Evan McMullin gets new support

Conservative independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin and his running mate, Mindy Finn, are not going to be the next president and vice president. The ticket may, however, outstrip expectations and thereby lift the hopes of despondent Republicans looking for a message and messengers in the post-Trump era.

Since the "Access Hollywood" tape of Donald Trump bragging about sexual assault surfaced, McMullin has climbed into contention in Utah. CBS reports:

"Matthew Burbank, an associate professor of political science at the University of Utah, predicts Trump will narrowly win the state, making McMullin mainly an interesting historical footnote similar to Ross Perot's 1992 showing in Utah when he finished second to George H.W. Bush but ahead of Bill Clinton.

"But he's among those impressed by how well McMullin has maneuvered this year's bizarre political landscape to earn widespread attention. McMullin's strategy to stake out general, conservative ideas seems to be working because most voters aren't looking for detailed plans about what he would do as president because they know that's not realistic."

McMullin has also spoken extensively on public character and public service — where Trump falls far short. As a frequent guest on cable TV news, he eloquently eviscerates Trump from the conservative point of view. In a CNN interview with S.E. Cupp, he provided in-depth analysis of the Syria situation, ending with this exchange:

"Cupp: Trump said in the last debate that Iran, Russia and Assad are killing ISIS, essentially repeating Syrian and Russian propaganda. We know this isn't true — is he uninformed or in bed with our enemies?

"McMullin: He is absolutely aligning himself with our enemies. He is an authoritarian. He has no respect for any check on his power. He has not experienced those checks in his own life. Or when he does experience it, he reacts violently to it. He would leverage our executive authority to deprive us of our own civil rights. He is absolutely one of them.

"Cupp: What about Trump's plan to steal Iraqi oil? Why wouldn't that work to starve ISIS?

"McMullin: It's hard to know where to start. First, it's a silly idea. It's a violation of the sovereignty of Iraq. We've had this international system since World War I and World War II based on the idea of sovereignty, that borders cannot be changed by force, resources cannot be taken by force. It's the basic framework for the international system since the two great wars. Some people like Trump would say, what's that gotten us? Well, it's a period of time since the two great wars during which there haven't been further (great) wars. It's facilitated the spread of democracy around the world. At the time of World War I there were about 14 democracies, now there are about 100. It's led to the lifting out of poverty of 900 million people. What Trump proposes is a degradation of that order. There are still conflicts around the world, but the absence of great wars — Trump proposes to dismantle that. And that is exactly what Vladimir Putin wants, this would advance the interests of Putin and other expansionist authoritarians around the world …"

That's about the smartest, most coherent and interesting thing you've heard from the center-right since Jeb Bush left the race. Perhaps his appeal to fundamental decency attracts voters looking for an alternative to two ethically compromised candidates. The Associated Press reports on his Friday appearance:

"McMullin drew loud applause when he said, 'A real conservative, when they see somebody else being attacked for their religion or because of their race, a real conservative will stand up and protect other people.'
"Some supporters said they were drawn to McMullin because they couldn't stomach voting for Trump or Clinton.

"'It was my ticket out of the circus,' said Leslie Reinhold about her support for McMullin."

McMullin's campaign tells me there are plenty of signs his message is catching on. There was a 2,000 percent increase in online activity relating to him last week. More people were searching online for McMullin in Idaho, Utah and Wyoming than Hillary Clinton or Trump. The campaign also claims a "dramatic spike" in online searches for "write-in," with McMullin as the No. 1 accompanying search. He has held events in multiple states, including California, Utah, Idaho, Georgia and Minnesota. Once in the dozens, his crowds now are in the hundreds and in some cases top 1,000.

As the race's outcome becomes a foregone conclusion, McMullin's appeal may increase. From his point of view, it's the beginning of something better on the right, a new conservative movement, after arguably the most distressing election ever for the GOP. In Utah on Friday, before 700 people, he declared, "I believe, no matter what happens on Nov. 8, if we can send a strong message here from Utah and from the broader Mountain West, it will change the discussion in Washington. It very well may change the direction of this country."

Yes, a vote for McMullin would be a protest vote of sorts, but his supporters argue that in a year in which our politics has sunk far lower than any imagined, there's a lot to be said for voting on and for principle.