Over the past months, we’ve chronicled many of the ways Donald Trump is transforming the American right and dividing the Republican coalition. Trump is at the center of a schism that is damaging relationships at the highest reaches of the GOP. But not every fight has to end with broken friendships.
This week, two longtime Republican strategists on opposite sides of the Trump divide come together to talk (and occasionally shout) out their differences in the Primary Concerns studio. John Feehery, QGA public affairs president and former press secretary for Speaker Denny Hastert, supports his party’s presumptive nominee. Rory Cooper, former communications director for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, is a senior adviser to the Never Trump PAC, which is doing everything it can to keep Trump and the GOP uncoupled.
Why is Cooper unpersuaded by pro-Trump arguments? Is there anything Trump could do or say to lose Feehery’s support? Who can respectfully yell the loudest? Listen and find out.
Further reading:
- 5 reasons why John Feehery thinks Republicans should support Trump, in the Wall Street Journal
- Rory Cooper on why #NeverTrump is the unifying movement conservatives need, on NeverTrump.com
- Why the Trump crackup is just the beginning of the Republican civil war, by Brian Beutler for the New Republic