All right, I will admit it; I am ashamed to be a Republican
right now. Over the years, I have
been disappointed and disheartened by my party, but never have I felt the
absolute disgust that I currently face when identifying myself with the
party. And it is not for the
reasons you might think.
Many people, when seeking to condemn the Republican party,
point to allegations of racism, sexism, religious intolerance, or the
machinations of big business interests.
Those people see current Republican front runner Donald Trump as the
epitome of everything wrong with the Republican party; a loud mouthed, thin
skinned bully who “hates Mexicans, women, and anyone who doesn’t agree with
him.” In the minds of these critics,
I should be ashamed to be a Republican because we would choose Trump as a
viable candidate.
I am not ashamed of Donald Trump. Despite the naysayers, despite the media, despite the
attacks, I understand his appeal, and I defend those who choose to vote for
him. He chooses to be incorrect in
a society stifled by rampant political correctness. He approaches the niceties of D.C. from the outside, and
responds like any non-political, rational person. He is disgusted by the rampant corruption and power games of
the D.C. establishment, and he refuses to play by their rules. This “outsider” perspective is
appealing to voters who are frustrated by the lack of reasonable action in D.C.
on issues as diverse as terrorism, the economy, government debt, or immigration. While these voters may not agree with
the majority of Donald Trump’s personal views (such as his sometimes sexist
comments), they believe that his defiance of conventional wisdom may allow him
to break through the gridlock in D.C. and make legitimate and needed changes. Ultimately, it is prerogative of the
voter to choose the candidate that they believe will best represent their
interests and vote accordingly, and it is the height of arrogance to assume
that the vast number of people who believe that Donald Trump may be that person
are universally stupid, racists, sexists, or bigoted.
This is why I am ashamed to be a Republican; because the
party with which I am affiliated refuses to acknowledge the power of the
people, and the people’s right to choose their own leaders. The RNC recently announced the
possibility of a third party run should Donald Trump win the nomination, and
the Republican establishment in D.C. has made it clear that should any member
of the senate or house feels his/her seat is threatened by Trump’s nomination,
they are free to run on an opposition platform. This behavior is not acceptable for a party that claims to
represent its constituents. It is
echoed by the unacceptable behavior of the other candidates for the Republican
nomination. I am willing to
acknowledge the necessity for attacks upon Donald Trump’s policy, and
potentially even his character.
Attacks upon his physical appearance, and the kind of scummy rhetoric
that has come out of the candidates during the last two debates, however, is
not befitting of aspirants for the highest office in the land. Trump bears some of the blame for this,
as his attacks upon his opponents have been personal and uncalled for. However, Trump has set himself up as
the candidate who is politically incorrect, the candidate who can and will
flaunt the niceties in order to accomplish his purpose. Every other candidate on state is, and
should be, viewed in contrast with Trump.
They should not be playing his game; the primary should be about
presenting to the voters the kind of candidate that they are, and then leaving
it to the voter’s judgment who they believe is the best choice for the
party. Instead, this petty name
calling and mudslinging does no favours for any of the candidates. It damages the images of the other
candidates, as they seem to openly be rejecting the voice of the people, and
ultimately damages the party, as the candidates provide ammunition for the
opposition party come the general election. Of course Trump is not an electable candidate if the leaders
of his own party will not bite the bullet and support him.
Ultimately this is what disgusts me about the Republican
party at this point in the election.
There are, as I see it, two choices for the party that allow it to
maintain its political integrity, will provide a path to victory in November,
and are also not reprehensible to the voters. The first option is to cave and support Trump. Obviously, he speaks for a substantial
portion of the population; the people have spoken, so it is time to begin
consolidating power and support behind the prospective nominee and look toward
the general election. The focus in
this option should be on defeating Hillary Clinton, and mending the gaps
between Trump and those who oppose him.
Trump has been a very polarizing candidate, and there is also a large
block in the Republican party that is vehemently opposed to Trump and his
policy. The party establishment
and Trump should begin building bridges to those voters so as not to loose the
White House in November. Trump, it
seems, had begun trying to take steps in that direction. Many of his speeches lately have
demonstrated a more subdued tone, a greater focus on policy, and attention to
the faults of Hillary Clinton. The
attacks by the other candidates, and the Republican establishment, however,
have not allowed Trump opportunities to build those bridges, and he has been
forced to respond to attacks on his character instead of focusing his attention
on the real threat in Hillary Clinton.
The party cannot expect to be victorious in November if they are
constantly tearing down their potential nominee and placing him in opposition
with their interests. Donald Trump
is a loaded gun of a candidate.
The Republicans should be pointing him at Hillary Clinton, not at
themselves.
The other option for the party is to consolidate support
behind one of the other remaining candidates and actively campaign against
Trump. As I mentioned earlier,
there are a large portion of the republican party that does not like Trump and
think him a danger to the party.
Those voters, however, are split between Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and
neither can beat Trump without the voters currently choosing the other
candidate. It is here that the
Republican party really needs to swallow their pride, and put pressure on Marco
Rubio to drop out and throw his support behind Tex Cruz. So far, Cruz has been a more viable
candidate than Rubio, winning a a greater number of states. Cruz’s greatest asset against Trump,
however, is his similar position as an “outsider.” Although Cruz is a member of the Senate, and nominally a
member of the establishment, everyone in D.C. hates him. He appeals, as a fighter willing to
oppose his own party, to those voters who are fed up with the lack of action in
D.C., but are looking for a less radical option than Trump. If Ted Cruz were to drop out of the
race, it is uncertain that the majority of his voters would go to Rubio, or
whether they would consider Trump as a better option than the establishment
choice of Marco Rubio. It is
unlikely, however, that the voters who place their support behind Rubio would
ever vote for Trump; and his dropping out of the race would result in a
consolidation of power behind Cruz that might be enough to derail Trump’s
prospective nomination. This is
similar to the situation in the Democratic party. Hillary Clinton is not a great candidate. She is terribly unlikable,
untrustworthy, with a history of scandals. Bernie Sanders in contrast, is likable, and building a
movement among young voters. He is
also a socialist, and the party cannot afford to have a socialist candidate in
the general election. The
Democratic party has consolidated support behind Mrs. Clinton, and so she has
been able to remain ahead in the race, despite growing Sanders support and her
own deficits as a candidate.
Something similar could be done in the Republican party, where Donald
Trump’s candidacy is viewed by the party in a similar light as Sanders’, and
deemed politically unacceptable in a general election, and so the party chooses
another candidate, not “ideal,” but electable in Ted Cruz (or Hillary Clinton)
in order to consolidate voters in opposition to Trump.
At this point, the only reason (outside of ego) that John
Kasich and Marco Rubio would remain in the race would be to prevent Trump from
amassing a majority of delegates at the convention, which would create the
potentiality of a “white horse” candidate; a candidate currently not in the
race who is chosen as an alternative to the given choices. This possibility, as appealing as it may
seem to an establishment that does not want a Donald Trump nomination, and who
do not like Ted Cruz personally, is political suicide this year. The reason Donald Trump has gained such
a great degree of support is because voters are tired of the establishment
candidates. Any “white horse”
candidate the Republican party leaders put forward would be viewed as an
establishment cats-paw, and a direct insult to the voters who cast ballots for
Trump. Trump would then be
legitimized in a third party run (as he mentioned in the fall, a third party
candidacy is not off the table should he be “screwed over” by the Republican
party), and the party would be split, resulting in the loss of the
presidency. Similarly, a third
party race by a Republican establishment candidate would split the vote,
resulting in a Democrat in the White House. Either option should not be acceptable to the Republican
party because they are not representative of the desires of Republican voters
(who want to win the White House).
Each of these two options have been evidenced in the
endorsements of Chris Christy and Lindsey Graham this week. Christy has come out to support Trump;
providing the endorsement of a well-known and respected centrist
Republican. Graham said in an
interview of CBS news, “We are about ready to lose to the most dishonest
politician in America, Hillary Clinton…Ted Cruz is not my favorite by any
means…but we may be in a position where we have to rally around Ted Cruz as the
only way to stop Donald Trump. I
can’t believe I would say (that), but yes.” Graham and Christ represent the only options Republicans
have left for victory in November.
Marco Rubio is not going win at this point; it is just not going to
happen. Either a third party
candidacy or a “white horse” nomination will split the Republican vote and give
the White House to the Democrats.
I understand both option are distasteful to the Republican
establishment, but I ask DO WE WANT HILLARY CLINTON IN THE WHITE HOUSE? She is, as Graham mentioned, the most
dishonest politician in D.C.! She
was a terrible Secretary of State; her failure to respond to security threats
to our embassy in Libya in the months before the Benghazi attacks demonstrate either
gross incompetence of willful negligence that resulted in the deaths of four
Americans and the ongoing destabilization of that region. She risked the national security of the
United States for the sake of convenience by sending over a thousand top secret
emails through her private server and failing to mark them as classified (it
was part of her responsibility as Sec. of State to ensure that such information
was classified properly). The list
of her deficiencies as a potential commander and chief goes on. As a Republican, I want my party to do everything
in its power to prevent her presidency.
If that means the establishment has to take steps distasteful to it, so
be it; I as a republican voter have had to do the same. Over this election, and the last two
election cycles, the Republican party has put forward a number of candidates
that I found less than ideal. Both
John McCain and Mitt Romney were liberal for my tastes, and I disagreed with
them on a number of policy issues, however, I voted for them because I viewed
them as superior to the alternative of Barak Obama’s presidency. It is time for the establishment to
make the same sacrifices that they demand of their voters; to swallow their
pride, distaste, and their personal feelings do what is the best thing for
Republicans; keeping Hillary Clinton out of the White House. I am ashamed to be a Republican because
this week my party has been behaving in a childish and immature manner. Things have not been going their way,
and so the establishment has thrown a temper tantrum; mudslinging, threatening
third party races, and behaving in a self destructive manner. I am ashamed to be a Republican because
the leaders in my party do not respect the will of the people. I am ashamed to be a Republican because
my party is so busy destroying itself from the inside it doesn’t see the real
threat. I am ashamed to be a
Republican because we are a house divided against itself, and unless the
establishment politicians in D.C. make a complete turn around in their policy
and begin bringing the party back together, we will not be able to stand come November.
Well, back to reality.
Well, back to reality.
No comments:
Post a Comment