Bret Stephens, whom I generally respected, blames the collapse in trust on President Trump, but then starts out by demonstrating why there’s no trust.

A few days before Barack Obama left office, he invited a small group of conservative writers, all Never Trumpers, for a conversation in the White House’s Roosevelt Room. The mood was dark.

I’ve never heard of this being discussed publicly, but I can only track so many events. Was anyone else familiar with this, or is it the first time we’re hearing about this? I assume it’s probably not the case because I can hardly believe that this gang would be able to keep their mouths shout about this for four years.

But, it’s new to me. 

Obama invited former conservatives to undermine an incoming administration a few days before leaving office, and one of the participants uses this as a jumping off point to accuse President Trump of subverting the public’s trust. This introduction is precisely why there’s so much distrust of the New York crowd in the first place. 

The president was worried about the future of the Republican Party.

The technical term is “concern trolling”. I’m sure Barry was deeply worried about the party he was working behind the scenes to divide.

We worried about the future itself. Someone mentioned the possibility of global thermonuclear war as a plausible outcome of a Trump presidency.

Nearly four years on, it’s worth comparing what was predicted about the Trump administration versus what actually happened.

Among the predictions: The stock market would never recover. We’d stumble into war with North Korea or Iran. The free press would be muzzled. Vladimir Putin would rule Donald Trump through blackmail. Trump-appointed judges would dismantle the rule of law and overturn the verdict of elections. Trump would never leave office.

Were these “predictions” being exchanged in front of Obama? At Obama’s prompting? Was Obama sitting there egging on Never Trumpers to produce their wildest anti-Trump fantasies?

It sure as hell sounds like it.