as a speechwriter for George W. Bush, wrote ten books, and became one of the most quoted voices of the Never Trump right. The son of legendary Canadian broadcaster Barbara Frum, he left the Republican Party in November 2024 after a lifetime inside it.
Jonah Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg is a conservative journalist, author, and podcaster who co-founded The Dispatch in 2019 after a 21-year run at National Review, where he launched National Review Online. He hosts the long-running interview podcast The Remnant, writes the twice-weekly G-File newsletter, holds the Asness Chair in Applied Liberty at the American Enterprise Institute, and writes a syndicated column. The author of three books including the No. 1 New York Times bestseller Liberal Fascism, he has become one of the most prominent 'ideologically grounded but politically homeless' voices on the American right, having walked away from Fox News in protest in 2021.
Tom Nichols
Tom Nichols is a staff writer at The Atlantic, professor emeritus of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, and author of The Death of Expertise. A Cold War scholar who spent decades teaching strategy to military officers, he became one of America's most-read voices on the collapse of trust in experts and the fragility of democracy. He is also, improbably, a five-time undefeated Jeopardy! champion and a curmudgeonly New England cat guy who once played a fictional pundit on HBO's Succession.
Mona Charen
Mona Charen is a syndicated political columnist, author, and podcast host who has spent four decades at the center of American conservative commentary. A former speechwriter for Nancy Reagan and one of the original Never Trump voices, she writes with unflinching honesty about the GOP's drift toward extremism. Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and host of The Mona Charen Show on The Bulwark, she is one of the few conservative commentators who has maintained intellectual consistency through decades of partisan turbulence.