On Tuesday, we in the Super Tuesday states go to the polls. As always, I implore everyone who is registered to go and do their civic duty and vote. The only way our democratic republic can function is if the voices of citizens are heard. But I want to go one step further and implore my fellow Virginians and other Super Tuesday-voting Republicans to cast your vote for Marco Rubio.
Senator Rubio is our last, best hope to put a true conservative into the White House next year. Ideologically, there is hardly any space between him and Senator Cruz. Both men are conservatives on every issue (much more conservative than I am, to be honest), with only the sticky issue of immigration giving them the slightest ideological distinction. Either one of them would be the most conservative nominee since Goldwater. But where they truly differ are on tactics and the tone of their message. Senator Rubio, from the first day of his campaign has spread his conservative message in a unifying, calm tone that combines nuanced policy positions with compassion and optimism. Rubio, in other words, has emulated Ronald Reagan’s ability to articulate and communicate a bold conservative message that can unite the country. Consequently, he can win in November. Senator Cruz, however, has made it quite clear that he is only campaigning on behalf of so-called “courageous conservatives.” While he has run an efficient and, for the most part, disciplined primary campaign, Cruz’s plan of “destroying the mushy middle” effectively dooms him in the general election and his propensity to spread falsehoods about his opponents is harming his primary campaign. Certainly of the two of them, Rubio is the candidate with the best shot of winning the White House this November.
I turn now to Donald Trump. Quite frankly, it is an embarrassment that he has stayed in the race this long. He is a man who has the shallowest possible understanding of policy and the vaguest “vision” for this country. He is a man who has been shown to admire the bold tactics of tyrants (Kim Jong-un, Putin, and Communist China) and willingly embrace the support of white supremacists. Social conservatives should not trust a man who defends Planned Parenthood, is on his third trophy wife, and tried to make his money through the ever-shady casino business. Fiscal conservatives should be leery of a man who defends government bailouts and supports progressive taxation. And national security conservatives should not trust the government to a man who has become, in essence, a 9/11 Truther. He is incoherent on foreign policy (as Tom Nichols shows) and looks like a complete novice compared to the depth of Marco Rubio’s answers on foreign policy. Trump, in short, is no conservative by any contemporary American understanding of the term. At most, he hearkens back to the racially conservative (racist) Dixiecrats of the Civil Rights Era.
Trump is the embodiment of everything the Founding Fathers sought to constrain- the populist demagogue. The Founders, being quite well-versed in the political theory of giants like Plato, knew that the rise of a “champion of the people” would inevitably result in tyranny. Thus, they tried to control the method of election and the scope of the president’s powers once in office. The Electoral College, for example, was created largely to ensure that the passions of the masses would not give the country someone like Trump by entrusting the election of the president to a group of wise, yet unaffiliated electors who could not all be corrupted at once. As for the scope of his powers, the Founders devised the great system of checks and balances to prevent the president from becoming a king- who would most easily rise up in a decadent democracy with the backing of the passionate “people.” Trump fits this bill perfectly. He has the backing of the angry and passionate masses who have sacrificed all rationality for the authoritarian promises he has given them. If elected, he will try to destroy the system of checks and balances even more than President Obama. Anyone who has complained about executive aggrandizement under Obama cannot in good conscience vote for Trump- he is a ruthless businessman who is used to getting his way and bossing his subordinates around. He will not recognize Congress’ co-equal role and will toss aside the Constitution to get what he wants (which may not even be “conservative;” his true preferences are hard to decipher; I view them as essentially random). Finally, I think President Trump would ultimately stab his supporters in the back. He has made it clear that he does not respect his supporters or their intelligence and that he understands that he has a cult following that serve as useful dupes on his quest for power. Trump cannot be trusted with power and if given such power will attempt to destroy the system that has served us well since 1787. For a demagogue like Trump, the Constitution can only be seen as a useless impediment to power.
The aforementioned represent only the surface of the many criticisms I have of Trump. For a myriad of reasons, I will leave the Republican Party if Donald Trump is the nominee. I cannot in good conscience support a man antithetical to everything I believe. The Republican Party should embody the spirit of a republic- which means that is ruled by thoughtful, prudent, and wise guardians of the public interest; men and women like George Washington. Incidentally, I believe the president should also embody all of these qualities. Donald Trump is the opposite of this spirit in every conceivable way- he is vulgar, impulsive, thoughtless, rash, and bellicose.
Pragmatically speaking, I also think Trump will do irreparable harm to the Republican Party, both in the short-term and the long-term as the nominee. In the short-term, we will lose many talented individuals in swing Senate seats (Toomey, Ayotte, Portman, etc…) and in other races, as well. In the long-term, the Republican brand will (completely justifiably) be associated with nativism and white supremacy because so much of Trump’s core support is coming from racist individuals. And if Trump’s immigration plan is ever implemented, the GOP will NEVER be competitive among the rapidly-growing Hispanic population, leaving the GOP in the position of being nothing more than a permanent opposition party. In short, if the Republicans nominate Trump, it should bring about a divorce between the GOP and mainstream conservatives. A new party will have to form, in its place, that does not give a platform for Trumpism and other angry, hateful or fearful doctrines. If Trump is nominated, the Republicans deserve not only to lose, but to collapse as the party of white supremacy. At the very least, I will not return to the party until the cancer of Trumpism is thoroughly eradicated.
Fellow Republicans, I am begging you in the strongest possible terms to turn away from Trump while we still can. On Super Tuesday, we can send a message that the Republican Party is not Donald Trump’s party. Even if you refuse to vote for Rubio because of the “Gang of Eight,” do not give your vote to Trump. But even if we do not succeed in stopping him on Tuesday, do not give in to hatred or fear of the Democrats. It is not worth it to make a Faustian Bargain with Trump- he cannot be trusted on anything. It is better to go down in a blaze of glory than to cynically abandon all principles and tie your fate to a con artist (here’s looking at you, Chris Christie!). I will never support any Republican who endorses Trump because that singular act proves that the politician is either unprincipled or strategically foolish (which are about equally disqualifying.) I would rather see Congressional Republicans valiantly stand against Hillary Clinton than try to work with Donald Trump. There is nothing to be gained with Donald Trump in the White House, but everything to lose. I whole-heartedly endorse Senator Rubio, but also the #NeverTrump movement. This Super Tuesday, let us shift the tide with our votes for the good of the Republican Party and the good of America.
Senator Rubio is our last, best hope to put a true conservative into the White House next year. Ideologically, there is hardly any space between him and Senator Cruz. Both men are conservatives on every issue (much more conservative than I am, to be honest), with only the sticky issue of immigration giving them the slightest ideological distinction. Either one of them would be the most conservative nominee since Goldwater. But where they truly differ are on tactics and the tone of their message. Senator Rubio, from the first day of his campaign has spread his conservative message in a unifying, calm tone that combines nuanced policy positions with compassion and optimism. Rubio, in other words, has emulated Ronald Reagan’s ability to articulate and communicate a bold conservative message that can unite the country. Consequently, he can win in November. Senator Cruz, however, has made it quite clear that he is only campaigning on behalf of so-called “courageous conservatives.” While he has run an efficient and, for the most part, disciplined primary campaign, Cruz’s plan of “destroying the mushy middle” effectively dooms him in the general election and his propensity to spread falsehoods about his opponents is harming his primary campaign. Certainly of the two of them, Rubio is the candidate with the best shot of winning the White House this November.
I turn now to Donald Trump. Quite frankly, it is an embarrassment that he has stayed in the race this long. He is a man who has the shallowest possible understanding of policy and the vaguest “vision” for this country. He is a man who has been shown to admire the bold tactics of tyrants (Kim Jong-un, Putin, and Communist China) and willingly embrace the support of white supremacists. Social conservatives should not trust a man who defends Planned Parenthood, is on his third trophy wife, and tried to make his money through the ever-shady casino business. Fiscal conservatives should be leery of a man who defends government bailouts and supports progressive taxation. And national security conservatives should not trust the government to a man who has become, in essence, a 9/11 Truther. He is incoherent on foreign policy (as Tom Nichols shows) and looks like a complete novice compared to the depth of Marco Rubio’s answers on foreign policy. Trump, in short, is no conservative by any contemporary American understanding of the term. At most, he hearkens back to the racially conservative (racist) Dixiecrats of the Civil Rights Era.
Trump is the embodiment of everything the Founding Fathers sought to constrain- the populist demagogue. The Founders, being quite well-versed in the political theory of giants like Plato, knew that the rise of a “champion of the people” would inevitably result in tyranny. Thus, they tried to control the method of election and the scope of the president’s powers once in office. The Electoral College, for example, was created largely to ensure that the passions of the masses would not give the country someone like Trump by entrusting the election of the president to a group of wise, yet unaffiliated electors who could not all be corrupted at once. As for the scope of his powers, the Founders devised the great system of checks and balances to prevent the president from becoming a king- who would most easily rise up in a decadent democracy with the backing of the passionate “people.” Trump fits this bill perfectly. He has the backing of the angry and passionate masses who have sacrificed all rationality for the authoritarian promises he has given them. If elected, he will try to destroy the system of checks and balances even more than President Obama. Anyone who has complained about executive aggrandizement under Obama cannot in good conscience vote for Trump- he is a ruthless businessman who is used to getting his way and bossing his subordinates around. He will not recognize Congress’ co-equal role and will toss aside the Constitution to get what he wants (which may not even be “conservative;” his true preferences are hard to decipher; I view them as essentially random). Finally, I think President Trump would ultimately stab his supporters in the back. He has made it clear that he does not respect his supporters or their intelligence and that he understands that he has a cult following that serve as useful dupes on his quest for power. Trump cannot be trusted with power and if given such power will attempt to destroy the system that has served us well since 1787. For a demagogue like Trump, the Constitution can only be seen as a useless impediment to power.
The aforementioned represent only the surface of the many criticisms I have of Trump. For a myriad of reasons, I will leave the Republican Party if Donald Trump is the nominee. I cannot in good conscience support a man antithetical to everything I believe. The Republican Party should embody the spirit of a republic- which means that is ruled by thoughtful, prudent, and wise guardians of the public interest; men and women like George Washington. Incidentally, I believe the president should also embody all of these qualities. Donald Trump is the opposite of this spirit in every conceivable way- he is vulgar, impulsive, thoughtless, rash, and bellicose.
Pragmatically speaking, I also think Trump will do irreparable harm to the Republican Party, both in the short-term and the long-term as the nominee. In the short-term, we will lose many talented individuals in swing Senate seats (Toomey, Ayotte, Portman, etc…) and in other races, as well. In the long-term, the Republican brand will (completely justifiably) be associated with nativism and white supremacy because so much of Trump’s core support is coming from racist individuals. And if Trump’s immigration plan is ever implemented, the GOP will NEVER be competitive among the rapidly-growing Hispanic population, leaving the GOP in the position of being nothing more than a permanent opposition party. In short, if the Republicans nominate Trump, it should bring about a divorce between the GOP and mainstream conservatives. A new party will have to form, in its place, that does not give a platform for Trumpism and other angry, hateful or fearful doctrines. If Trump is nominated, the Republicans deserve not only to lose, but to collapse as the party of white supremacy. At the very least, I will not return to the party until the cancer of Trumpism is thoroughly eradicated.
Fellow Republicans, I am begging you in the strongest possible terms to turn away from Trump while we still can. On Super Tuesday, we can send a message that the Republican Party is not Donald Trump’s party. Even if you refuse to vote for Rubio because of the “Gang of Eight,” do not give your vote to Trump. But even if we do not succeed in stopping him on Tuesday, do not give in to hatred or fear of the Democrats. It is not worth it to make a Faustian Bargain with Trump- he cannot be trusted on anything. It is better to go down in a blaze of glory than to cynically abandon all principles and tie your fate to a con artist (here’s looking at you, Chris Christie!). I will never support any Republican who endorses Trump because that singular act proves that the politician is either unprincipled or strategically foolish (which are about equally disqualifying.) I would rather see Congressional Republicans valiantly stand against Hillary Clinton than try to work with Donald Trump. There is nothing to be gained with Donald Trump in the White House, but everything to lose. I whole-heartedly endorse Senator Rubio, but also the #NeverTrump movement. This Super Tuesday, let us shift the tide with our votes for the good of the Republican Party and the good of America.
RSS Feed
