A leader of the “Never Trump” movement has no plans to let President Trump run for re-election without first facing a primary opponent.
Bill Kristol told CNBC in an interview published Friday that his nonprofit Defending Democracy Together is seeking a Republican to challenge Trump in 2020.
“People aren’t going to say they will run against Trump unless they have the infrastructure, but I’ve been trying to persuade people that it may not be that difficult,” he said.
To prepare, he’s organized a group of activists to poll voters and meet with focus groups in swing states. He’s also setting up a super PAC to raise money for 2020 Republican candidates.
He’s been courting Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Ohio Gov. John Kasich — all of whom have frequently criticized the president. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]According to Julie Kelly at American Greatness website Kristol was one of the first individuals to push the Trump – Russia collusion farce:
In his online appeal for money after being fired this week, disgraced former FBI agent Peter Strzok credited an unlikely source to vouch for his victim status: The Weekly Standard.
At one time a leading conservative magazine, the Standard declared last month that Strzok’s plight was merely an “overwrought tale of bias” and the case against him is “just sound and fury.” The article brushed off Strzok’s actions as “several bad judgment calls” and blasted Congressional Republicans for continuing a criminal investigation into the now-unemployed G-man.
On July 24, 2016, just days before Strzok helped launch a counterintelligence probe into the Trump campaign, Kristol gave Strzok and the Obama Justice Department a big assist from the anti-Trump Right by posting a flawed and questionably-sourced article. “Putin’s Party” is compelling evidence that Kristol and the Standard were far from mere sideline observers as the Trump-Russia collusion scam took shape in the summer of 2016.
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Kristol’s article hits on every single one of the Simpson-Steele talking points: Trump forced the GOP to water-down language on the Ukraine in the party’s platform (it didn’t happen); the Russians were behind Wikileaks’ release of the DNC’s hacked emails (unproven); Trump encouraged foreign powers to interfere in the election (he didn’t); and Trump would not honor U.S. commitments to NATO (an overblown assessment of Trump’s NATO criticism nearly all the Republican candidates made). He listed a handful of unknown Trump campaign associates who would soon become household names, including campaign manager Paul Manafort; national security advisor, Lt. General Michael Flynn; and foreign policy aide Carter Page. (Strzok and the FBI formally opened their investigation into the three men—and campaign aide George Papadopoulos—on July 31, 2016.)– READ MORE
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