People have said to me, “Good grief, we have 320 million people in the US and look at the choices we have for President!” True. On the one hand we have a fellow who was not my first, second, or third choice. He is brash, outspoken, politically incorrect, and one of the most successful businessmen in the US. On the other hand, we have a person who is contemptuous of the military, thinks Americans aren’t smart enough to manage their own lives, wants to raise taxes even when the economy is growing at an anemic 1%, was the worst Secretary of State in my lifetime, and jeopardizes our national secrets and lies about that to your face. But worst of all, she has become wealthy duping money out of Clinton Foundation donors or through pay-to-play schemes using her government position to give access to those donors for their support of her political objectives.
Trump’s and Clinton’s view of foreign policy, the economy, jobs, the role of government, and the Supreme Court could not be more different. It’s a stark contrast. A brash outsider versus a corrupt insider. He insults. She lies. He says what he’s thinking instead of thinking what he’s saying. She says what she thinks you want to hear and thinks what she says is truth, even when it isn’t. His mind arcs from one politically controversial comment or thought to another. Her mind “short circuits,” her way of justifying her lies.
So what’s a person to do. Voting for the Libertarian, the merits of the guy notwithstanding, is not an option. A Republican vote for him is a de facto vote for Hillary. (Please spare me your outrage. You won’t change my mind on that statement). A vote for the Green Party looney will hurt Hillary, so I hope a bunch of the Bernie folks do that.
So if you’re a Republican and not a member of the reflexive “Never Trump” club, and seriously trying to sort yourself out on what to do between Trump and an alternative to Trump, maybe this will help you.
We’re not just voting for a person; we’re voting for an administration. Much in the same way that a parliamentary system “votes in a government” who will control the policy of the country, maybe we should look at this strange election through that lens.
Trump worries voters on our side. But he has chosen a strong, effective, and conservative governor in Mike Pence to be his Vice President. That’s a good indication of the kind of solid people he will chose for his cabinet. (He should announce them soon, I might add). And that’s the point. It’s more than Trump. We’re also voting for a VP, and a cabinet, the senior people who will run the government, the administration that will choose judges, the policies that will be ended or begun, and the executive structure that will work with or oppose Congress. We are voting for an administration in the fullest sense of the word.
A Trump or Clinton administration will take dramatically different paths. He has made clear that he will work with the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society in choosing Supreme Court nominees. She will depend on the likes of left looney Elizabeth Warren to pick judges. He will lower taxes, Clinton will raise them. He will take on ISIS, she will be as weak as she was as Secretary of State. He will grow jobs; she will grow government. He will shift power back to the states. She will create a vortex of power from state capitols to Washington. That’s what their respective administrations will look like, folks.
So as you lament the choices, think beyond the two candidates before us. Because whom we elect will have a bigger impact than you may think beyond their personalities. You are electing an entire government. In that regard, this election may be the first that is truly about an entire approach to government, an administration. Don’t forget that when you ponder what to do in November…
26 comments
Isn’t this race (and our candidate) bringing out the best in everyone? 🙁
I expect many people to show up at the polls with clothespins on their noses.
If we believe that we are electing an entire government by electing one person, we have more problems than either candidate can visit upon us. We have 320 million problems.
Exactly the point, Mr. Lingamfelter. We need to elect an ADMINISTRATION that will reverse the skid toward socialism.
Well said, Del. Lingamfelter.
Lingamfelter missed the one critical issue. In Hillary’s corrupt scheme, she sacrificed national security and, most importantly, special access programs. These SAP programs are to protect our most important defense and security secrets. It is virtually certain that the recent execution of our American spy in Iran was a result of her callous and utterly arrogant behavior. In any other era, she would be tried for treason.
Well said, as always.
The author’s logic uses four assertions to lead the reader to the conclusion that we must vote for Trump. I list them below, followed by a rationale for regarding each assertion as flawed if not untrue:
1. A vote for a third party is a vote wasted: In most elections, this is true. But when was the last time both candidates failed to achieve 50% approval ratings by this point in the race? In short, this isn’t an average race, so average predictions may be inapplicable.
2. Voters who refuse to support Trump are reflexive: That’s just silly. Trump has had a polarizing effect because of his loose cannon mouth, leaving conservatives divided into two camps: rationalizers, and critical thinkers. Don’t blame the NeverTrump phenomenon on voters. Put the blame on Trump, where it belongs. Put the blame on the Republican party, for doing such a poor job of teeing up candidates.
3. Trump’s team choices so far are indicative of his post-election choices: Not true– they are indicative of his recognition of the need to pick a running mate who could bridge the crippling divide he created with his loose cannon mouth.
4. Trump will promote conservative policies and achieve positive results: impossible to conclude that, considering that Trump has liberal friends (including you know who), his convention served as an occasion to promote policies that were a mixture of reactionary, conservative, and liberal (listen to the daughter…), and finally, that he has walked back almost everything he has said. And before I forget, he is on record as being a flat out liar ( https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2430267/trumps-lawsuit-on-net-worth.pdf).
The author’s logic might convince Trump supporters to support Trump, but they don’t need convincing. If the author wants to convince the other conservative voters, his assertions need more rigor, and they need to address voters who view their vote as a measure of approval of a candidate, not just a measure of disapproval for the leading opponent.
Ugh!
8.
Scott is 100% correct.
Assertion without substantiation.
The author’s argument has been repeated in venue after venue, but it has yet to convince 50% of voters. Latest RCP numbers show Trump at 41% and Clinton at 47.8%.
The email scandal is out. The news about Libya is out. It’s Still not getting better for Trump. What part of “this narrative sucks” is not getting through?
Which government tit are you sucking a check out of?
A Marine Corps one and a disability one. Got a problem with that, troll?
Yea, and maybe you can find more support for your gal Hillary down the hallway at places like Blue Virginia. Give them your address.
Ah the troll hall monitor. I appreciate your discernment. While you’re overseeing club membership, –no tits or suckers of allowed,right? — remember where Blessed Leader sits in the polls. You’re supposed to be attracting people, not repelling them.
781,000 military retirees live in Virginia out of 21 million nationwide. If you live in a middle class neighborhood, 58% of the people receive some federal benefit. $16.4 billion in DoD contracts go to organizations near you. Everybody in this forum is a beneficiary of the federal government, either through a federal paycheck, or a federal contractor, or of the service industries that serve them.
In a part of the state on which almost nobody is without connection to the federal government, some of this forum’s self-appointed representatives want so badly to control the narrative (’cause that’s freedom!) that they want to insult commenters based on their position in a majority demographic. That’s as stupid as it is arrogant.
Congratulations for taking the contrariety position. But there are some facts you don’t seem to be considering. Any person running for office has an uphill battle with name recognition and knowledge of the person’s positions. Today we have all the MSM busting their butts to get dirt on Trump, and Fox and the loosely bound free journalists busting to get dirt on Hillary. In terms of view ship it is kind of lopsided so we would expect public opinion to be shaped by the normal flood of propaganda. Your premise is that because he is still underwater, he will lose. That is simply a silly premise. Political wisdom says people make up their minds generally around Labor day when they get together with their extended families. Top that off with the most unusual election we are having this year, and it is certainly clear that people will take longer than normal to settle down on a choice. So why are you trying to call the race here in mid August? If you were really someone we should listen to then you could be accused of Spinning to favor your candidate. But as far as I can tell, your not. You just don’t know what you are talking about. Why don’t you cool it and take a sedative. You have already been wrong once. No need in embarrassing yourself again.
Thanks for the advice, Dr. Sparkman. However, as you were the one to take a critique of the narrative and jump into a critique of people, rest assured, I’m not the one who should be worried about being embarrassed. But back to issues…
You point out an interesting Labor Day factoid, so I will be paying closer attention this year. On that note, you point out this an unusual election, and then fall back on the implications of labor day polling swings in traditional elections. So which is it? Business as usual or not? I didn’t say the election was over, I said this narrative isn’t working, and that a successful narrative would have shown in the polls by now. Feel free to disagree, it’s what we are here for.
And regarding the plight of candidates to get recognition I have to ask if there is there one American left who isn’t familiar with Donald Trump? And if Poor Ignored Donald would perhaps develop a policy, And Then.Talk.About it. (in that order) instead of blustering first and back filling later, the air time he gets might be more productive.
Ah, the MSM conspiracy. This ignorant routine is old. It doesn’t become you, or anybody who uses it. Trump gets plenty of coverage, much of which he wastes B.S.ing. Have you ever met a journalist and if you have, do you have the stones to talk that MSM trash in front of her? Undoubtedly not. As an exercise, Google “Trump media coverage vs Clinton.” Now note that conservative sources say Clinton gets the better deal. And you’ll also note that liberal sources claim Trump is getting the better deal. Both argue with equal enthusiasm and half of the facts. How about that.
This is my favorite read for tinfoil hat media conspiracists: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/05/02/here-are-those-presidential-campaign-stories-that-the-media-never-cover/
The media might not be up the middle fair, but it’s a lot more useful if you actually read it.
I’ll respectfully disagree with you on the one subject of merit in your comment — that of disagreement. If this forum was intended for back slapping conspiracy theorists and moral relativist to agree with one another, no further discussion would be required. In case you missed the point, this is where we come to discuss and yes to disagree. Because we agree this election is too important to be left on autopilot.
The media (except Fox) has now turned on Trump. The problem with a Trump comeback is that he doesn’t have the money or campaign infrastructure to make that possible. And not only has he not unified his party, but he’s continued to alienate conservatives. Look at the betting markets. Things are dim for Trump. It’s looking like a landslide.
Trump certainly lacks a halo in the media, but he ought to know better than to expect that. He’s the reality tv star, right? A few months ago, commenters at TBE were crowing about Trump’s ability to manipulate the media. In my eyes, he created the image of himself as an angry man, lashing out at all who cross him. So guess what? Shocker — the media has carried on with the narrstive.
Here’s an image of the media, a screenshot of CNN I took this morning. Trump dominates the screen. He biggest link is to an article on the message he wants to spread. The next link concerns another topic he created, and a more peripheral one goes to an article discussing Trump’s intransigence on yet another gaffe, this one about Obama and ISIS. (Note — Hillary Clinton is getting no coverage)
I see a proportion of attention that is representative of what Trump wants to put out, and I see no coverage of the Democrats. How is that an example of the media being out to get Trump?
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/22a8fec954b517fc1ad6e5d43a8fb2ba2ef2ddfefd7981a173a222a245340429.jpg
I think the media used softball coverage during the primaries to con the con man.
Exactly my reaction. I’m still calculating what to do, but this sort of papering over of Trump’s glaring deficiencies is not persuasive to me. More tempting is the Trump apologist who frankly admits that the choice between Trump and Clinton is a close choice between terrible alternatives and then explains why she has tentatively sided with Trump.
Not to mention people tend to get killed w/Hillary in charge.
If you love this country, there isn’t anything to think about. If you don’t like Trump, you hold your nose and vote, if you like Trump then you celebrate that you finally have a candidate that you don’t have to hold your nose to vote for.
Excellent piece.
You are right on with your thinking Scott! I hope those wavering listen to your reasoned advice. The Never Trumps have not come to grip with what is REALLY at stake here. We must NOT hand this election over to a National Security risk like Clinton.
I agree 100 percent.