By most metrics, I’d be categorized as a young conservative. I am a 22-year-old college student. I interned for a Republican in the U.S. Senate. I was elected president of my former college’s Republican club. No one would mistake me for a progressive activist.
But if you had asked me a year ago about the 2024 presidential election, I would have told you that I was hopeful the Republican Party would move on from Donald Trump. In fact, I would have supported Joe Biden before backing Trump, even though I did not like much of anything about Biden.
I believed that Trump had to be stopped at all costs.
I eagerly watched the Jan. 6 Committee hearings. I was excited when New York State Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump for financial fraud. When legal scholars from the Federalist Society wrote that the 14th Amendment barred him from the presidency, I was hopeful he might finally be done for good. When the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago, I felt justice might soon be served against the man who had brought our country to the brink.
I saw the Democratic Party’s policies as harmful, but at the time I believed that temporary damages were worth it if it meant keeping Trump from regaining power.
But over the past year, my view of Trump has evolved, and my view of the broader political landscape has also changed. It became clear to me that while Trump is far from perfect, he is not the
