What have the Republicans now badmouthing Trump done to earn our forgiveness?

There will be more defections from Trumpism as an increasingly unhinged Trump careens toward defeat in November 2020. We should be suspicious of their motives

'The Mooch' has been credited with helping out Never Trumpers – but let's pause a second before we welcome him with open arms (REUTERS)

The Never Trump movement is having a renaissance. Eleven-day White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci is hitting the cable news circuit with the zeal of a newly-converted Resister. And on Sunday, far-right former Congressman Joe Walsh announced he would challenge Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.

Before Americans launder the reputations of Scaramucci, Walsh, and future MAGA defectors, we ought to ask a simple question: what have they done to earn forgiveness?

The Never Trump movement has always shifted with Trump’s political prospects. The National Review put out its notable “Against Trump” issue in January 2016, when Trump still looked beatable in the Republican primary. By mid-2019, prominent Never Trumpers bowed their heads and swore their principles had merely been a fleeting summer fever.

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan sat down on NBC’s Today in early 2019 to remind Americans he’d merely expressed “concern” over the Access Hollywood tape – he never dared rescind his endorsement. Eric Erickson, once a leader in the Never Trump movement, seamlessly transitioned from critic to booster, endorsing Trump’s re-election in February.

Three years later, President Trump’s poll numbers are softening in must-win states across the country. In Ohio, which Trump won by 8 points in 2016, he now trails Democratic contenders Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden by 4 and 6, respectively. In July, Morning Consult polls of Pennsylvania and Michigan showed Trump’s net approval ratings sliding to -8 and -11.

Realizing the long-term damage they’ve done to their careers by enabling Trump’s worst impulses, some GOP figures have rediscovered the decency that evaded them when they held powerful roles in Washington. For Joe Walsh, who once urged voters to oppose a Clinton presidency with armed resistance, the Never Trump movement offers a quick way to launder a universally reprehensible legacy.

Walsh had little to say when the Trump administration embarked on a campaign to strip LGBTQ Americans of equal protection under the law. That’s unsurprising: in 2014, Walsh rushed to attack the LGBTQ community as “Constitutional terrorists.” Abandoned by the MAGA set and seeking a return to the mainstream, Walsh asks that we ignore the fact his regressive views almost entirely align with Trump’s.

Scaramucci’s conversion seems driven by personal slights: in his many television appearances this month, Scaramucci has accused Trump, correctly, of bullying, lying, harassing his family, mocking his marital troubles and lacking loyalty. On outrages like immigrant family separation or the gutting of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Scaramucci has little substantive to add.

In June 2018, a coalition of organizations led by Robert F Kennedy Human Rights launched a weeklong vigil and protest outside the Ursula immigrant detention center in McAllen, Texas. I asked Anthony Scaramucci to join us and thousands of regular Americans rallying for an end to Trump’s “Zero Tolerance” immigration policy. I never heard back.

I understand why. It’s easier to attend Hamptons fundraisers than it is to spend time strategizing with immigration nonprofits on the border. Only one of those choices requires Republicans like Walsh and Scaramucci to come face-to-face with the human cost of their favor-seeking and subservience to power. Real contrition requires understanding the harm you’ve caused, and taking steps to address it. That’s tough to fit into Walsh and Scaramucci’s summer of high-profile media appearances.

Republican Resistance grifters aren’t trying to engage in meaningful contrition – they’re looking to whitewash their involvement in electing and sustaining a presidency defined by its inhumane excesses. That’s why no notable nonprofits or activist groups have come out in support of these opportunistic “conversions.” When it comes to turning words into actions, Scaramucci and his ilk have ignored established activist organizations in favor of their own vanity campaigns.

There will be more defections from Trumpism as an increasingly unhinged Trump careens toward defeat in November 2020. Before they ask for forgiveness and re-admittance into the mainstream, they should be able to answer one question: What have you actually done to help?

The silence is deafening.

Max Burns is a veteran Democratic Strategist, Senior Contributor to Millennial Politics, and former Head of Communications for Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. His commentary has appeared on Fox News, Bloomberg Radio, The Independent and The New York Daily News.