MARTHA RADDATZ (HOST): Alex, you wrote just months ago that Trump was a power-hungry “strongman” that the party should not give the reins to. Why is he suddenly the man the GOP should trust?

ALEX CASTELLANOS: Well, I wrote actually last August-- I mean, what Rich is saying in National Review is not news. I wrote “Trump is the strongman we don't need” August of last year, and since then, have worked to try and find alternatives. Guess what, we don't have any. And whose fault is that? I think a lot of the fault actually belongs to the conservative intellectual leadership of America that you see in this issue of National Review. With the conservative cause that animates the Republican Party, we don't appeal to young people, we don't appeal to millennials, we don't appeal to young women, we don't appeal to minorities. We appeal to only cranky old white guys like me who end up voting for Donald Trump.

Related:

Trump Is The Strongman We Don't Need

Previously:

National Review Launches Conservative War On Donald Trump

RNC Disinvites National Review From GOP Debate Following Anti-Trump Editorial

GOP Civil War: Conservatives Turn On National Review Over Anti-Trump Issue

The Extremism Of National Review's Trump Critics