It’s been a hell of a year for the #Resistance. Donald Trump hadn’t even been sworn in before enterprising hucksters realized they could cleanse their sins by simply expressing distaste for a president who winked at neo-Nazis.

So it was that neocons like David Frum, Bill Kristol, and Max Boot were no longer odious warmongers, but principled intellectuals fighting for the survival of the republic. That Jeff Flake and Bob Corker weren’t just guys who voted for Trump’s policies and nominees almost all the time, but brave leaders who dared to say some disapproving things about their party’s leader. That George W. Bush was no longer a war criminal who plunged the Middle East into chaos, but a wise elder statesman who got an unfair rap while in office.

This phenomenon wasn’t just limited to politicians and media commentators. Wealthy business leaders and large corporations also realized that being superficially anti-Trump — issuing symbolic condemnations while both supporting Trump-like policies and engaging in Trump-like business practices — was clever branding that was good for the bottom line.