Anyone but Trump: The scorecard

Photo illustration: Yahoo News, photos: AP

Donald Trump’s rise has met with extraordinary resistance from Republican Party and elected officials and conservative writers and broadcasters. Here is a running tally of Republicans who have said they cannot support him (not counting those who are merely, for the present, supporting someone else). Like everything in politics, all opinions herein are subject to change.

March 3, 2016: Mitt Romney (2012 presidential nominee and former governor of Massachusetts)

“Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud … he’s playing the American people for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat.”

March 3, 2016: Sen. John McCain, Arizona (2008 presidential nominee)

“I share the concerns about Donald Trump that my friend and former Republican nominee Mitt Romney described in his speech today. I would also echo the many concerns about Mr. Trump’s uninformed and indeed dangerous statements on national security issues that have been raised by 65 Republican defense and foreign policy leaders.”

March 3, 2016: Norm Coleman (former senator from Minnesota)

“America is a great nation. We were a great nation long before Donald Trump sold us on a slogan — and we can be a great nation without Trump’s false promises built on a legacy of fiction. Keep America great. Fire Donald Trump.”

March 3, 2016: Rep. Justin Amash, Michigan

“I totally oppose Trump.”

March 2, 2016: Gov. Charlie Baker, Massachusetts

“I’m not going to vote for him in November.”

March 1, 2016: Christie Todd Whitman (former governor of New Jersey)

“While I certainly don’t want four more years of another Clinton administration or more years of the Obama administration, I would take that over the kind of damage I think Donald Trump could do to this country, to its reputation, to the people of this country.”

March 1, 2016: Tim Miller (former Jeb Bush communications director)

“Hi friends. If you live in Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee, Vermont, or Virginia please for the love of God go vote in the Republican primary against Trump.”

March 1, 2016: Stuart Stevens (former Romney strategist)

“I hear you. Respect others who disagree & make different choice. But for me, I can’t live with supporting Trump.”

Feb. 29, 2016: Mel Martinez (former U.S. senator from Florida and Republican national chair)

“I would not vote for Trump, clearly … if there is any, any, any other choice, a living, breathing person with a pulse, I would be there.”

Feb. 29, 2016: Rep. Scott Rigell, Virginia

“I reject Trump as our nominee based on his judgment, temperament and character, all of which point to a reckless, embarrassing and ultimately dangerous presidency.”

Feb. 29, 2016: Rep. Carlos Curbelo, Florida

“The party may blow up … you’re going to lose the four in 10 who say they’ll never vote for him. It would be tough to support at the national level a Republican Party that has Donald Trump as its leader. This man does things and says things that I teach my six- and three-year-olds not to say. I could never look them in the eye and tell them that I support someone so crass and insulting and offensive to lead the greatest nation in the world.”

Feb. 29, 2016: J.C. Watts (former congressman, Oklahoma)

“It’s going to be a tremendous setback for the party if he wins.”

Feb. 29, 2016: Steve Deace (conservative radio host)

“Should Trump be the nominee I will not lend my name and an ounce of integrity to this reality television star’s charade.”

Feb. 29, 2016: Ken Mehlman (former Republican national chair)

“Leaders don’t need to do research to reject Klan support. #NeverTrump”

Feb. 28, 2016: Sen. Ben Sasse, Nebraska

“Please understand: I’m not an establishment Republican, and I will never support Hillary Clinton. I’m a movement conservative who was elected over the objections of the GOP establishment. My current answer for who I would support in a hypothetical matchup between Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton is: Neither of them. I sincerely hope we select one of the other GOP candidates, but if Donald Trump ends up as the GOP nominee, conservatives will need to find a third option.”

Feb. 28, 2016: Meg Whitman (CEO of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, former Republican candidate for governor of California)

“Donald Trump is unfit to be president. He is a dishonest demagogue who plays to our worst fears. Trump would take America on a dangerous journey.”

Feb. 28, 2016: Kevin Madden (Republican operative/strategist/2012 Romney adviser)

“I’m prepared to write somebody in so that I have a clear conscience.”

Feb. 26, 2016: Eliot Cohen (counselor of the State Department under George W. Bush)

“Politicians have, since ancient Greece, lied, pandered, and whored. They have taken bribes, connived, and perjured themselves. But in recent times — in the United States, at any rate — there has never been any politician quite as openly debased and debauched as Donald Trump.”

Feb. 20, 2016: Rep. Mark Sanford, South Carolina

“I think it is dangerous for our republic if he walks out of [South Carolina] with a double-digit lead … this vehicle for [voter] frustrations is destructive.”

Jan. 21, 2016: Glenn Beck (conservative radio host)

“Sure, Trump’s potential primary victory would provide Hillary Clinton with the easiest imaginable path to the White House. But it’s far worse than that. If Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination, there will once again be no opposition to an ever-expanding government.”

Jan. 21, 2016: John Podhoretz (editor, ‘Commentary’)

“Should his election results match his polls, he would be, unquestionably, the worst thing to happen to the American common culture in my lifetime.”

Jan. 21, 2016: L. Brent Bozell (president, Media Research Center)

“Enter Donald Trump, not just with policy prescriptions that challenge the cynical GOP leadership but with an attitude of disdain for that leadership — precisely in line with the sentiment of the base. Many conservatives are relishing this, but ah, the rub. Trump might be the greatest charlatan of them all.”

Jan. 14, 2016: Peter Wehner (veteran of Reagan and both Bush administrations)

“I will not vote for Donald Trump if he wins the Republican nomination … there are many reasons to abstain from voting for Mr. Trump if he is nominated, starting with the fact that he would be the most unqualified president in American history.”

Dec. 11, 2015: Rep. Reid Ribble, Wisconsin

“He’s continued to be, in my opinion, against the civil discourse that I so deeply believe in, that would allow us to have a real live debate on the issues that are important to this country.”

Dec. 1, 2015: Bill Kristol (editor of ‘The Weekly Standard’)

“Couldn’t vote for Trump.”

Sept. 13, 2015: George Pataki (former governor of New York, 2016 presidential candidate)

“Let me be very plain, I’m not going to vote for [Donald Trump]…. He is unfit to be president.”