Aforementioned principles, regarding Trump in 2016: "What's a lifelong Republican supposed to do, support the opponent? I don't think so."
Dole continued to support Trump in 2020, and he also defended Nixon strongly during the Watergate scandal. But at least he wasn't one of hundreds of Republican "leaders" who claim the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
This past July, Dole told USA Today: "I'm a Trumper; I'm sort of Trumped out, though. He lost the election, and I regret that he did, but they did. He had Rudy Giuliani running all over the country, claiming fraud. He never had one bit of fraud in all those lawsuits he filed and statements he made."
As a politician, Dole tended to choose party over country. He wasn't unique in that regard.
He served his country valiantly, and he lived a full life. RIP.
