Never Trump

 

lincoln-reagan-trumpOn 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.

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  1. Randal H Member
    Randal H
    @RandalH

    I’ve never voted Republican, so in some sense, I’m way ahead of you. I’ve always voted third-party (sometimes Libertarian, sometimes others). I’ve been told my whole life that I “throw my vote away.”

    I voted against Reagan twice, although in hindsight he was a pretty good president. But, I don’t care much who is president, because I want the presidency brought down to its originally intended scale and function. On top of that, I want the federal government scaled back severely. But, I came to the conclusion a long time ago that the federal government would never do that on its own, regardless of which party controls the White House or Congress. That has to come from the states. Why should we live in fear that a Supreme Court stacked with oligarchs can take our freedoms away in one sweeping series of motions? It’s inevitable that will eventually happen regardless of who wins the presidency this time around unless something fundamentally changes. In that way, I agree with libertarians (and those that made the argument at the time) that the Constitution gives too much power to the federal government in comparison to the Articles of Confederation.

    By the way, I became politically aware just at the time of Reagan’s first campaign. I remember similar arguments being made about him that are now being made against Trump. That’s a primary reason that I never joined my parents in becoming staunch Republicans.

    • #151
  2. Brian McMenomy Inactive
    Brian McMenomy
    @BrianMcMenomy

    Fred Houstan: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.

    A 427 voter size sample that shows Trump’s support 10-15 points higher than any other poll?  Can you say outlier?  The sample was probably limited to CNN’s newsroom, to whom Trump=ratings success=job security.

    • #152
  3. Rodin Member
    Rodin
    @Rodin

    Randal H:

    I want the presidency brought down to its originally intended scale and function. On top of that, I want the federal government scaled back severely.

    From your lips to God’s ear.

    But, I came to the conclusion a long time ago that the federal government would never do that on its own, regardless of which party controls the White House or Congress. That has to come from the states.

    A sound argument for a constitutional convention of states.

    Why should we live in fear that a Supreme Court stacked with oligarchs can take our freedoms away in one sweeping series of motions? It’s inevitable that will eventually happen regardless of who wins the presidency this time around unless something fundamentally changes.

    Just so.

    • #153
  4. Owen Findy Inactive
    Owen Findy
    @OwenFindy

    Sounds similar in spirit to Erick Erickson’s piece.

    • #154
  5. Jules PA Inactive
    Jules PA
    @JulesPA

    John Hendrix:

    Jon Gabriel, Ed.: 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.

    And I am leaving with you.

    You will not be alone.

    • #155
  6. Jules PA Inactive
    Jules PA
    @JulesPA

    Fred Houstan: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.

    it is like we are in the matrix, waiting for the freaking phone to ring to get us out of this insanity, to at least regroup.

    I’m actually not well-versed in the Matrix Trilogy, but I think I may have gotten that imagery right.

    • #156
  7. Concretevol Thatcher
    Concretevol
    @Concretevol

    BD:Some of this is open-borders ideology wrapped in self-righteousness.

    I don’t think a single person on this post is for open borders.  Only a couple libertarians here are proponents of open borders

    • #157
  8. Brian Watt Inactive
    Brian Watt
    @BrianWatt

    Concretevol:

    BD:Some of this is open-borders ideology wrapped in self-righteousness.

    I don’t think a single person on this post is for open borders. Only a couple libertarians here are proponents of open borders

    Crying “open borders” is the new “then you must be for Jeb!” now that Jeb is out of the race.

    • #158
  9. Johnny Dubya Inactive
    Johnny Dubya
    @JohnnyDubya

    To all those who say Donald J. Trump must be yugely smaht simply because he’s so rich, consider this (it’s from the Washington Post, but it’s not an opinion – it’s a fact, if his 1978 wealth estimate is accurate):

    “Business Week estimated Trump’s net worth at $100 million in 1978 [seven years after he took over his father’s business]. If Trump had merely put that money in an index fund based on the Standard & Poor’s 500 index — the kind many Americans use to save for retirement — he would be worth $6 billion today.”

    Estimates of his current net worth vary, but it’s likely that it is less than $6 billion. He claims it is $10 billion, but he has acknowledged that he exaggerates for the purpose of self-aggrandizement. Bloomberg News estimates his net worth to be $2.9 billion. That would mean that Trump’s entire career has been a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing. He adds no value whatsoever. By contrast, if he had invested in the S&P 500 it would have provided capital for more intelligent and tasteful people to create buildings that weren’t hideous and casinos that weren’t a bust and ties that weren’t ugly and airlines that weren’t failures and…

    • #159
  10. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    You guys really need to get a grip. This whole thing has been about getting HRC elected. It is just the same Clinton “Ross Perot” playbook from the 90s with a few extra twists. Granted that HRC is much more flawed than Bill and Trump is a much better stalking horse than Perot but it is all the same game in the end. Look for Trump to be brought to heal sometime after the nominations are complete and the race gets real.

    • #160
  11. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    Frank Soto:

    Jon Gabriel, Ed.: I joined the Party of Lincoln and the Party of Reagan. I will leave the Party of Trump.

    I’m with you, Jon.

    So am I. And so should be every Republican officeholder with an iota of integrity.

    • #161
  12. genferei Member
    genferei
    @genferei

    #NeverTrump, the #BringBackOurGirls of February 2016.

    Remember when purity tests were evil, a big tent was a good thing, and the important things were electability and stopping Hillary? Rallying around the party and the candidate, even if they held views that were different from your own, was the Right Thing To Do.

    It was wrong then. It’s wrong now. But I won’t be lectured by those who thought standing up to Boehner & Co was to be a traitor.

    I’m no more for the Party of Trump than I was for the Party of Nixon’s EPA, W’s Bailout, McConnell’s ExIm Bank or generations of pandering on New Deal and Great Society programs.

    Burn down the GOP. Regardless of candidate. (But do it after the General, please.)

    • #162
  13. Fred Houstan Member
    Fred Houstan
    @FredHoustan

    Brian McMenomy: A 427 voter size sample that shows Trump’s support 10-15 points higher than any other poll? Can you say outlier? The sample was probably limited to CNN’s newsroom, to whom Trump=ratings success=job security.

    Sure; “Outlier.”

    I get it, it’s just a poll. Still, I pray for no further signs of a spreading contagion. Today was a bad day to give up sniffing glue.

    • #163
  14. Tennessee Inactive
    Tennessee
    @Tennessee

    I appreciated Dennis Prager’s piece: Gratuitous Hatred is Destroying Republcans:

    “So, then, despite eight years of failure under a Democratic president, and with Hillary Clinton — widely regarded as a completely untrustworthy woman who has put pursuit of money and power above the interests of her country — as the Democratic candidate, Republicans will still lose.”

    It seems that even many Ricochetti have joined in to “burn it all down.”

    Where is the bucket brigade?

    I’m not a Trump “supporter.” But I’ll vote for him before Hillary.

    http://www.nationalreview.com/article/432129/gop-hatreds-threaten-party

    • #164
  15. Suspira Member
    Suspira
    @Suspira

    Whiskey Sam:Unless you’re going into open revolt against the federal government, leaving the party won’t do a thing but get Hillary elected. She (of the trail of dead bodies in her naked obsession with power) actually would be the end of the republic, but by all means let’s keep panicking over the Trump bogeyman.

    Sometimes the bogeyman is real.

    • #165
  16. Johnny Dubya Inactive
    Johnny Dubya
    @JohnnyDubya

    Random thoughts:

    Has Trump given a single prepared speech during the campaign?  I’m wondering what his inaugural address would be like.  Would it be one of his stream-of-consciousness tirades? How would that look in a published volume of inaugural addresses?

    Would he boast about his winning margin in the election?  Would he call Hillary a “loser”?

    Would he employ his flailing, New York street-corner hand gestures?

    If it were windy, would he wear a red “Make America Great Again” ball cap, to avoid losing control of the arrangement on his scalp?

    Would he discuss “bills” that he expected the Supreme Court to “sign”?

    Would he declare that he would protect the “Quds” in northern Iraq and that the “Kurds” Force in Iran is a terrorist organization?

    Would he explain what he means by “bombing the oil” and “taking the oil”?  (As Jon has pointed out, this would entail military occupation – an odd idea from someone who thinks the Iraq war was a mistake.)

    Most important, would Melania wear something modest and tasteful, or would she look like a Russian hooker?

    • #166
  17. Ricochet Inactive
    Ricochet
    @LarryHarris

    Whiskey Sam:Unless you’re going into open revolt against the federal government, leaving the party won’t do a thing but get Hillary elected.

    I think you’re on to something here, Mr. Sam.  As Nick Gillespie has pointed out, the federal government is decayed to the point where it is becoming less and less relevant in our lives.  A Trump presidency will only accelerate this trend, which makes the libertarian in me willing to take the plunge.

    • #167
  18. DADyer Inactive
    DADyer
    @DADyer

    Anybody remember a guy named Ross Perot? A lot of people deserted the GOP on election day that year because they wanted something besides the establishment candidate. What did they get? Bill Clinton.

    You may not like the idea of Trump as POTUS but the GOP Congress and conservatism is certainly going to have a better friend in the White House with Trump than HRC!

    Jon Gabriel and the rest of you threatening to not vote or vote for a non-GOP candidate ever heard the expression “Cutting off your nose to spite your face”?

    • #168
  19. Fred Houstan Member
    Fred Houstan
    @FredHoustan

    DADyer: You may not like the idea of Trump as POTUS but the GOP Congress and conservatism is certainly going to have a better friend in the White House with Trump than HRC!

    There’s no proof of this in his life as a private citizen. His “successful businessman” rouse is little more than an interesting editorial. In fact, we are swamped with countervailing evidence.

    • #169
  20. Johnny Dubya Inactive
    Johnny Dubya
    @JohnnyDubya

    This is an interesting article on Trump’s Penn years (all two of them).

    My favorite quote from one of his classmates:  “I could tell half the time he didn’t read the assignment… He’d bluff his way through it.”

    You don’t say?  I can only imagine…

    To tell you the truth, if I’m being honest, I don’t understand all this blah-blah-blah on “net present value…net present value.”  I mean, I’m not concerned about the present – what I care about is what the investment is going to be worth in the future.  And the discount rate?  Why would I want to discount an investment?  I want to sell it at a premium!

    His classroom bloviations must have been hilarious.

     

    • #170
  21. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    Whiskey Sam:

    Frank Soto:

    Whiskey Sam:Unless you’re going into open revolt against the federal government, leaving the party won’t do a thing but get Hillary elected. She (of the trail of dead bodies in her naked obsession with power) actually would be the end of the republic, but by all means let’s keep panicking over the Trump bogeyman.

    Trump is a life long liberal, and I’m thoroughly convinced that he holds no genuine conservative positions.

    He would be worse, as at least with Clinton, you will have united opposition against her, where as when Trump wants the government to pay for everyone’s healthcare (he said it five times now people) the dems will be on board, and many Republicans will say “Well, he’s our leader; the people voted for him”.

    Trump is a pompous ass and a buffoon, and that’s still a far sight better than Hillary.

    No, Sam. He’s Hillary in drag.

    • #171
  22. Chris Campion Coolidge
    Chris Campion
    @ChrisCampion

    Sash:Paul Erickson:

    Surely, your “oh please” can produce something here, right? What has Trump produced specifics on that aren’t a nightmare born of Democrat fantasy?

    ______________________

    I support Rubio.

    NEVER TRUMP!

    Because Rubio’s politics are very conservative. And he is the only one being honest about immigration. They all agree with what Rubio’s stand is, but they lie about it. Because reality is what Rubio says and they are pandering to the same voters that Trump is pandering too.

    I agree with Cruz most, of course, but a President can’t govern by himself, he has to be able to convince others to join him… and Cruz can’t do that, he does not have the personality, or the understanding of human nature. And he is lying about what he really wants the immigration policy to be.

    I will never support Trump. I have already determined that leaving the spot blank is preferable to Hillary, but if it is close in my state, I will vote for Hillary. Because Trump being the face of my party will turn the country to the left more quickly than Hillary winning would.

    The GOP is not the Party of the KKK. And if it becomes that, by nominating Trump, I’m out.

    Give me a third Party, with the people who are standing strong, I include Rubio. And I’m there.

    Easy there.  Democrats are the party of the KKK.  Just because Trump’s an ass doesn’t mean Republicans are Grand Kleagles, serving decades in the senate.

    • #172
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