'He would make me cringe': Longtime anti-Trump conservative tells why he voted for him

Michael Brendan Dougherty of the right-wing National Review began like many other analysts at that outlet: repulsed by Donald Trump. But he went from rejecting Trump in 2016 and 2020, to voting for him in 2024 — making him one of the voters decisive in giving Trump a narrow popular vote plurality.

In a conversation with Shadi Hamid for The Washington Post, he explained how that journey happened.

"My case against Trump was wholly based on his character. I liked some of the policy directions he was pointing in, although sometimes he would make me cringe when he articulated them," Dougherty told Hamid. "But I had traditional conservative concerns about a twice-divorced man who kind of was proudly sybaritic in his character, that he would not be reliable on any of his policy promises that were more traditionally conservative. And I thought he was erratic and impulsive."

Ultimately, he argued, what softened him on Trump was that under his first term, "There was no geostrategic disaster for the United States where he misjudged a foreign affairs issue to such a degree that it humiliated us."

Another factor, he said, was that he came to see Trump's bluster as more strategic than impulsive, actually accomplishing political objectives.

In general, Dougherty described himself as having had too high of standards in previous elections.

"I probably started to realize this the morning after the 2016 election: I tended to be happier when Republicans won. Maybe because I was only getting 60 to 70 percent of what I wanted from them, which is more than I would get from the Democrats. I felt in my heart that I was on a team," he said. In 2024, he realized he definitively would prefer Trump being elected than anyone else. "Then I began to think, it’s pretty damn morally vain of me to wish for this result in my heart but then hold myself aloft from making it happen."

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As for whether Trump actually poses a threat to democracy, Dougherty said, "It absolutely matters what Trump says, and he’s accountable before God for what he says." However, "we have to judge the plausibility of it based on what he actually does and the pattern of behavior he actually demonstrates in office.

"I would not argue for anyone, especially political leaders, to be a liar or hypocrite or to mislead others. I would, however, argue that many political leaders have profited from a kind of Machiavellian use of language that is instrumental rather than truthful. And Donald Trump is a master of that."