Thursday, May 05, 2016

Clarifying my position on Trump

For several months now I have been writing about my vehement opposition to Donald Trump becoming the Republican presidential nominee. I've gone so far as to say that I am in the "Never Trump" camp, which would imply that I will not support Trump under any circumstances, not even in the general election.

So does this mean I would vote for Hillary Clinton for President? Uhhh, no. Not. A. Flippin'. Chance. I would not vote for a Democrat if someone literally (and I do mean literally) held a gun to my head while at my polling place. 

Of course the typical retort might be that "not voting for POTUS or a vote for a third party candidate is equivalent to a vote for Hillary." Well, I live in Minnesota. A Republican hasn't carried this state in a general election since Richard Nixon in 1972. That trend isn't likely to change in 2016, so my vote would be of little consequence regardless of whom I support. 

So here's where I am today. If the general election took place tomorrow, I would cast a vote in every political race except President. However, Election Day is a little more than six months from now. If Trump can actually give me something to work with, I will latch on to it and charge forward. For instance, the Supreme Court seat left vacant due to the death of Antonin Scalia. If Trump were to furnish a list of potential nominees in the motif of Scalia, I'd be sold! Yes, the Supreme Court is that important. And it would also go a long way to emphasizing on how the GOP needs to maintain its majority in the Senate. As of now, Trump being at the top of the ticket has put said majority in jeopardy. 

Trump has been saying for some time that once he's the official GOP nominee, he'll pivot to general election mode and start emitting a new tone. Hopefully that "new tone" includes a discernible agenda. 

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2 comments:

Mr. D said...

Brad, this is excellent. I'm linking it over at my place.

The only thing that gives me any pause about #NeverTrump is SCOTUS.

jerrye92002 said...

I was surprised to see that Trump's website had a clear and rational set of policy proposals. Right now I'm assuming he never read it, but he could...