New York Times columnist and Never Trump conservative Bret Stephens felt the wrath of Twitter Thursday after he penned a column in appreciation of the president for standing up to the Democrats’ “sly moral bullying” of Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh.

“For the first time since Donald Trump entered the political fray, I find myself grateful that he’s in it,” Mr. Stephens wrote.

“I’m grateful because Trump has not backed down in the face of the slipperiness, hypocrisy and dangerous standard-setting deployed by opponents of Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court,” he continued.

Mr. Stephens even criticized his own newspaper’s reporting on a 1983 letter from then-student Judge Kavanaugh in which he described himself and friends as “loud, obnoxious drunks.”

“[A]dolescent boasting now being treated as if it is a crucial piece of incriminating evidence,” Mr. Stephens lamented.

“We will learn soon enough what, if anything, the F.B.I. has gleaned from its investigation of Kavanaugh,” he wrote. “If the Bureau finds persuasive evidence of Blasey’s charge, the judge will have to step down and answer for it. Until then, I’ll admit to feeling grateful that, in Trump, at least one big bully was willing to stand up to others.”

Mr. Stephens‘ column outraged the left, causing his name to become a top trending topic on Twitter Thursday morning.

Make no mistake: Bret Stephens is characterizing sexual assault survivors are “bullies” by using absolutely unsupported and almost certainly false accusations that they’re liars to justify this.



The mask is coming off. This is a disgrace. https://t.co/oyTFMCNtiD — Amanda Marcotte (@AmandaMarcotte) October 4, 2018

Ah, I see Bret Stephens has finally reached the final stage of growth of the “Never Trump” Republican: the “I actually love Trump because he did something bad to Democrats” column.



Mazel tov on this next stage of your contrarian identity, Bret! — Elad Nehorai (@PopChassid) October 4, 2018

bret stephens won a pulitzer once, guys. — Joel D. Anderson (@byjoelanderson) October 4, 2018

Glad that people have figured out how to condemn the misogynistic writings of Bret Stephens without giving the @nytopinion the benefit of the click. This is not adding diverse voices, this is adding closed-minded women-hate. We can vote by refusing to click! — Amy Siskind (@Amy_Siskind) October 4, 2018

Mr. Stephens has not yet responded to the backlash.

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