Harry Byrd was once asked if he planned to vote for the Democrat nominee for President. Byrd as you may remember was a Democrat. Byrd responded not with a yes or no, but simply said, “Sometimes I find silence is golden.”
Byrd didn’t want to support liberals like Harry Truman and Adlai Stevenson, but they were Democrats and Byrd as a Democrat senator could not openly oppose them for election. So despite his objection to their politics he kept his silence which implied he might vote for them. Outright opposition could have caused him trouble with Democrats in Washington and specifically jeopardize his plum committee assignments.
Republican elected officials may be in a similar position this year. Donald Trump’s populist views are an anathema to conservatives. He was for single payer health care, very pro-choice, for a pathway to citizenship, supported the bailout of the auto companies, bailout of the banks, for an Obama like stimulus package… But now he is running for the Republican nomination and he has a new set of positions. He has evolved! He went from being a liberal to now promoting nationalism, but he is on the verge of getting the GOP nomination and only a sudden burst of sanity can derail him.
So what would Harry do? My guess is he would advise conservatives to do two things:
First, do not support a third party candidate. A third party candidate would only be a spoiler, and if there is a conservative candidate that gets significant support Trump followers will blame conservatives for Trump’s loss. Chances are Trump will lose to Hillary or Bernie in a one on one race. No need for conservatives to take the blame.
Second, if and when Trump gets the GOP nomination conservatives should cease and desist from all criticism. Say nothing critical of the reality TV star. If as a conservative you feel the need to help him fine. If as a conservative you feel the need to vote for him, or in the privacy of the voting booth not vote for him fine. But as the preacher says at the wedding, Speak now or forever hold your peace.
The Trump nationalist/populist phenomenon will end on its own logic. Better grin and wait for it to pass.
7 comments
cooldela1966 •
With one vote for Trump I can vote against Ryan, Pelosi, Mitch, Harry, Boehner, Bill & Hillary, Obama, Mittens, Kerry and the Republican Elite.
Who could pass that up?
Harry would probably advise us to not let black people vote or go to public school … so I’ll pass on whatever lesson he might offer.
This. Well done, sir.
Harry Truman beat Tom Dewey, Strom Thurmond and Henry Wallace . . . all at once.
Not a liberal.
Not a conservative.
Just a damned good President.
Praying for a sudden burst of sanity.
2016 was the year we have waited for. The year we would regain the white house. The year we would set the country back on a course of fiscal sanity and Constitutionally limited government. All lost to an infantile megalomaniac and his mindless sycophants.
Mindless sycophant? I voted for Rubio, but I now support Trump. Tell me when, Sailblazer, has ANY Republican president in your lifetime “set the country back on a course of fiscal sanity and Constitutionally limited government?” You and I must be living in a different world. Because in my lifetime Nixon expanded the government, Reagan jacked up the debt and did nothing to shrink the government, George Bush the Elder and Wiser expanded government and jacked up the debt, and his son was a monumental disaster about whom I can say nothing nice. Please. I will take a risk on Trump, and I do so MINDFULLY.
Mark, I would reluctantly join the merry band of Trump supporters if I thought he had a chance to beat Hillary (or even Sanders). The polls consistently show that Trump loses BADLY to Hillary and almost as badly to Sanders. Unless Trump has a sudden change in attitude and deportment, I think the white house is lost … and the down ballot Republicans will suffer also. Too bad about Rubio. I thought that he was our best bet to win it all.