Conservative columnist, TV pundit and best-selling author
George Will says he has left the Republican Party because of Donald Trump.
“This is not my party,” he said on Friday. He made the statement during a speech to the Federalist Society,
according to PJ Media.
Will has officially switched his voter registration in the state of Maryland from Republican to "unaffiliated." He did not say who he would be voting for.
Early Sunday morning, Trump tweeted good riddance:
The Hill reported that Will suggested other Republican voters and party members resign themselves to not winning the presidency in November.
“Make sure he loses," he said of Trump, adding that Republicans should then "grit their teeth for four years and win the White House."
PJ Media asked Will if he was concerned about a Hillary Clinton victory — specifically that it would guarantee another liberal justice on the Supreme Court.
A Republican president is not “the answer” to a conservative-leaning Supreme Court, Will replied.
“Sure, but I’m also concerned with the fact that I do not really believe Republicans think clearly enough about what they really want in judges. Republicans have given us Earl Warren, Brennan, John Paul Stevens, Burger, who was kind of mediocre, Blackmun. Having a Republican president is not an answer in itself,” he told PJ Media.
Will appeared to be assuming Republicans would retain the majority in both the House and Senate in 2016, something that many observers say cannot be taken for granted because of a down-ballot, negative "Trump effect" that could even flip the House.
But “gridlock” in government is a good thing “nine times out of 10,” Will said. “Gridlock is not an American problem. It’s an American achievement,” he said. Gridlock often “stops things” the federal government should not be doing, he added.