"I am deeply concerned about his presidency," said Mindy Finn, a Republican strategist who ran for vice president as an independent alongside Evan McMullin. | Getty Never Trumpers brace for their nightmare

As Donald Trump’s inauguration nears, his longtime Republican critics are planning to throw themselves into outdoor expeditions, news detoxes and day jobs, steeling themselves for the day they have dreaded for months. For them, Friday’s inauguration proceedings will be a capstone to one rough chapter of American political life—and an ominous start to the next one.

“The Trump inauguration is a black day in American history,” said Gabriel Schoenfeld, a former senior adviser to Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign who’s now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. “American history is permanently stained by what he has already said and done. And now, with possession of the immense power of the presidency, worse is to come. I see no point in giving voice to false hope that Donald Trump will do the country an iota of good.”


Schoenfeld isn’t alone in finding Inauguration Day intolerable. Fergus Cullen, the former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party and a longtime party activist who was a vocal critic of Trump during the campaign, said that while he has tried to give the Trump transition a chance, he won’t be tuning in to watch the inauguration ceremony. “I think I’ve watched every single one since I was a child,” Cullen said. “But no, I’m not planning to watch this one. I’m planning to specifically not watch it. It’s just not healthy to be in a state of constant outrage.”

Cullen is on a news “diet,” he said, cutting down on the political podcasts he once loved and reducing the amount of media he consumes—and avoiding the political activities in which he’s immersed himself for two decades.

“It’s always been my feeling that there were certain things I do not have room for in my life, people I don’t have room for in my life, if I allow them to take up space it’s counterproductive, not healthy. That’s how I’m dealing.”

Some are planning intense excursions. “I'm pretty much planning on being up in a deer stand early that morning,” said Rick Wilson, a Florida Republican and outspoken Trump critic who rated the last few weeks “Vladimir Putin's best transition ever. “If I make it back for the speech, I make it back for the speech.”

Others said they may not be able to resist watching. “I don’t know, when the circus comes to town, everybody runs to the sidewalk to watch the parade,” said John Weaver, a longtime Republican strategist and adviser to former presidential candidate and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who is expected to attend the swearing-in.

Weaver, like some other Republican Trump critics, had good things to say about a number of the nominations Trump has made to his cabinet. For them, the issue is not with people like Gen. James Mattis, the Defense secretary nominee, or Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), Trump’s pick to lead the CIA, both individuals with more traditional Republican views on foreign policy. Rather, it’s—still—the president-elect himself.

“I was hopeful—although skeptical—but hopeful, once he was elected, he would rise to the office of the presidency; some of the things he did were merely campaign tactics, he would rise to the office and try to bring the country together,” said Mindy Finn, a longtime Republican strategist who ran for vice president as an independent alongside Evan McMullin. Instead, she went on, “he continued down the same path we saw in the campaign. I am deeply concerned about his presidency.”

Still, she said she would probably watch the proceedings. Her former running mate, McMullin, is slated to speak at a conference hosted that day by the liberal-leaning Huffington Post as well as the women-focused site Bustle, an event billed as a non-partisan opportunity to “get organized.” McMullin wasn’t available for an interview.

Some veterans of the Never Trump movement have tried to advocate for unity—at least for the day. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) was a persistent critic of Trump’s during the campaign, and has continued to call out Trump when he disagrees. But he has still been making the case for lawmakers to show up for Trump’s inauguration.

“To John Lewis, one of my heroes: Please come to the Inauguration,” Sasse tweeted on Friday to the Democratic congressman and civil rights icon, a day before the president-elect tore into Lewis on Twitter for suggesting the election result was illegitimate. “It isn't about a man. It is a celebration of peaceful transfer of power.”