The New York Times highlighted an effort by National Review's editor to persuade other “conservative thinkers” to speak out against Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump.

A January 21 New York Times article revealed that National Review editor Rich Lowry was persuading “conservative thinkers” such as “Erick Erickson, William Kristol and Yuval Levin” to “lend their names to the manifesto against Mr. Trump.” The Times article continued, explaining how Lowry has urged conservatives to “write essays buttressing the argument that Mr. Trump has no commitment to restraining the role of government and possesses authoritarian impulses antithetical to conservative principles.” Further, the article highlighted that Republicans “can live with Mr. Cruz” despite “believing that his nomination would leave the party divided, but manageably so” unlike Trump who “poses the most serious peril to the conservative movement since the 1950s-era John Birch Society”: 

The Republicans who dominate the right-leaning magazines, journals and political groups can live with Mr. Cruz, believing that his nomination would leave the party divided, but manageably so, extending a longstanding intramural debate over pragmatism versus purity that has been waged since the days of Barry Goldwater and Nelson Rockefeller. They say Mr. Trump, on the other hand, poses the most serious peril to the conservative movement since the 1950s-era John Birch Society.

Rich Lowry, editor of National Review -- embracing the role of his predecessor, William F. Buckley, who in the 1950s confronted the Birch Society members -- has reached out to conservative thinkers to lend their names to the manifesto against Mr. Trump. He has drawn some of the country's leading conservatives, including Erick Erickson, William Kristol and Yuval Levin, to write essays buttressing the argument that Mr. Trump has no commitment to restraining the role of government and possesses authoritarian impulses antithetical to conservative principles.

Lowry's effort to stop Trump comes as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has been gaining heavy support from right-wing talk radio, which acts as his best line of defense during Trump-hailed attacks. In turn, Cruz parrots smears  and talking points originating from far-right media figures, while showering them with praise.