General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Steve Schmidt: "Today I renounce my membership in the Republican Party." [View all]DFW
(54,055 posts)He was running McCain's 2008 campaign, but was horrified at the choice of Palin for VP. That was the spark that lit a slow-burning fire under him. He never accepted the teabaggers, and as Trump headed toward securing the 2016 Republican nomination, he said flat out numerous times on TV that Hillary would win the 2016 election (he wasn't wrong there), and that his party had derailed completely.
I think this was only a question of time. After 30 years as a Republican, it wasn't an easy move to make. I think the government-sponsored child abuse pushed him over the edge. With this, he no longer had any hope that his party would return to sanity any time within the foreseeable future. As a frequently quoted top Republican, I think the question "how, as a Republican, can you justify this?" eventually just became unanswerable. He woke up one day and realized he no longer could. He has finally said so publicly.