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Confessions of a Reluctant Trumper
Having exuberantly joined the Communist Party of the United States in 1925, Whittaker Chambers became dismayed both with Stalin’s show trials and purges as well as with the hideous realities of collectivism before finally breaking faith in 1938. “I know that I’m leaving the winning side for the losing side,” he wrote of his decision to join with the West, to which he would later add, in a letter to his friend Ralph de Toledano:
It’s the realization … that this side is in its plight because of its stupidity, and cannot get out it because of its stupidity, and cannot help anybody … because of its stupidity — it’s that that’s killing us. And the stupidity of well-meaning friends is far more destructive than the malicious mischief of outright enemies. When you have to face the fact that they cannot, simply are unable, to act like grownups, then you know that it’s hopeless and all that we have tried to do is for nothing.
“So we’re doomed,” the antagonist might ask, “because too many of our fellow citizens can recite the names of all 15 American Idol winners but can’t name three people who signed the Declaration of Independence, and wouldn’t know the Federalist Papers from Federal Express?” Well, yes, there’s that part of it to be sure, but Chambers was reaching for a deeper point, as K. Alan Snyder observed several years ago over at First Principles. “He seems to have taken to heart the Christian doctrine of man’s depravity,” writes Snyder. Or, as Tolenado himself observed, “the struggle was no longer between Communism and Western civilization, but one in which Western civilization was destroying itself by betraying its heritage.”
As proof of the everlasting relevance of Chambers’ point, I offer as Exhibits A and B, the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees. And while acknowledging that the choices in this election are not binary, though with the understanding that the results will in fact be so, I will cast my vote for Donald Trump, though I suspect that I too am joining the losing side.
To be sure, I’m not suggesting that Mr. Trump will lose the election. On the contrary, while both candidates possess superhuman powers of self destruction, Trump seems increasingly adept and stylistically nimble while Clinton’s stodgy and stunted delivery of yesterday’s dusty and failed big-government prescriptions is about as inspiring as a toothache. So while it is still possible that Trump could win the election, the larger point is the arrested civic development of too many voters, combined with the willingness of too many in political and media circles to intellectually prostitute themselves that resulted in the elevation of these nominees in the first place.
For those of us still yearning for a genuine conservative and constitutionalist option, we had one viable alternative to Trump, and yet there were those on our own side who chose at the defining moment to take a polemical tire iron to him and then bemoan the rise of the eventual nominee.
Mr. Trump’s deviations from conservative orthodoxy and the animating convictions of the Founders are as well known as his departures from basic decency during the Republican primaries. Never mind the historical reality that increases in the minimum wage result in more jobs lost, or that a new entitlement of paid maternity leave is unaffordable, or that expanding an already imploding Medicaid program betrays a Venezuelan level of policy understanding. The fact is that these ideas, usually emanating from the left, have no place either in the Constitution or in the conservative lexicon, and Mr. Trump’s cheerleaders at Fox News and elsewhere do him no favors by refusing to urge that he make a course correction.
There are a few subjects, however, on which Mr. Trump seems more in sync with the imperatives of the moment. He is correct, in my opinion, when he maintains that border control is essential to national sovereignty and safety, even as securing one’s doors at night is essential to the peace and protection of family and home. His insistence on a robust and powerful military underscores America’s experience that weakness not only invites aggression, it nearly guarantees it. His eager display of a list of impeccably credentialed originalist jurists to fill judicial vacancies is comforting and contrasts nicely against the sort of statist enablers who would populate America’s courts in a Hillary Clinton administration.
And it is here, where the potential damage a Trump administration could inflict with tariff hikes and entitlement expansions that would make Bernie Sanders’ socialist heart flutter must be compared with dead-certain catastrophe of Hillary Clinton’s immigration initiatives which would spawn millions of new government-dependent citizens who would cement a permanent Democrat party majority and a foreign policy of weak-kneed vacillation in which Iran gets the bomb, ISIS gets a de facto welcome mat, and America gets attacked.
“But what difference does it make if, as you say, the die has been cast and yours is the losing side,” asks the antagonist? To which I answer: Perhaps precious little. A Trump win would be little more than a holding action for a finite period of time — a slowing in the descent of a trajectory that was set in 2008 and locked in in 2012. But I must try.
As for those who simply cannot bring themselves to cast a vote for Donald Trump, they will get no quarrel from me. Faced with a candidate who has spent decades supporting leftist policies and candidates with his words and finances, who even now instinctively lurches leftward on important issues, who has demonstrated a troubling lack of intellectual and philosophical curiosity about the Constitution or the detailed policies inherent in the job he seeks, and who gleefully trafficked in the sleaziest kind of personal slander and character assassination against his primary opponents that we’ve seen in generations, it is little wonder that there are many who cannot support the man.
Similarly, I find nothing troubling in the recommendation to “vote your conscience,” which is precisely what I will do while respecting those whose conscience leads them to a different conclusion. Reluctantly, and only because I see certain and immediate doom both in Mrs. Clinton’s congenital corruption and her Alinsky-like policies, I will move in Donald Trump’s direction. But I won’t march in formation. Which is to say that I won’t suspend my critical faculties nor check my principles and convictions at the door. When he swerves left or reverts to ugly and half-witted personal slurs, I will criticize him as vigorously as I do when Harry Reid reverts to similar form.
Several years ago, I don’t remember exactly when, Sean Hannity played a nice little gag on his audience. For the better part of his syndicated radio program one day, he pretended to switch ideological sides, saying at one point that he had encountered a homeless person while on his way to work, and he was just tired of it all and thought that liberals had the most compassionate ideas after all. He even fielded a call from someone doing a remarkable impersonation of Al Gore, who called to congratulate him on his sudden conversion.
Oh how his apoplectic callers raged and protested until finally, toward the end of the program, he confessed that it was all a joke and solemnly pledged that he would never abandon his conservative principles because to do so would be to jettison his credibility with his beloved audience. Then along came a Trump. These days, the host that I’ve listened to from my days in military uniform to my days driving an 18-wheeler across the country, who used to rail against new and unaffordable entitlement programs and minimum wage hikes that cost jobs, now makes excuses for them when they emanate from The Donald.
If Mitch McConnell, who bears a great deal of responsibility for the rise of Donald Trump, had suggested a hike in the minimum wage, or federally funded maternity leave, or an expansion of Medicaid, Sean’s head would have exploded on live radio. These days, however, he lashes out and hurls bombastic threats toward all who practice the ideological consistency he once pledged to his audience, while repeatedly criticizing Ted Cruz and others for abrogating their own pledges.
Speaking of which, does anyone reading these words doubt that if Harry Reid, who has a history of making baseless and absurd charges against people on the right, had suggested that a conservative candidate’s father had been involved in the assassination of a United States President, Sean Hannity would be demanding proof? Does anyone dispute that if Sean had a chance to confront Reid on such a malicious lie, that Reid would be lucky to emerge from the interview with a single shred of respectability? And yet, when Donald Trump trafficked in such a tinfoil hat absurdity, Sean inexplicably suspended his own standards of honest skepticism and, verily, now demands that others do likewise.
If I had been invited to the Hannity household for Thanksgiving dinner, and responded to the invitation by lying, loudly and repeatedly, about Sean’s parents, suggesting they were complicit in a murder, would Sean rescind the dinner invitation? Dignity and respect for the truth suggests that he would, but applying his current criteria, I suppose I could justifiably call him out for breaking his word. A candidate for president who requires these sorts of contortions and intellectual gymnastics of his most ardent followers is a lamentable person, and were Donald Trump’s opponent almost anyone other than a congenital liar like Hillary Clinton, I would not be able to vote for him.
And for the record, those who feel it is somehow necessary to trash conservative scholars and those who are educated and well versed in conservative philosophy and history in order to wave rhetorical pom-poms for a candidate who is by temperament and history neither conservative nor particularly versed in constitutional governance, forfeit their right to argue from a position of conservative principle with any credibility.
Jonah Goldberg, whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, is neither arrogant nor snobbish, as Sean maintains, but rather, a gracious and engaging gentleman blessed with a powerful mind and impeccable intellectual honesty. While I differ with him on a few particulars (I don’t believe he thinks the nation has reached the precipice of disaster just yet while I think we’ve throttled right over it like Wile E. Coyote in one of those Warner Brothers cartoons) I respect his opinion and recognize that we will need people of similar knowledge and capacity in the days ahead.
So, recalling how the US made common cause with a grisly killer like Stalin when WWII raged and the fate of the world required such an alliance, I will make common cause with Donald Trump in the hope that our rate of descent can be slowed just enough to give my grandkids a chance. I judge it an act of necessity, but not necessarily reputable. As Whittaker Chambers wrote with such moving eloquence from the very center of despair itself, “Like Noah, I just hammer away at the Ark, keeping an eye on the historical weather. It is written: And the Flood destroyed them all. For even God gets bored, I suppose.”
Published in General
I’m with you. The last chance we had to save this country was 2012. The country chose differently. We are well past the tipping point now.
Fortunately, I live in a very blue state (Illinois) where my vote for President is irrelevant. I don’t hold my vote precious, I hold it worthless with only symbolic value for me, so there is no point in giving it to someone that despises everything I believe in.
I used to say that with the benefit of post 9/11 hindsight, the outcome of the 2000 election could be construed as evidence of God intervening on behalf of this great country because he knew what was about to come. If that is true, the 2016 election is God forcing us to pay the price for his intervention then. He is telling us that won’t save this country, it’s up to us. Winter is coming, and it’s going to be a long four years regardless of who wins in November.
As your picture clearly shows, even the coolest villains ever faced by The Doctor are depressed about this election.
The problem is that conservatives won’t have a party. There will be Republicans and Democrats and vigorous critics refusing to join the formation.
If you want to try for conservatism then you need to try for conservatism. Not try for something else so you don’t get something else else. That’s just poison picking.
Dave Carter: “The horror…the horror!”
That’s exactly how I feel.
Well said.
Excellent post as always.
I for one am not sure where we stand in relation to the cliffs edge, what I do know from years of watching cartoons is that you don’t start to fall until you look down. So keep your head up and eyes focused on the horizon.
But when a magazine like The Weekly Standard chooses to insult its social-conservative readership by selling the reverse of its front cover to an organization demanding government funding for abortion, I have to wonder who these supposed conservative exemplars really are.
Yes. I am appalled to find myself defending Trump from the hypocrisy of supporters of Hillary.
I am not terribly hopeful that she won’t win.
But if she loses! She is out of public life, I hope, and I will never have to suffer her again!
That is a pretty good thing to vote for… the public silence of Hillary
For now I am ignoring just how horrible Trump is. Hard to do.
Truly he is less dangerous, because the media will not cover up for him.
Just as those who will reluctantly vote for him to stop Herself will get none from me. It’s a slight difference in viewpoint, that is all. It’s not an indication of nefarious motivations.
If Trump wins, my bet is for a repeat.
Daveo, you broke my heart. You broke my heart.
I also am reluctantly voting for Trump, hoping he is elected and stumbles through 4 years with as little harm as possible. If Ms Rodham is elected I am convinced of massive harm. Perhaps conservative and constitutionalists can get our acts together during a Trump term. I wonder if some of his proposals are to just to attract liberal leaning independents.
Another excellent article, dear Mr. Carter.
Thank you for expressing my own loathing so well. I have come to the point where I cannot speak or write either candidate’s name. I’ve had to do a lot of legal briefing recently and cannot even use the word to describe when one thing wins out over the other. It’s a very good thing that I’m not a bridge player, or the affliction would be crippling!
Your image of the sobbing angel is perfect.
Like @A-Squared above, I live in a state so blue that I need not make this revolting choice. An interesting fact is that even here, 6 weeks before the election, I have seen only one political lawn sign in my city. Normally they would have sprouted like mushrooms after a rain.
My block is filled with Hillary signs, but it is true that overall, the people’s republic of Oak Park IL has far fewer Hillary signs than it had Obama signs in 08/12 or Kerry signs in 2012. In spite of winning the Illinois primary, I have not yet seen a single Trump sign in Illinois, and I usually see a decent handful of Republican signs.
Dave, you hit the nail on the head as usual. My vote will count in the swing state of North Carolina and I will vote for Trump. It is my belief that four years of Trump will be better than 8 years of Hillary. Only time will tell. That’s all we have to go on now. The other piece to the puzzle is to make sure we have local races taken care of. Keep the Repulican governors and legislators. Keep the Senate and stay the numbers in the house. There is a lot more to elections than the President.
Well, in my neck of the woods, I’ve seen more Trump signs than I McCain or Romney combined.
I hadn’t paid attention in a while, but I thought things were getting better in the senate. But the prediction markets say otherwise. Predictit places the odds of Republicans keeping the Senate at roughly 45% and 538 puts it at roughly 45%. Plenty to be worried down ballot.
@davecarter, as usual you express my own thoughts more eloquently than I can do myself. Many thanks.
what do they look like?
In election years, we usually get a Republican sign to put out as part of our Halloween decoration, nothing scares the local kids more than a Republican yard sign, but we always take it down once the candy runs out so we don’t get vandalized.
Forgot the point, we’ve never had to ask for one after 2004 (the first election year we lived in Oak Park), but no one has reached out to us this year. I think a Trump sign would probably scare away more people than in previous years.
But one of the poisons will be president. Meanwhile, conservatives current do not have a political party. There are no good choices.
I’ve never wanted so badly to be proven wrong.
I’ll take your advice.
We will have a president. Both candidates are old, cranky, finicky and unreliable. So which one will cost the most? Keep in mind, this is not a young Bill Clinton arriving after the Reagan conservative realignment, still standing but unsteady after the reign of a tepid GHWB. This is an Old Hillary Clinton coming after the progressive wrecking ball of BHO has done its level best to transform our country into a land of overly sensitive freeloaders, weaklings, pacifists and wishful thinkers. If Hillary is elected, the entire country will be made up of a dozen or so cities and one giant reservation for the rest of us. Trump is also prone to wishful thinking, but maybe the Congress can keep any expensive forays into programs of entitlement and goodness in check. Remind Trump once again that charity and compassion are personal. He gets no points on earth or in heaven for forcing others (our future progeny) to fund his ideas of charity and compassion. Remind him also that forcing businesses to pay for things is the same as taxing them and us.
Trump is who we must support. God help us when we do.
Thank you so much. You have expressed my angst with the best words. My rambling mind agrees with everything you wrote. We must pray for our country.
Note: If you want to nudge NeverTrumpers to vote for Trump this is how you do it.
I hope the resulting cold war is less cumbersome, costly, and long.
Z, you took the word rider out of my mouth. @davecarter, you have expressed your reasoning in your thoughtful reflective way that is respectful of loggers looking at the wretched choices and making a different decision.
Unfortunately, I live in a purple state where my vote can count. My plan is to vote for Evan McMullin but you have given me some food for thought.
I’m glad, because I’m one of those guys.
I find it difficult to accept the argument that we must vote for Trump-because-otherwise-we’ll-get-Hillary. This is because many of us spent a year warning that Trump was probably the only Republican that Hillary could beat. If we really wanted to beat Hillary, Trump is the last guy we’d nominate. And yet here he is, and here we are.
It’s also hard for me to accept the argument that I must vote because it will make the difference. If my vote made a difference, my primary vote for a different candidate would also have made a difference, but it didn’t. We wouldn’t be in this mess if it did.
All I can say is that if I’m asked which of these two should be president, my honest answer is “neither.” That’s how I approach voting this year. But I think a lot of us are in the same predicament – we’re not absolutely sure either way what to do. Obviously, I make the same pledge as yours – I wouldn’t hold it against anyone to vote for Trump.
Except Chambers was wrong. Things must’ve looked awfully dark in 1938, with Stalin on the one side and Nazi Germany on the other. The future would be either fascist or communist, and either way liberty was doomed.
10 years later, Hitler’s 1000 Year Reich was a smoldering ruin. 50 years later the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed under the weight of its own contradictions. We’re still here. We’re still free.
I think it’s a disservice to all those who carried the torch this far to give in to despair now, no matter what happens in November.
I support the Donald because I realized for the first time in my life I am neither a Republican or a Democrat- I am a FiCon and know this from my consistent voting record for the private sector candidate:
He’s a patriot, very competitive, and can’t stand to see his country losing.