When Bill Clinton ran for office, the Gennifer Flowers scandal loomed. Everyone who voted for this aw-shucks Democrat from the back waters of Arkansas knew what they were getting, no matter claims to the contrary. Now, Hillary Clinton, who very reasonably could be indicted the first day she takes office is being voted for by the same folks claiming there’s a worse alternative to her.
That’s a lie. Hillary Clinton is the worst.
Lots of dirty things have happened in the White House, not the least of which happened during the first Clinton administration. Hillary’s new White House will be a continuation of the old and enshrine corruption. The first years of Clintons in office will look quaint compared to the selling out of the country under Hillary.
I’m not surprised that Democrats will vote for Hillary. If they had standards, they wouldn’t be Democrats. What shocks me, is the blithe dismissal by Republicans of the destruction she’ll surely bring upon the country as President.
Never Trumpers have engaged in a year long primal scream of dissent. It’s understandable. Donald Trump is troubling choice. He is a problematic candidate and will bring his erratic narcissism with him to the White House. But he’d be a bumbler not a laser-focused nuke of political destruction like Hillary Clinton.
The Never Trump folks believe they’re voting principle. Many have asserted that Hillary Clinton won’t be the strong (wo)man that many of us fear. They assert that fear itself has become a problem. The world didn’t end under Obama. The four-year political fear cycle is always hyperbole, they contend. It never gets that bad. America is still standing even after eight years of Obama.
Yes, there are those that argue that Obama’s tenure didn’t irreparably harm America. Many beg to differ:
There’s more and worse.
Hillary will not ameliorate one of these issues. She’ll calcify them. They’ll become hardwired into the American DNA. Then, there’s the Supreme Court.
Voting off-ticket helps her do that because it interferes with, yes, Donald Trump getting elected.
It’s important to note that Republican spite voters have less say this election than their outsized voice on social media might indicate. Had the movement been serious, an effort would have been made to get a viable candidate on the ballot in all fifty states. That didn’t happen. Playing catch up, the group wants to spoil here and there. They’re hoping to make their votes matter in certain key close swing races.
Depriving the country of Trump means depriving the GOP of power. The goal is saving the GOP for their preferred candidate and/or conservatism. The idea is that the GOP will be so humbled by their loss that they’ll finally listen and change or, a new, more conservative third party will rise.
The goal is not saving America while it can be saved. If it can be saved.
The actual outcome of Trump losing will be an embittered Republican party where party leaders who prefer big government will work with Hillary Clinton. The party itself will not look to any of the 2016 candidates to bring the Republican party together. Each one, in his own way, was dismissed by the GOP. Worst, they all lost to Donald Trump. The winner was Donald Trump–whose supporters outnumber his opposition. His faction will have a say, too.
Salvation is not at hand should Trump lose. Internecine power battles and irrelevant process fights will grip the party leadership out of touch with their base and the country. Their weakness will empower those who believe in The State as moral arbiter. Debt and decadence and lost liberties will define the New Clinton era while Republicans point fingers blaming one another for their impotence.
Donald Trump losing will be a historic pyrrhic victory for those so angry at the GOP that they’re willing to vote third party. There are worse things than a Donald Trump Republican. Voters will learn that truth the hard way should he lose. The shame is that just like with Bill, voters know exactly who Hillary Clinton is before she’s even in office and they helped her anyway.
