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There are a lot of things in life where a change throws everything off. As a pilot, if I jump into a plane I’ve never flown before, I can probably keep us from dying, but it’s not going to be a pretty landing.

To give another example, I also play the electric guitar, and anyone who likewise does knows the level of comfort you build with your instrument. Can I pick up any guitar and make noise? Sure, but am I going to sound good if the action is sky-high, the string gauge isn’t what I’m used to, the neck is too big, and the pickups were wound in a Chinese sweatshop? The answer is obviously, no.

That’s the type of existential crisis that is plaguing the Never Trump movement right now. For the last seven years or so, they’ve built their personalities and political strategies around attacking one man: Donald J. Trump.

But what happens when the target of their ire is no longer the bad orange man? The answer is that you get stuff like this from Amanda Carpenter of The Bulwark.

Hold on. This insight snapped my head to attention. “DeSantis went to war against Disney. Biden went to war for Ukraine.” https://t.co/slK7cjg0lU

— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) February 18, 2023

I’m thinking she might want that “insight” back given that Ron DeSantis actually served in Iraq, embedded as an advisor with a SEAL team. Meanwhile, Joe Biden received multiple draft deferments to avoid going to Vietnam so he could instead pal around with his segregationist buddies. So who of those two “went to war” again?

Further, I didn’t realize governors could declare war. It is DeSantis’ job to deal with domestic, state-level issues like ending Disney’s self-governing status. It’s not his job to fight in Ukraine. Besides, did we declare war on Russia, and I just missed it?

Do you see what I mean? She really didn’t think that one through, and that’s evidence of the problem. With Trump, because these people had so honed their attacks around a singular figure for years on end, they were able to launch them with some sense of precision. Sure, it was all still mostly partisan nonsense, but they at least had their citations ready and a target who was more than apt to give them the murky waters they needed to appear somewhat credible. Not credible to conservatives, of course, but to their target audience, which mostly consists of urban-dwelling, college-educated liberals.

To put it more summarily, Never Trump needs Trump, and that explains Alyssa Farrah’s latest bout of political “analysis” (you can click here to watch the video).

She’s just so good at this. pic.twitter.com/OM6Bfam5hp

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) February 21, 2023

There are two parts to this. The first is that Farah obviously fears DeSantis because she believes, whether it’s true or not, that he is the most formidable general election candidate. I won’t bore you with more clips of her, but Farah’s crusade against DeSantis has been going on for months between her appearances on The View and CNN. She continually makes the claim that DeSantis isn’t popular, to the point where she’s now willing to compliment Trump if it means downing the Florida man.

What’s that tell you? It tells you that Never Trump recognizes their relevancy is tied to Trump himself. They need him to be the 2024 nominee. There’s a reason The Lincoln Project is focusing on DeSantis now. There’s a reason Farah is calling Trump “smart” while insisting that DeSantis is driving independents away.

That brings me to the second part of Farah’s commentary, which again highlights the crisis these people are going through. Their attacks don’t land because they are so obviously false. In reality, DeSantis is +12.4 percent with independents in the aggregate against Joe Biden (after winning Florida by 19 points last November). So what is Farah even talking about?

The answer is that she doesn’t know. Instead, she’s just flinging whatever against the wall in hopes of ending up with the foil that makes her so much money. That’s the contradiction and crisis of Never Trump. They hate the man they need the most.