We are 2 weeks out from the election, now. Thank God, it is almost over, but I expect a wild ride to the finish. After about 19 months of this election season (beginning with Ted Cruz’s announcement), I have finally made up my mind as to who I am voting for and endorsing. I do not expect my choice to win, but I do not care. I will be voting for Evan McMullin. Let us go through each of the five candidates.
Donald Trump- I have written at length on this blog and in thousands of Tweets the reasons why I oppose Trump. If I had to pick one fundamental reason, it would be this: Trump’s approach to politics is the closest thing we have ever seen to the kind of demagoguery the Founders believed would destroy our republic. Trump has adopted the language of tyrants and demagogues, inflamed the passions of the masses, and is coy, at best, about whether or not he will accept the results of the election. Going all the way back to Plato, I see in Trump the kind of “people’s champion” who capitalizes on the devout worship of the mob to gain power and consolidate it under the guise of a “mandate from the masses.” Plato, Aristotle, and centuries of their students (including Madison and other Founders) feared the kind of tyrant who would emerge from such support. It is why the Founders created the Electoral College (so that enlightened individuals would resist the hot passions of the masses) and why they created a system of divided powers (so that it would be more difficult for a demagogue to consolidate his powers).
I do, of course, have plenty of other reasons to oppose Trump. I believe that he is a sexual predator and uses his power and wealth to silence his victims, much like Bill Clinton and Bill Cosby. The president need not be as perfect as Jesus Christ, but I believe they should be able to clear at least a minimal ethical bar, which Trump does not. Moreover, I do not believe Trump possesses the patience or temperament to be Commander in Chief, nor does he possess any understanding of diplomacy or international relations and would humiliate us on the international scene. A good example of this is his insistence that our troops commit war crimes to fight terrorism, such as murdering the innocent children of terrorists. He believes that brutal, raw displays of power are worthy of respect, no matter how horrifying (one of his favorite stories is an apocryphal story involving Blackjack John Pershing in the Philippines systematically executing Muslim soldiers by shooting them one-by-one in the head with bullets dripped in pig’s blood, sparing one soldier so that he could tell his tale to his comrades). At the end of the day, Trump is simply too in love with power and brutality to be the leader of the world’s strongest military power.
Next, Trump is truly poisoning our national politics and killing the Republican Party. Although there has never been much love lost between the media and conservatives, Trump rallies have started to routinely feature “two minute hate” sessions towards journalists covering the rallies. This will, I believe, lead to even greater polarization of media consumption in this country, divided by those who consume mainstream news (which, as Ladd shows, is objectively more accurate) and those who depend solely on talk radio, FOX News, and conspiracy theory websites like Breitbart and Infowars. In other words, Trump is amping up the rhetoric that further divides the country, rather than the rhetoric that unites it. Perhaps the worst result of Trump’s campaign, however, is that the Republican Party is quickly becoming the Alt Right party- one that trumpets white nationalism, populism, and demagoguery, rather than freedom, small government, and statesmanship. In other words, Trump is turning the Republican Party into the party of white racial resentment and anger. If this does not start to change, beginning November 9th, the Republicans will quite possibly never win another presidential election. Nor should they.
I know many will vote for Trump solely to stop Hillary. It is a position I understand, but not one that I accept for myself. To me, he represents the worst of politics; a man who is angry, unhinged, dishonest, vile, demagogic, and thoroughly unprepared for office. He is someone who pits Americans against each other and has no problem vilifying women, Muslims, Hispanics, intellectuals, the media, and numerous other people. I believe it is in America’s best interest that Trump loses and loses in a landslide. Perhaps, then, we can begin to undo some of the damage that Trump has inflicted on America and on the Republican Party.
Hillary Clinton- If Trump is the worst politician in America, Hillary honestly is not too far behind. She is going to win this election, but with probably the shortest leash in history (and for good reason). Clinton is scandal-ridden, disliked, and not especially inspiring. If I had to describe her in one short phrase, it would be “the manifestation of the status quo.” Against a competent opponent (Marco Rubio or John Kasich), she would be in danger of losing blue states to her opponent and desperately trying to make up ground.
If there was any reason to vote for her, it is that she is the primary alternative to Trump. Like those who are voting for Trump to stop Hillary, I understand those who are voting for Clinton to stop Trump. But, again, that is not reason enough for me to vote for her. Being adamantly anti-Trump does not blind me to the serious concerns people have raised about her character and competence. I think many of these concerns are perhaps overhyped (all the various scandals involving her emails, for instance), but it is hard to trust someone who has raised that many red flags throughout her career. The only thing I really trust about her is that she will act in her own self-interest and that she has a greater grasp on world affairs and the way our government works than Donald Trump.
As for her policies, I am generally not on board with her. Perhaps she is most centrist than she lets on, but I really have no policy rationale to support her. I know she will send more justices in the mold of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court and appellate courts, and I know she will continue the Obama agenda. Like I said, she is the manifestation of the status quo, a status quo that many do not like, and for good reason.
All in all, if I had the power to determine the election between Trump and Clinton, I would reluctantly pick Clinton, mostly because she merely makes me gloomy, rather than terrified. She is far more level-headed and competent than Trump, but that is about the lowest possible bar to clear. Since I do not have to make that choice, I will not. She has not earned my vote and I hope that she has to contend with a Republican Congress from Day One (she almost certainly will cause the Democrats to lose four or more Senate seats in 2018).
Gary Johnson- Ever since the day when Trump secured the GOP nomination, I have wanted to support Johnson. Being a libertarian-leaning conservative, I wanted to like what Johnson had to offer, but alas, I cannot. He and the Libertarian Party supporting him have shown me this year that they have no interest in actually governing and putting together a coalition that could possibly replace the Republicans as the main alternative to the Democrats. Instead of embracing disaffected #NeverTrump Republicans who wanted to join the party, the Libertarians opted to move in a more leftist direction and reach out, instead, to disgruntled supporters of Bernie Sanders. As such, Gary Johnson and Bill Weld have become pothead social justice warriors rather than right-of-center libertarians.
My main problem with Johnson, however, is that he has proven himself to be unserious and unfit to lead. A little bit of wackiness is somewhat endearing, but a lot of wackiness more or less disqualifies one from the White House. And worst of all, Johnson is such a novice on foreign policy that he makes Trump look like Henry Kissinger. Between not knowing anything about Aleppo (which is fine if you are a mechanic, but not okay if you want to be the President of the United States) and not being able to name foreign leaders, he demonstrates a lack of foreign policy knowledge that is completely unacceptable for a potential Commander in Chief. The presidency is unique in that it controls the domain of international relations and foreign policy basically by itself. A candidate less educated about foreign policy than Ben Carson and Donald Trump should not be president.
Jill Stein- She is a quack. And as much of a socialist as Bernie Sanders. No thanks.
Evan McMullin- Finally, we come to Evan McMullin, the man for whom I will be casting my vote in 2 weeks. Like I said at the outset, I am not naïve or desperate enough to believe that he will win. Clinton will easily reach 270 (I think quite possibly more than 350) Electoral votes, and McMullin’s “strategy,” such as it is, is probably devoted more to keeping Trump below 270 than actually pulling off a miracle victory.
Nonetheless, I believe it is important for me to cast my vote for McMullin. McMullin’s platform and beliefs are consistently conservative and represent the future the GOP should pursue, rather than Trumpism. McMullin’s platform is a softer form of conservatism that can resonate with young voters and minorities and grow the Republican Party. More importantly, he fundamentally rejects the white nationalism underpinning Trumpism and the authoritarian statism Trump has introduced to the Republican Party. This is the kind of platform the Republicans should have had this year.
Perhaps most importantly, I will not regret voting for McMullin in the future. I have been sympathetic to “lesser of two evils” arguments in the past, but I would rather vote for someone, rather than against someone. McMullin is a man who already possesses a greater presidential resume than the Republican and Green Party nominees, without the scandals or incompetence of the other two. Instead, McMullin has lead an admirable adult life- serving our nation as a CIA agent, working in the private sector at Goldman Sachs, serving as a missionary and humanitarian volunteer, and even working as a policy wonk for the House Republicans. Hopefully, he will soon add Utah Governor or Senator to his impressive resume. Even so, he has the kind of resume that proves he would be qualified for the Oval Office.
The Republican Party is going to have to do a lot of soul-searching beginning November 9th. They have a choice to make- follow Trump down the path of destruction or change course and rebuild for the future. How severe the civil war will be is unclear, but it is clear that for the GOP to win in 2020, they will have to draw Trumpism from the party, like poison from a wound. Voting McMullin is a good way to show the GOP exactly how much support they lost by nominating a despicable fraud like Donald Trump and why they must choose wisely when picking sides. Moreover, it has the additional benefit of telling the parties, particularly the Republicans, that they must earn votes and cannot fall back on the logic of “lesser of two evils.” It is not enough to say that “because Candidate Y is worse, you must vote for Candidate X.” The Republican Party is depending on this logic for victory, but voting McMullin shows them why this is flawed reasoning.
I am not voting for McMullin because I think it will help him defeat Hillary Clinton on November 8th. I am at peace with the fact that Hillary Clinton will be our next president and no one worthier of the office has a chance of beating her. By voting for McMullin, however, I will not be sanctioning any mandate she might try to claim from this victory. I will happily support her opposition for the next four years and look forward to the midterm elections when her party will finally be held accountable for supporting her.
Overall, I am proud to endorse and vote for Evan McMullin in two weeks. He presents an option that I can be proud of and will never regret. He is a man of honor, integrity, and experience who has risked his life, fortune, and sacred honor for this country. Launching an independent bid is not easy and I have no doubt he and his family have suffered greatly from Trump’s legions of Alt Right goons and trolls because of his courageous stance. Evan McMullin is not afraid to call out the Republican Party for their racist, sexist, and misogynistic stances, especially in the Age of Trump. McMullin understands, unlike so many in conservative media and in the GOP Congress, that the GOP cannot adequately oppose Clinton until its own house is in order. Right now, the GOP is a mess and it deserves to lose the election. McMullin, however, has earned my vote and I encourage anyone who is discouraged by the candidates of the four parties to consider him. A vote is only wasted if you regret it later. McMullin has given me no reason to believe I will regret voting for him.
Donald Trump- I have written at length on this blog and in thousands of Tweets the reasons why I oppose Trump. If I had to pick one fundamental reason, it would be this: Trump’s approach to politics is the closest thing we have ever seen to the kind of demagoguery the Founders believed would destroy our republic. Trump has adopted the language of tyrants and demagogues, inflamed the passions of the masses, and is coy, at best, about whether or not he will accept the results of the election. Going all the way back to Plato, I see in Trump the kind of “people’s champion” who capitalizes on the devout worship of the mob to gain power and consolidate it under the guise of a “mandate from the masses.” Plato, Aristotle, and centuries of their students (including Madison and other Founders) feared the kind of tyrant who would emerge from such support. It is why the Founders created the Electoral College (so that enlightened individuals would resist the hot passions of the masses) and why they created a system of divided powers (so that it would be more difficult for a demagogue to consolidate his powers).
I do, of course, have plenty of other reasons to oppose Trump. I believe that he is a sexual predator and uses his power and wealth to silence his victims, much like Bill Clinton and Bill Cosby. The president need not be as perfect as Jesus Christ, but I believe they should be able to clear at least a minimal ethical bar, which Trump does not. Moreover, I do not believe Trump possesses the patience or temperament to be Commander in Chief, nor does he possess any understanding of diplomacy or international relations and would humiliate us on the international scene. A good example of this is his insistence that our troops commit war crimes to fight terrorism, such as murdering the innocent children of terrorists. He believes that brutal, raw displays of power are worthy of respect, no matter how horrifying (one of his favorite stories is an apocryphal story involving Blackjack John Pershing in the Philippines systematically executing Muslim soldiers by shooting them one-by-one in the head with bullets dripped in pig’s blood, sparing one soldier so that he could tell his tale to his comrades). At the end of the day, Trump is simply too in love with power and brutality to be the leader of the world’s strongest military power.
Next, Trump is truly poisoning our national politics and killing the Republican Party. Although there has never been much love lost between the media and conservatives, Trump rallies have started to routinely feature “two minute hate” sessions towards journalists covering the rallies. This will, I believe, lead to even greater polarization of media consumption in this country, divided by those who consume mainstream news (which, as Ladd shows, is objectively more accurate) and those who depend solely on talk radio, FOX News, and conspiracy theory websites like Breitbart and Infowars. In other words, Trump is amping up the rhetoric that further divides the country, rather than the rhetoric that unites it. Perhaps the worst result of Trump’s campaign, however, is that the Republican Party is quickly becoming the Alt Right party- one that trumpets white nationalism, populism, and demagoguery, rather than freedom, small government, and statesmanship. In other words, Trump is turning the Republican Party into the party of white racial resentment and anger. If this does not start to change, beginning November 9th, the Republicans will quite possibly never win another presidential election. Nor should they.
I know many will vote for Trump solely to stop Hillary. It is a position I understand, but not one that I accept for myself. To me, he represents the worst of politics; a man who is angry, unhinged, dishonest, vile, demagogic, and thoroughly unprepared for office. He is someone who pits Americans against each other and has no problem vilifying women, Muslims, Hispanics, intellectuals, the media, and numerous other people. I believe it is in America’s best interest that Trump loses and loses in a landslide. Perhaps, then, we can begin to undo some of the damage that Trump has inflicted on America and on the Republican Party.
Hillary Clinton- If Trump is the worst politician in America, Hillary honestly is not too far behind. She is going to win this election, but with probably the shortest leash in history (and for good reason). Clinton is scandal-ridden, disliked, and not especially inspiring. If I had to describe her in one short phrase, it would be “the manifestation of the status quo.” Against a competent opponent (Marco Rubio or John Kasich), she would be in danger of losing blue states to her opponent and desperately trying to make up ground.
If there was any reason to vote for her, it is that she is the primary alternative to Trump. Like those who are voting for Trump to stop Hillary, I understand those who are voting for Clinton to stop Trump. But, again, that is not reason enough for me to vote for her. Being adamantly anti-Trump does not blind me to the serious concerns people have raised about her character and competence. I think many of these concerns are perhaps overhyped (all the various scandals involving her emails, for instance), but it is hard to trust someone who has raised that many red flags throughout her career. The only thing I really trust about her is that she will act in her own self-interest and that she has a greater grasp on world affairs and the way our government works than Donald Trump.
As for her policies, I am generally not on board with her. Perhaps she is most centrist than she lets on, but I really have no policy rationale to support her. I know she will send more justices in the mold of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court and appellate courts, and I know she will continue the Obama agenda. Like I said, she is the manifestation of the status quo, a status quo that many do not like, and for good reason.
All in all, if I had the power to determine the election between Trump and Clinton, I would reluctantly pick Clinton, mostly because she merely makes me gloomy, rather than terrified. She is far more level-headed and competent than Trump, but that is about the lowest possible bar to clear. Since I do not have to make that choice, I will not. She has not earned my vote and I hope that she has to contend with a Republican Congress from Day One (she almost certainly will cause the Democrats to lose four or more Senate seats in 2018).
Gary Johnson- Ever since the day when Trump secured the GOP nomination, I have wanted to support Johnson. Being a libertarian-leaning conservative, I wanted to like what Johnson had to offer, but alas, I cannot. He and the Libertarian Party supporting him have shown me this year that they have no interest in actually governing and putting together a coalition that could possibly replace the Republicans as the main alternative to the Democrats. Instead of embracing disaffected #NeverTrump Republicans who wanted to join the party, the Libertarians opted to move in a more leftist direction and reach out, instead, to disgruntled supporters of Bernie Sanders. As such, Gary Johnson and Bill Weld have become pothead social justice warriors rather than right-of-center libertarians.
My main problem with Johnson, however, is that he has proven himself to be unserious and unfit to lead. A little bit of wackiness is somewhat endearing, but a lot of wackiness more or less disqualifies one from the White House. And worst of all, Johnson is such a novice on foreign policy that he makes Trump look like Henry Kissinger. Between not knowing anything about Aleppo (which is fine if you are a mechanic, but not okay if you want to be the President of the United States) and not being able to name foreign leaders, he demonstrates a lack of foreign policy knowledge that is completely unacceptable for a potential Commander in Chief. The presidency is unique in that it controls the domain of international relations and foreign policy basically by itself. A candidate less educated about foreign policy than Ben Carson and Donald Trump should not be president.
Jill Stein- She is a quack. And as much of a socialist as Bernie Sanders. No thanks.
Evan McMullin- Finally, we come to Evan McMullin, the man for whom I will be casting my vote in 2 weeks. Like I said at the outset, I am not naïve or desperate enough to believe that he will win. Clinton will easily reach 270 (I think quite possibly more than 350) Electoral votes, and McMullin’s “strategy,” such as it is, is probably devoted more to keeping Trump below 270 than actually pulling off a miracle victory.
Nonetheless, I believe it is important for me to cast my vote for McMullin. McMullin’s platform and beliefs are consistently conservative and represent the future the GOP should pursue, rather than Trumpism. McMullin’s platform is a softer form of conservatism that can resonate with young voters and minorities and grow the Republican Party. More importantly, he fundamentally rejects the white nationalism underpinning Trumpism and the authoritarian statism Trump has introduced to the Republican Party. This is the kind of platform the Republicans should have had this year.
Perhaps most importantly, I will not regret voting for McMullin in the future. I have been sympathetic to “lesser of two evils” arguments in the past, but I would rather vote for someone, rather than against someone. McMullin is a man who already possesses a greater presidential resume than the Republican and Green Party nominees, without the scandals or incompetence of the other two. Instead, McMullin has lead an admirable adult life- serving our nation as a CIA agent, working in the private sector at Goldman Sachs, serving as a missionary and humanitarian volunteer, and even working as a policy wonk for the House Republicans. Hopefully, he will soon add Utah Governor or Senator to his impressive resume. Even so, he has the kind of resume that proves he would be qualified for the Oval Office.
The Republican Party is going to have to do a lot of soul-searching beginning November 9th. They have a choice to make- follow Trump down the path of destruction or change course and rebuild for the future. How severe the civil war will be is unclear, but it is clear that for the GOP to win in 2020, they will have to draw Trumpism from the party, like poison from a wound. Voting McMullin is a good way to show the GOP exactly how much support they lost by nominating a despicable fraud like Donald Trump and why they must choose wisely when picking sides. Moreover, it has the additional benefit of telling the parties, particularly the Republicans, that they must earn votes and cannot fall back on the logic of “lesser of two evils.” It is not enough to say that “because Candidate Y is worse, you must vote for Candidate X.” The Republican Party is depending on this logic for victory, but voting McMullin shows them why this is flawed reasoning.
I am not voting for McMullin because I think it will help him defeat Hillary Clinton on November 8th. I am at peace with the fact that Hillary Clinton will be our next president and no one worthier of the office has a chance of beating her. By voting for McMullin, however, I will not be sanctioning any mandate she might try to claim from this victory. I will happily support her opposition for the next four years and look forward to the midterm elections when her party will finally be held accountable for supporting her.
Overall, I am proud to endorse and vote for Evan McMullin in two weeks. He presents an option that I can be proud of and will never regret. He is a man of honor, integrity, and experience who has risked his life, fortune, and sacred honor for this country. Launching an independent bid is not easy and I have no doubt he and his family have suffered greatly from Trump’s legions of Alt Right goons and trolls because of his courageous stance. Evan McMullin is not afraid to call out the Republican Party for their racist, sexist, and misogynistic stances, especially in the Age of Trump. McMullin understands, unlike so many in conservative media and in the GOP Congress, that the GOP cannot adequately oppose Clinton until its own house is in order. Right now, the GOP is a mess and it deserves to lose the election. McMullin, however, has earned my vote and I encourage anyone who is discouraged by the candidates of the four parties to consider him. A vote is only wasted if you regret it later. McMullin has given me no reason to believe I will regret voting for him.
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