A comment by Metcalf: “Compromise is a bad word these days,” he said. “People think it means giving up your principles.”
Well, if your argument starts from a firmly principled stand, then the spirit of compromise demands that you move away from that principled stand and toward the position taken by your adversary. So, to that extent, at least, compromise does entail giving up some incremental element of your principles.
In the current political environment, it will be best that true conservative, Constitutional voices remain quite firm and NOT compromise. If that results in gridlock, so be it.
This is not a time for pastels, as has been said.