It’s hard to tell whether or not #NeverTrump is just a social media sensation or if it will result in a contested convention that sees Donald Trump being shown the door if he fails to secure 1,237 delegates prior to the start of the Republican National Convention in July.

I am happy to say that I was #NeverTrump before it was even fashionable to do so. I was rather disgusted the way the party tried to cozy up to Trump in 2012 despite him going full on birther with Barack Obama, something the party did not need at all but especially during a time when Obama was vulnerable. But there was the Orange Menace, making a fool of himself in every way claiming Obama was born in Kenya.

Nice going, guy. 

Fast forward to April of 2014 when nobody is really sure who will collectively be running in 2016. Yet for whatever reason, Donald Trump was still getting invited to CPAC and still getting invited to Republican events and I thought to myself, “What the hell is going on here?”

So on April 15, 2014 I wrote the post, “Conservatives: It’s Past Time To Tell Donald Trump To Get Lost.” I wrote:

Just what is it about Donald Trump that continues to fascinate conservatives and Republicans?
He was a speaker at CPAC in March. He was also a speaker at the AFP sponsored ‘Freedom Summit’ in New Hampshire this past weekend, and he’s speaking at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans at the end of May. With all that is mighty and holy I feel like screaming

“Why?!?!”

There is no nice way to say this: Donald Trump is a clown. He’s a charlatan who cares about one thing, and one thing only: Donald Trump.

Sound familiar?

Many Trump fans think those of us who have embraced #NeverTrump do so because we’re being paid to do by….somebody. They claim it’s the “establishment” who is writing the checks but all it takes is a cursory glance around to see it is establishment Republicans who are embracing Trump. It’s hilarious. The very people Trumpkins rail about day in and day out as the reason Trump is “unstoppable” are the ones who are starting to warm to Trump. They also accuse us of wanting to see Hillary Clinton elected.

Funnier still is the charge is being leveled by people who in the past would have laughed at the idea of Donald Trump being a conservative – I’m looking directly at you, Sean Hannity, Eric Bolling, Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham. All of whom have television shows that need ratings and books to sell.

Meanwhile, the real conservatives, those of us  who have been fighting liberals and progressives for a long time and doing the actual work, are the ones who reject Trump and his make believe conservatism.

One person who had Trump pegged as a fraud early on was Andrew Breitbart. I never had the pleasure of meeting the man, but it was Andrew who really got me back into politics after the 2008 election. He was inspiring to me for two major reasons.

His attitude and his understanding of culture and how it is important to politics.

For the longest time, conservatives (and do today as well) feel like they need to offer explanations for what they believe. The reason being is, the left is famous for shutting down debate by screaming about some kind of “ism” loudly and doing it over and over. Andrew’s attitude was essentially, “This is what I believe in and if you don’t like it, screw you.” It was perfect. And it was necessary.

Andrew also understood the influence culture has on politics. He famously said, “Politics is downstream from culture.” But a lot of people don’t know what he said just after that. He said, ” I want to change the cultural narrative.” His goal was to influence the legislative processing Washington, not wasting time attacking the people and organizations he felt drove the debate.

In addition, Andrew recognized Trump for the fraud that he is. Many of you have no doubt seen the clip below. It’s worth watching again:

He knew.

A lot of us have known. This is nothing new for us.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore