Earlier in the week I wrote that it was well past time for the media and the public to give up on the prevailing narrative that Donald Trump’s supporters would never abandon him (link). My reasoning was that even though few have been willing to publicly admit it, approval ratings polls show that around one-fifth of Trump’s supporters from January have already abandoned him. But now one highly influential Trump supporter is in fact speaking up publicly with his sharp regrets.

That’s come in the form of an op-ed today in the New York Times (link) from Julius Krein, a conservative who got caught up in the Donald Trump hype early on and went on to create two pro-Trump websites during the course of the election. But he’s now very publicly taking it all back. His op-ed is titled “I Voted for Trump. And I Sorely Regret It.” His article ends up being even more damning than the title.

Krein goes into quite a bit of detail as to why he first came to support Donald Trump, how he thought he could help steer Trump in the right direction, and why he’s now concluded that he was mistaken. But he sums it up this way: “Far from making America great again, Mr. Trump has betrayed the foundations of our common citizenship. And his actions are jeopardizing any prospect of enacting an agenda that might restore the promise of American life.”

But in case anyone doesn’t get the hint, Krein makes a point of spelling it out: “I can’t stand by this disgraceful administration any longer, and I would urge anyone who once supported him as I did to stop defending the 45th president.” So not only is he publicly withdrawing his support, he’s urging everyone else to do the same. This is further proof that Trump’s supporters have been abandoning him – and it demonstrates that they’re now more willing to be vocal about why. As Trump’s approval rating collapses further, impeachment becomes more realistic.