The Bulwark's Jonathan Last joins Republican refugees and drops an ideological shroud, certifying "that … as a functional matter, [modern conservatism is] dead":
"I have many conservative friends who will … say that True Conservatism is [still alive and] grounded in ideas about human flourishing: gratitude, conservation, caution, prudence. And surely, those ideas exist in the world and have a great deal of wisdom. But they are no longer 'conservative' ideas. They are something else."
The something else is traditionally liberal ideas — that old-school, pragmatic retention of FDR and Obama Democrats who perforce reject utopian progressive ideas and opt for circumspect, necessarily incremental, Whiggish Burkean governance.
I have noticed that every Trumpism-disgusted Republican has to date claimed the self-identification of "Independent." But here is a choice that calls for no incrementalist steps; they could instead directly leap into the moderate Democratic camp, where human flourishing, gratitude, conservation, caution and prudence still reign.
Someday a more comfortable center-right party will emerge from the profane ashes of Republicanism. There the politically orphaned of today — officeholders, NeverTrumpers, operatives, think tankers, columnists, and others of a moderate bent and capable of nuanced thought — can enlist. Till then, there's no sound reason to be shy.