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Never Trump
On the eve of Super Tuesday, Republicans face a grave decision: Are we the party of Lincoln and of Reagan, or are we the Party of Donald Trump?
I came of age during the Reagan Revolution. One of my earliest political memories was watching his speech at the 1976 Republican National Convention — one of millions of little kids hungry for optimism and a winsome smile in that unrelentingly bleak era. I didn’t reach voting age until after his re-election, but in high school, Reagan’s ideas inspired me to start reading National Review, argue individual freedom with my liberal civics teacher, and even join the US Navy.
The Republican Party was the home of bold, new ideas rooted in a love for our ancient founding documents. We viewed our nation as a shining city on a hill and invited all our fellow citizens to join us in perfecting this great American experiment.
In 2016, the mood is again bleak. After years of economic stagnation and ethnic strife punctuated by terror attacks, the American people want an easy way out. We don’t trust the feckless political class that has presided over our current malaise, or the economic elites who have been enriched by it. All of us feel angry, betrayed, and fed up.
“The American Dream is dead!” Donald Trump thunders at his angry rallies. “We don’t have victories anymore. The US has become a dumping ground for everyone else’s problems.” His solution is seductively simple: “If I get elected president, I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before, and we will make America great again!” The smile has been replaced with a scowl.
How will Trump usher in this utopia? He just will. He’ll build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. He’ll start a trade war with China, which will somehow lower prices and create jobs. He’ll pull out of the Middle East, while bombing it and taking their oil. He’ll give everyone government health care, make the economy grow like you wouldn’t believe, and change the First Amendment so people won’t say mean things about him.
The Strong Man on the white horse will save us — not through Congress, the courts, or the Constitution, but merely by willing it. And the price is cheap: All we have to do is admit that the American Experiment is dead. Our Founding Fathers were wrong about that individual liberty nonsense and we should bow to our new king. America will be so great your head will spin.
Trump praises the strength of Vladimir Putin and the Chinese communists who crushed the Tiananmen Square protestors. He approvingly retweets Mussolini fan accounts, neo-Nazis, and white supremacists. He refuses to denounce David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan, bizarrely assuming that will help him with voters in the Deep South.
I still hope, and pray, that Republicans won’t fall for this Democratic demagogue. But if Trump were to win the nomination, it would prove that the Party of Lincoln and Reagan was dead.
Political parties are created to serve us, not the other way around. The GOP has been a flawed vehicle to promote individual liberty, a sound national defense, and a dynamic economy. I had to swallow hard to vote for moderates like Romney and McCain. But voting for a big-government liberal is a bridge too far.
If the keys are handed to a would-be strongman, I have no choice but to step out of the car and walk my own way. Unlike many in the GOP establishment, for me principle is always more important than power. My conscience can have it no other way.
I joined the Party of Lincoln and the Party of Reagan. I will leave the Party of Trump.
If that makes me a bad Republican, so be it. I seek to be a good American.
Published in General
Really superb, Jon. I especially like this succinct description of the Trump-tastic Triumph of the Will that awaits us:
How will Trump usher in this utopia? He just will. He’ll build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. He’ll start a trade war with China, which will somehow lower prices and create jobs. He’ll pull out of the Middle East, while bombing it and taking their oil. He’ll give everyone government health care, make the economy grow like you wouldn’t believe, and change the First Amendment so people won’t say mean things about him.
The Strong Man on the white horse will save us — not through Congress, the courts, or the Constitution, but merely by willing it. And the price is cheap: All we have to do is admit that the American Experiment is dead. Our Founding Fathers were wrong about that individual liberty nonsense and we should bow to our new king. America will be so great your head will spin.
(Edited): Point well taken. If it isn’t just his usual lying/bully boy tactics, and he actually is psychotic, I don’t think he’ll be able to keep it hidden forever. We’ll have to see how it plays out between now and November – I’m not casting my ballot today.
I can’t wait for this election to be over.
If the choice is Trump vs. Hillary… gridlock FTW!
I keep thinking of all those Karl Rove editorials complaining about Republicans who demand ideological purity. Of course, there weren’t any such Republicans then. Maybe there are now, though.
I have a funny feeling that soon we’re all going to become familiar with states’ write-in requirements and “sore loser” laws.
Tan = filing required in advance. Brown = no filing requirements. Gray = write-in votes not permitted.
I am quite bitter about Trump – a person with no particular allegiance to conservatism or to the Republican party – throwing the party’s primary process into chaos.
I firmly believe that no one should sit out the election. If Trump is the nominee, wherever it is possible one should write in one’s candidate of choice. It will throw a little chaos into the general election, and there will be some satisfaction in that.
Let’s go down fighting.
It’s not a matter of ideological purity. It’s a matter of coherence. That’s why so many are being “demanding”. There are lots of folks who are rather fond of coherence.
When my wife was in high school, she lost a class presidency race to a boy who promised new school buses. This was a promise on which he would never be able to deliver, but he won, anyway.
Trump and Sanders remind me of that boy. One promises, among other things, to get Mexico to pay for a wall. The other promises, among other things, free college. They are either stupid or liars. Either way, their messages are incoherent.
This dispute comes down to a multiple-choice question
Did we lose the elections of 2008 and 2012 because
I’m with Ben Sasse.
Please point out the trail of dead bodies Trump has left in his attempt to gain office because Clinton has one. It is morally repugnant to pretend that Trump is worse than her just because he’s a jackwagon.
This is the first statement that W.S. has made on this thread that I agree with. It is just possible that the issue that brings Democrats and Republicans together could be the removal of President Trump. He will not have any type of built-in party loyalty that would make senatorial conviction a non-starter.
This is the one and only silver lining to a Trump presidency; the fact that we might be able to kick him out.
I’ll be gone as well.
They’re the ones that are morally repugnant. The fact that they are so in different ways makes comparisons difficult.
You brought back a very pleasant memory. I was 14 years old when I watched Ronald Reagan address the GOP convention in 1976. That speech was absolutely wonderful. I remember turning to my parents and saying, “Ronald Reagan will be president in four years.” They simply smiled knowingly, thinking I had no idea what I was talking about. Lo and behold my prediction came true. I’m something like 0 for 5,000 on political prognostications since then. :-(
There is no need to pretend. I can’t stand HRC, but:
It pained me to type that, but it is the truth.
I’m with Sasse.
George Will pointed out that twice since 1900 the Republican Party had a crisis of identity, 52 years ago with the 1964 Goldwater election, and 52 years before that in 2012 when Teddy Roosevelt tried to turn the Republican Party into a progressive party. The result in both years is that the Democrats won, BUT the soul of the party was saved.
First, unless there is a huge shift in the wind, we will likely have to go to the convention for a floor fight, with Cruz winning Texas, Rubio winning Florida and Kasich winning Ohio, and picking up proportional votes during the next couple of weeks. At the convention, the rule is simple. Anyone but Trump. Period.
Second, if that is unsuccessful, to save the Republican Party, conservatives must be willing to vote for a third alternative, and to withhold their votes from Trump. The Democrats will win the Presidency and Republicans will lose the Senate and Supreme Court, but they will save their soul.
No question, we have an electoral problem. We really haven’t won a national election since 1988. At some point we have to do something different. Unfortunately Trump is the wrong guy.
She defended her rapist husband going so far as to trash the victims of his sexual abuse. She has engaged in any number of criminal enterprises from land deals to selling influence to violating federal law and security with the present server scandal. She allowed our ambassador to be killed and drug through the streets, and apparently was right that at this point it doesn’t make any difference by the attitude of many in this thread. All of this in her pursuit of the White House. So sure let’s just hand it to her and see what else she’s capable of. Trump is a liar, a buffoon, and a pompous ass. He’s Howard Cosell with money. But he doesn’t have a laundry list of crimes, obstruction of justice, and deaths he’s culpable for that she does.
I found myself here yesterday too. I found myself here after I saw those old comments about Tienanmen Square and read the whole interview. That made me realize that the whole spiel about “strength” isn’t, after all, a reaction to the Obama years. He was saying that nonsense as the Berlin Wall fell down.
His idea of “strength” is dangerous.
And then he pretended to know nothing yesterday.
I would vote for an empty suit over Hillary Clinton. With the Supreme Court at stake, I would vote for any shade of Republican. But I am honestly not prepared to say he would be better.
I would vote for any constitutional third-party candidate. Or I’ll write in Ben Sasse, or whatever most prominent Republican I find come November I respect the most.
I’ll vote for Marco Rubio tomorrow.
Sash, I’ve said this before, but hold off on the despair for at least a few more hours maybe? We’ve allocated 4% of delegates…
One can go into the Rubio campaign website, and volunteer to make phone calls from home…
I had held out hope that Trump’s polling would remain below a plurality. CNN shows Trump’s national average at 49%
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/2016_republican_presidential_nomination-3823.html
Nauseating.
Some of this is open-borders ideology wrapped in self-righteousness.
Alas, the writer assumes that Trump voters are literalists and do not get metaphor. Build the wall and Mexican pays, it will now be argued, was never meant to be taken literally: it was meant to show resolve and specific value choices and to be an initial offer, as the writer suggests. Alas, I doubt it will do much.
“Do I contradict myself? Very well, I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes.” –Walt
To NOT vote is also to participate, if it’s done consciously and with conviction. As for me, I’ll find a 3rd party candidate with whom I can more closely align.
Dit. to.
My vote in California has little effect on the primary process and no effect in the general. Depending on the final Democrat nominee and the results tomorrow, there is an outside chance that California might be in play with a Rubio nomination because of his ability to reach out to and draw support from the legal hispanic community, many whom can trace their roots before California was admitted to the Union. The last Republican to carry California and its electorates was George H.W. Bush in 1988 when the Dems had a very weak candidate in Dukakis, so it’s not inconceivable. The Democrats have a very weak candidate in either Hillary or Bernie (and Bernie at this point will be their nominee only if Hillary is incarcerated or suffers a medical calamity).
All I have at the moment is a voice and money to help Rubio along. If by some chance Cruz gains momentum and becomes a credible challenger to Trump I will do what I can to help him…but at the moment I don’t think that’s likely to happen.
I have no doubt that Trump, if he becomes the nominee, will pivot and offer free college and other free stuff to attract angry and superdelegate-disenfranchised Bernie voters. He has shown repeatedly that he is more important than any given conservative position. So, supporters like Christie, Sessions and others will follow along prostituting themselves as Trump’s Leftist positions become more evident. As the nominee, his true colors will become even more pronounced. Trump’s current angry supporters will say that a Trump pivot for other angry socialist voters is a wise strategy because the ends justify the means and principles aren’t as important as power. So, Trump may indeed beat Hillary.
My blue state of California is likely to vote for Hillary anyway unless she has been indicted, arraigned and arrested. I will not vote for Hillary.
If by some chance, Bloomberg enters the race, I will vote for him in a heartbeat over Trump because I believe he is at least a much more honest businessman than Trump ever has been and I don’t believe he would be as tyrannical as either Hillary or Trump and could be restrained by Congress – yes – despite his nanny-ness and his anti-gun proclivities.
But I will not vote for the vile, neo-republican, ignorant and crypto-fascist con artist under any circumstances. I will write-in another name and vote for down-ballot Republicans.
If Trump is elected I will work with anyone else I can to have him impeached and removed from office as soon as possible.
I believe the Republican Party will quickly die after a Trump election. I’m happy to roll-up my sleeves and do what I can to start a new conservative party and nominate a conservative for 2020.
So anyone who opposes Trump is am open borders ideologue, or just some of us?
For God’s sake, immigration is the only plausible issue to support this guy on (since he’s taken anti-PC and turned it into rudeness), and I think it has blinded his supporters to all the massive warning signs about him.
If he were not so genuinely horrible, I could support him based on the hope (and that’s what it is) that he would make good on his promise to secure the border and end H1B abuse and visa overstays.
Ignorance of the nuclear triad, the Michael Moore 9/11 Trutherism, his refusal to keep outright racists out of his Twitter feed, not vehemently denouncing racists when pressed, his obvious refusal to learn enough to speak intelligently on any issue, the thin skin and boorish behavior.
My political coming of age was much the same as Jon’s. I have yet to vote for a presidential candidate I couldn’t also say was a good man (Reagan, Bush, Dole, W, McCain, Romney). That’s not going to end now.
That’s not going to change here.
This is why the vice presidency might be extra important this time.
Yet Karl Rove and others (even some here on Ricochet) continued to have a platform from which to accuse others of wanting ideological purity.
Ace makes the case…..for Cruz: