Posted on 08/23/2016 5:22:38 AM PDT by Kaslin
I asked a successful businessman the other day what he thought about Donald Trump. He turned his thumb down. Wow. "Are you going to vote for Hillary?" I asked with trepidation. "Of course not," he replied, almost insulted by the question. "I understand the concept of a binary decision."
I got a similar response when I asked oil magnate T. Boone Pickens whether he would vote for Trump. He looked at me with a quizzical expression and replied: "Well, who else is there to vote for?"
Right. Who else is there? Yet, amazingly, a caucus of lifelong Republican politicos in Washington are announcing to the world with defiance and self-righteousness that they will vote for Hillary Clinton.
They are mostly former Mitt Romney and George W. Bush operatives. They lost, and now they want people to believe that their anti-Trumpism is a principled act of heroism. They ingratiate themselves to The New York Times, Washington Post and team Clinton -- the sworn enemies of free markets and conservative values.
Somehow this doesn't offend their moral compass.
I certainly don't mean to disparage conservatives who say they won't vote for Trump. One's vote is a matter of personal conscience. But to actively support Clinton is to put the other team's jersey on and then run a lap around the stadium.
It's worth examining the case of the Republicans for Clinton, because none of the arguments make much sense.
First, many say that Trump can't win, that it's hopeless. These are the same political geniuses who a year ago assured us that Trump could never win a primary (he won most of them), then that he couldn't win 50 percent of the vote (he did), then that he couldn't win 50 percent outside of New York (he did), then that he couldn't win a majority of the delegates (he did). On every occasion, the Trump haters were wrong. How about a little humility, since they are batting 0.00?
The "Trump can't win" mantra isn't just wrong; it's subversive. Of course he can win. He is running against Hillary Clinton, for goodness' sakes. So why do they say this? Because the never-Trumpers want Trump to lose, because he is to the political class (Republicans and Democrats) the disruptor that Uber is to taxicab drivers.
Second is the complaint by some economists that Trump can't be supported because he is not for free trade. Longtime Washington insider Vin Weber reportedly has said: "The world economic order and the Republican Party" would be "all in shambles" if Trump wins. "I think markets would collapse."
Really? Hillary Clinton flip-flops every day on free trade, so why is it that only Trump would cause a recession? He doesn't get that the Trump movement is a revolt against the world order.
Meanwhile, Trump is calling for the biggest tax cuts and reforms since Reagan. He supports massive regulatory relief and school choice. Trump wants to kill Obamacare. On energy, Trump wants a pro-America drilling policy. Clinton wants to soak the rich, increase the debt, stop energy development, expand entitlements and double down on Obamacare. How is this a difficult choice for a free marketeer?
Third, the Trump haters say we must throw Trump under the bus and concentrate on saving the Senate and House.
This is a foolhardy strategy, because one can't win without the other. As economist Donald Luskin puts it in his historical analysis of presidential races and Senate gains: "It is clear from history that the House and the Senate move in the same party direction as the White House, and with the same magnitude. That means the presidential candidate is like a boat that congressional candidates are riding on. It's really stupid to torpedo that boat."
Finally, there is the view expressed by Bret Stephens, my former colleague at The Wall Street Journal, who wants to "make sure Trump is the biggest loser in presidential history" so that we can "rebuild the conservative movement."
If Obama/Clinton win a third straight presidential race, there won't be a conservative movement left to rebuild. The Republicans will move to the left. Worse, for Obama to effectively win a third term will validate all of the destructive policies of the last eight years. This will be one of the greatest victories for liberal governance of all time.
Do the "never-Trumpers" want to facilitate that? Do they want to hand the left its greatest victory for liberal governance of all time? If they do, they are the unforgivable betrayers of conservative principles.
It’s not a meaningful percentage of oil usage.
Agree! After many years of watching it faithfully, it’s gotten so bad I haven’t watched it more than a few minutes in months.
LOL!!
Yeah and why did they lose? They lost because they refused to vote for the Republican nominees.
It's worth examining the case of the Republicans for Clinton, because none of the arguments make much sense.
It is not sense but principle driving this.
It is the principle of leadership.
The Republican rank and file have rejected their leadership. The rank and file have chosen an outsider over one of the leadership of the party. The rank and file have rejected the leadership and ignored their revealed wisdom and chosen as the Republican candidate a man who rejects many of their preferred donors internationalist policies.
So these LEADERS of the Republican Party are by their actions teaching the lowly rank and file Republicans a much needed lesson. Namely that they must accept the decisions of their betters and follow the LEADERSHIP no matter what rabbit hole they decide the party must go down.
Bob Dole and Mitt Romney were abject failures and did not if fact win the Presidency but they were the choice of the LEADERSHIP and were the best candidate that had a chance of winning that year.
So these Leaders of the party have decided that the rank and file are in much need of of a hard lesson. They must learn to accept the wisdom of the LEADERSHIP without question for the sake of the party.
Exactly right. They are not actually Republican or Conservative, often they are moles. At other times they are opportunists who would not be able to hold the same position if they were affiliated with the Democratic Party (Graham, Snow). If I hear about Joe Scarborough or David Gergen again, as being Republicans, I may head butt my computer.
tax credits?
When LNG, coal, and nuclear are off the table from the ‘environmentalists,’ that percentage will rise. Oil fired generation is used as a backup/demand overflow generation capability.
There is no reasonable way wind or solar can take the load and demand.
Post of the day.
True, but that’s not his issue. He’s got windy open land; if the gov’t will subsidize putting up windmills for a profitable operation, then makes sense for T. to do so.
I simply do not understand the Never Trump people. Oh, I get that Trump is not a doctrinaire conservative, and that he’s contributed to Dems in the past...but he was a businessman tending to his interests, someone who had to grease palms on both sides of the aisle to prosper.
But Illary Clinton will destroy this country’s politics. She wants ALL of the power, and will exercise as much as she can, as soon as she can, to get it. The Supreme Court will be gone - and with it the 1st and 2nd Amendments, Due Process (for conservatives), etc. She will admit so many immigrants, and give them amnesty and a path to citizenship, that no Republican will EVER be able to win the Presidency again.
There will be NO return to normalcy, NO balance, NO come-back if Hillary wins. Any Never Trumper out there needs to understand that - with Illary Clinton, there are NO RULES. She plays for keeps, and will cheat in any way possible to win. She MUST be stopped.
You say that you don’t know what you’ll get with Trump. OK, that is a reasonably fair stance - although he’s been very forthright about several things that he’ll do:
1) Appoint Constitution-respecting judges and Justices to the federal bench;
2) Rebuild our military;
3) Reduce taxes and regulations;
4) Push for energy independence, which will not only bring some sanity back to our balance of trade, but create hundreds of thousands or millions of jobs;
5) Severely cut government spending;
6) Work for better trade deals, or cancel those that don’t work for us;
7) Slow immigration, and be more selective about it, so that immigration HELPS this country;
8) Take threats to our well-being - like ISIS - seriously, and do something about them;
9) Back our allies and undercut our enemies - the opposite of Obama and Clinton; and
10) Destroy Political Correctness.
OTOH, we do have certainty with Illary - she will do the opposite of those things listed above. She is the antithesis of a conservative, so any genuine conservative MUST oppose her.
Remember William F. Buckley’s words: “I will vote for the most conservative person on the ballot who has a chance to win.” No one other than Illary or Trump can win - we face a binary decision. While Trump is no conservative, he is BY FAR the most conservative of the two of them. Follow Buckley’s advice and vote for Trump.
There are no differences in the Republican Turncoats and the Democrat Party. They are evil and march in lockstep to the DC and Wall Street Crowd. We must find a way to get the average person to realize this and come together and take their power to divide us away.
Ther scam was for him to make money! Wake up folks. It is no difference than those in Congress and Insider Trading. That is why all the power is in New York and DC. Think about it!
His “pitch” came a little before the great expansion into Shale oil production. Perhaps HIS ‘land’ reserve wasn’t shale-worthy. Also at a time when HUGE amounts were being invested in Solar and wind.
The whole key about his pitch was to get government money to ‘help’ him make money. No better than Solyndra and all the rest.
I just ain’t buying the argument anything he pushed was viable on its own commercially. GOVERNMENT MONEY!
You are on the money!
You’re damn skippy!
I suspect Charles Krauthammer will vote for the Donald in the end.
Precisely. Trump showed them to be the limited little idiots that they are, and they hate him for it. This goes for the whole ‘political establishment’, including the pundits, and all those whose ‘special stature’ in life is predicated on their involvement in American politics.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.