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A Word from the Wise One in Our Family, Or, Why I’m Going to Take My Time with This
During our end-of-the-day chat yesterday evening, I mentioned to my wife that I’d been in a quiet lather all day — as had many of us here at Ricochet. I’d put up a couple of posts, I explained, quoting people who made the argument that for all his terrible faults Donald Trump would represent a lesser evil than Hillary, and then
a) In comments on the posts, opinion here on the site split between those who agreed and those who quite forcefully insisted instead on having nothing to do with Trump, and,
b) The idea of supporting Trump, even extremely reluctantly, had sat badly with me. Even in my own mind, that is, I remained uneasy and divided.
Her response? “Give it some time. Nobody has to make up his mind in one day.”
As usual, she’s right. My position right now? That figuring out what to do in the present situation represents a very hard problem–hard both politically (we’re going to have to live with the results of this election for at least four years) and morally (each of us is also going to have to live with himself). For the time being, all I know for certain is–well, let me simply quote my friend Robby George: “The nation faces a choice between two appalling people, neither of whom is fit—morally or otherwise—to be President of the United States. God help us.”
Published in General
Seems to me that “working to avoid the worst-case-scenario” would be a good definition for a conservative.
You married well, I see.
For many of us, it’s going to take a lot of time to decide what to do in the end.
I’m going to try prayer for a while. I will be asking for a miracle.
Yup. I have said consistently, Trump can earn my vote between now and November.
Unfortunately, I do not expect him to try.
I feel like I have been choosing between the lesser of two evils for decades. However, never can I remember the two evils being so evenly matched.
The problem with leaving options open is that over time outrage and discomfort can fade and one gradually accepts what at first was out of the question. That is why some people are making an on the record #neverTrump pledge.
I detest the muddles of my life, which is why I make up my mind and avoid them. And that decision is, Never Trump. Let’s have an independent conservative candidate and can that please be soon? Who can we draft to spearhead this effort?
Contingency planning should apply to everything. When my first candidate left the race, I went to my next favorite who was still in the race. When he dropped out, I went to my third, etc. Maybe it’s a matter of seldom having my chosen candidate at the start of the race ever even be in the race by the time of the primary where I live, but I have gotten used to this way of operating politically.
I had decided two weeks before it happened what I would do if Cruz dropped out and we were left with the Donald. By looking ahead and making decisions ahead of time, it doesn’t hurt as much when the time comes.
It is like driving. One is supposed to be looking twelve seconds ahead and know what one will do if this car turns left or that car slams on the brakes. One should see if a car ahead is swerving a bit unpredictably or if someone is barreling up one one in the mirror. One shouldn’t just charge ahead at the speed limit until one can’t, and then start thinking about deciding what to do and what one’s options are.
Situational awareness and contingency planning. Those should be all of our watchwords. I guarantee that this will not be our last disappointment of the political season. Best be thinking what could happen next.
In a bad spot, take the time you need. In a situation like this, you have to do what your conscience will allow.
In the past, I have often had to hold my nose and vote for the lesser of two evils. I was rather impatient with those purists who held out for perfection, viewing them as naive and unreasonable.
But I think this is a very different case. In past elections, both sides weren’t really evils; they just were not as good as we wished. Bob Dole was an uninspiring establishment figure, but he was also a war hero and an honorable man. McCain could swing liberal at times, and had many shortcomings, but he also was a war hero and a patriot. Romney was a bit squishy on some issues, but we could not have asked for more decency and integrity. The choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump truly is a choice between evils. It’s simply a matter of choosing the form of our destruction: the all-too-familiar plummet into leftism led by a corrupt and dishonest woman, or the unknown territory of turning over our republic to an unstable, unprincipled, utterly unfit super-narcissist. The latter case does hold more unknowns, which tempts some into thinking that it will all work out alright. But the history of demagogues and the track record of this man lead me to believe that he could well do even more damage than Hillary.
I cannot vote for either of these candidates. If Hillary wins (and I believe she will), it will be awful. But at least the Republicans who survive the bloodbath will be able to put up an opposition. With Trump as president, how will we be able to oppose his excesses and his disastrous policies? We will own him, and we will be tarred by association. He will have succeeded in hollowing out the Republican Party from within, and the conservative movement will be rendered impotent for a generation. I just pray that the damage is not already completed.
Agreed. There is something of a stockholm syndrome, especially when it is what we really do want to believe. Trust me, I hate the fact that there is nobody I can vote for in November. I hate having to resign myself to at least 4 years of someone I detest. I would absolutely love to be convinced that Trump is not as bad as I think, but that would require compromises and mental gymnastics that I’m not willing to engage in
I think my consolation, as a Catholic, is that our hope is in Jesus, not our President, and I’m supes patriotic. Love my country. Get teary-eyed in the Liberty Island Museum, kinda love. Sometimes you get a David, sometimes you get a Saul. Follow your conscience and focus on the good, true, and beautiful.
Peter, keep thinking. And while you’re thinking, take a look at this link.
I am no believer in miracles, and it would take a miracle to make Trump a candidate for whom I could vote. However, there are more than six months left before that day when decision becomes reality. If by some miracle, like Paul of Tarsus, Trump undergoes an apotheosis and becomes something he has never been, I might be able then to cast my vote for him. I suspect that there is as much chance of that happening as a snowball has in hell, so count me until that day as #NEVERTRUMP.
The author’s bio
While I agree with much of what he wrote, I’m going to go out on a limb and say an open letter written by a Republican lobbyist is not going to convince that many people that would be inclined to support Trump.
Peter, I know that many on this website will hate and reject this argument, but I do think it is something that might resonate with you.
This is the same thing, in my mind, as the homosexuality argument for Christians. Yes, the Bible teaches us to love our neighbors; as human beings, we want to be accepting of as many people as possible. Every instinct when it comes to our fellow man leads us to diligently wish that we could embrace more and reject less. I think many Christians would like the outcome if it turned out that all of those making theological arguments in favor of homosexual unions (and divorce, and several other things) were correct.
But when you dig down and you really get into it, you know that the only way to arrive at that outcome is to severly undermine and weaken the basis for your theology. You must question authority, substitute your own judgment, engage in isegetical analysis… it gets you to your preferred outcome, but it destroys the process, so that on that same basis, we can arrive at virtually any outcome we want to.
I feel the same way about conservatism. I’ve heard the arguments in favor of Donald Trump, and I think I could try to convince myself that they outweigh the the arguments against Trump, especially when you can always fall back on the “lesser of two evils” argument. But to do so would severely weaken us. It would validate all the negative stereotypes we’ve been fighting against; it would put us in that position of hypocrisy, such that we could no longer truly win any argument on principle.
It would be the ultimate trump-card (pun unavoidable) for the left, and it really would cripple conservatism. I would so much rather stand on principle and lose, maintaining my ability to fight another day. Ben Sasse is correct, and I only wish that he was willing to play that role – we need to rally conservatism back to something defensible, separate the wheat from the chaffe (please pardon all the biblical references!), and accept the fact that ideas are more important than numbers.
Take all the time you need Peter, but I find the notion that you’ve only had a day to consider this somewhat disingenuous.
Yes, but what is the worst case scenario? Partisanship makes many say its Hillary, but that seems as rash as anything NeverTrumpers are accused of.
But, yes we can all sit back and wait…for 2020. Most rational thing to do is to give up and check out. The primary cause of happiness or grief in anyone’s life is still not the government. So in a personal sense no one has lost anything, and the outcome of the election is still irrelevant. After all McCain and Romney losing to Obama didn’t have much impact on my own life except on the very margins. Most things don’t impact us directly in any meaningful way.
I think it’s intended for exactly the lobbyists and members of the donor class who are tempted to give in.
My taxes and health insurance changed in a pretty meaningful way.
And, as a lawyer, I’ve seen some of the implications of Obama’s policies play out … especially since my state (WA) fully embraces virtually everything he does.
Peter, you and I are exactly in the same place. I’m muddling through my own thoughts, in writing, and will post them later. It is an awful and dispiriting position to be in
Peter,
You are far smarter than I when it comes to this stuff. So I ask you: name 5 things that Donald Trump would or could do that would change your opinion of him. Or even 3 things. Tell me what those things are. I can’t think of any. Maybe you can.
Supreme Court nominations.
Looking at the state of our popular culture, why are any of us surprised that these are our candidates? They’re a pretty accurate reflection of America in 2016.
At the very least I think an objective observer would have admit that given the deep division on the right which is on display here, Trump will not win. What’s more, he is already toxic among those in the middle, making the division on the right almost a moot point anyway. Given the almost certain failure of Trump in November, why should it even be a question as to whether to support him. Why compromise your beliefs and principles to support a sure loser?
I think that’s right. I’m keeping an open mind about Trump convincing me to vote for him. In November I’ll have to decide whether to vote third party or vote for Trump. I think Trump will make that decision easy.
Charles Krauthammer said that if he was Trump, he would probably be better off pursuing blue collar Democrats rather than conservatives, even though that’s not what Krauthammer prefers. That makes sense to me. I’m not just going to forget the garbage he peddled about Cruz via the National Enquirer.
My head and my heart are arguing with each other over which hates Trump more.
I cannot imagine how he can win, unless he is able to pick up a lot of disaffected democrat voters who think that party has let them down too. This may happen – a real grass roots populist candidacy.
But he cannot win with the classic republican voters – even those who’re very frustrated with the so-called “establishment”. I count myself in this category, but don’t believe Trump is conservative at all. He appears to me to be reflexively big government, and my “beef” with Republicans is that they’re moving away from limited government. So why would I vote for this guy? My libertarian husband, who I’ve managed to convince to vote republican in each of the last several elections, has told me he’s a Johnson guy this time around.
Added: Maybe in Nov, I’ll decide he’d be marginally better than Hillary and hold my breath and vote for him. Can’t say for sure, though.
At the moment, we seem to have a choice not between David and Saul, but between Ahab and Jezebel.
But maybe Trump isn’t really an Ahab. Like Peter, I’m going to wait and see how the campaign progresses.
Klaven (in his podcast yesterday) said Trump will need to ‘earn’ our vote, to convince us. Just so. That’s what he needs to try to do.
Exactly. This is because the things that are wrong with Trump aren’t reflections of a lack of knowledge, or a poorly-planned policy, but who the man is. His character. In order for Trump to change enough to change my opinion of him, he would have to literally be a different person. Not proud of his infidelity, not petty, not thin-skinned, not egotistical and arrogant, not disgustingly gaudy, not tasteless, self-respecting, respecting of others… He would have to not be Donald Trump.
This is depressing. Its hard to refute.
(So sorry, I tried to ‘quote’ but instead “edited” this comment. I’ve tried to put it back, but cannot remember exactly what I wrote)