There’s been a lot of buzz this morning about an article in Huffington Post in which a bunch of cowardly anonymous Republican staffers and lobbyists blast #NeverTrump for “moral preening.” Only one source – a lobbyist – was willing to go on record for the story and even then he was careful to state that he wasn’t attacking the donors, goodness, no.

Meanwhile, the #NeverTrump side of the story happily responded on the record with quotes they were not ashamed to have associated with their actual names and occupations. This really follows a pattern that we have become used to. People like Erick Erickson, Bill Kristol, Glenn Beck are open about what they believe. They attach their name to it. They suffer the anger of thousands or millions of the worst people on planet earth. They get angry phone calls to their sponsors and their places of employment. Their families are confronted by angry Trumpkins in public places.

Meanwhile, a bunch of anonymous cowardly people lob attacks at them for “moral preening” – which apparently means stating what you believe and putting your name next to it. Some of these people are the tough guy alt-right racists on twitter, almost all of whom hide behind anonymity. Some are like the cowardly staffers and lobbyists quoted in this HuffPost piece – less personally odious but no less cowardly or craven.

If they feel so strongly that enthusiastically supporting Trump is the right thing for everyone to do, then why are they too afraid to put their actual name and job behind this pronouncement? Why aren’t they willing to risk literally anything for these convictions that they allegedly hold with such strength?

Well, it’s pretty simple, really, and it’s the same reason that #NeverTrump people make them so angry: they view that nothing in the world is as important as their own continued employment in the halls of power in DC. Everything else is secondary to that. Anything that might reflect poorly on their political ladder-climbing must be done anonymously to a willing press. Taking a side publicly on something as polarizing as Trump is absolutely unthinkable. However, other people should be shamed into doing so because their refusal to get on board is potentially affecting their career.

Look, give me a break. This country is more important than the preservation of your station and access to power. You should act like it by having the stones to lay your opinion on the line with your name attached to it. Otherwise just go back and cower in your hole like you were before.