By Steve Johnston
Monday, June 06, 2016
I can “turn off” my sense of smell at will by controlling
my soft palate, just as easily as I can close my eyes to avoid seeing. (This
came in really handy when changing my
kids’ diapers!) Unfortunately, my “superpower” doesn’t work when it comes to
politicians. So here I am, breathing in the full stench of the 2016
presidential election.
I try not to get too worked up about the presidential
election. I don’t believe any single person can make America great again. In
fact, I think we are in for very rough times ahead, both economically and
culturally, regardless of who is elected as our next president.
But the past couple of weeks have been especially
gut-wrenching. What do you do when it appears that your options are going to be
this bad? After much thought, I have
decided that I cannot, in good conscience, support Donald Trump, or a party
that submits to him. As a result, I feel the need to declare the causes which
impel me to separate from the Republican Party. Let the Trump facts be
submitted to a candid world.
Trump Is a
Big-Government Progressive, Not a Constitutional Conservative
Many of Trump’s supporters don’t even claim to be constitutional
conservatives, but “nationalists,” “populists,” or “alt-right.” In fact, Trump
and his supporters have actually blamed conservatives for the woeful state of
the GOP, when the real problem is the lack
of principled conservative leadership.
Here are a few examples of his proclivity to
big-government progressivism:
In 2009, Trump gave President Obama a “B+” grade for his
first 100 days in office, including his $787 billion economic stimulus
plan/slush fund. Obama’s first hundred days in office made me feel like
retching — almost daily. It was like Obama was having a contest to see how
quickly he could infuriate limited-government conservatives.
Trump has been a long-time advocate of single-payer
government healthcare. Evidently, Trump thinks Obamacare didn’t go far enough.
He opposes entitlement reform. Our national debt is $19
trillion and climbing. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are among the
primary contributors to our national debt crisis, and, apparently, Trump is
okay with continuing to kick that can down the road.
He supports seizing private property through eminent
domain, even for private development (especially his own).
Trump Is the
Prototypical Crony Capitalist, Not an ‘Outsider’
At the same time the Tea Party was beginning to fight the
establishment, Trump was funding the
establishment in both the Democrat and Republican parties.
“Oh, but he was just a businessman.” I. Don’t. Care.
Trump was putting his own self-interest ahead of the country’s best interest,
and he has been just as much a part of the “establishment” as career
politicians. Crony capitalists and politicians are simply two sides of the same
corrupt coin.
In 2008-09, he supported the bailouts of banks and auto
makers.
In 2014, Trump donated to Sen. Mitch McConnell and
Republican establishment political action committees whose goal was to crush
the Tea Party movement. Now he claims to be an “outsider”? Nope. He is playing
to the fantasies of a disaffected electorate, and I’m not buying it.
He pandered to voters in Iowa, saying he is actually in
favor of increasing the federal
ethanol mandate.
Trump Has No Fixed
Principles
Observers from across the political spectrum have
recognized that Trump is more committed to himself than to the Constitution or
any principles. Trump’s
flip-flops are legion.
Conservative Thomas Sowell: “(Trump’s) history has
demonstrated no principles at all, other than an ability to make self-serving
deals…”
Liberal Robert Reich: “Trump has no firm principles
except making money, getting attention, and keeping power.”
Former president Jimmy Carter: “Trump has proven already
he’s completely malleable. I don’t think he has any fixed (positions) he’d go
to the White House and fight for.”
Here is Trump in his own words: “I will be changing very
rapidly. I’m very capable of changing to anything I want to change to.”
Practically a chameleon, that Donald Trump is.
Donald Trump Is a
Pathological Liar
Trump supporters often make the mistake of thinking that
Trump is the most honest politician ever, just because he makes statements that
are not politically correct. He may be willing to say things most politicians
aren’t, but that, in itself, doesn’t make him any more honest or trustworthy
than Al Bundy.
He doesn’t just lie about consequential issues. He casually lies about things that few of his
supporters would even care about, such as:
• that Trump
Steaks is still in business
• that he never
uses the F-word
• that a
recently revealed recording is not him posing as his own publicist.
Here’s a Daily Wire article cataloging 101 Of
Trump’s Greatest Lies. Of course, it was published more than a month ago,
so it is well out of date. I wonder if somebody is working on a TrumpLies.com
website yet. That could be a full-time job for somebody.
Trump Is a
Schoolyard Bully Writ Large
Trump uses personal attacks and ridicule very
effectively. Here’s a sample, just from this campaign alone. He has:
• Incited his
supporters to physically attack protestors.
• Mocked a
disabled reporter.
• Claimed that
John McCain was not a war hero because he had been captured.
• Compared Ben
Carson to a pedophile.
• Suggested that
Ted Cruz’s father was involved in the assassination of JFK.
• Threatened
blackmail against the Ricketts family and Ted Cruz.
• Insulted Carly
Fiorina’s physical appearance.
Stay classy, Donald.
Trump Is the
Embodiment of the ‘Pride of Life’ (1 John 2:16)
It is true that no man is without sin, but I cannot
endorse someone who wallows in his
sin—who has bragged about his adultery and sees no need to repent, saying “Why
do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness if I am not making mistakes?” Oh,
okay, well, I guess as long as you’re perfect, then maybe there’s no need to
ask God (or anybody else) for forgiveness.
There’s just one problem: that is explicitly a non-Christian profession (1 John 1:8-10). So, if you
don’t even understand what it means to be a Christian, then please don’t bother
waving your family Bible around.
Trump reached peak narcissism when he said, “I could
stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose
voters.” If that isn’t evidence of a cult-of-personality following, I don’t
know what is. It is difficult to imagine anyone who would be a greater
antithesis to the humble example set by George Washington.
Dr. Sam Vaknin, an expert in abnormal psychology who
suggested in 2008 that Obama may be a narcissist, regards Trump as “much more
of a menace than Obama ever was to the future of the USA.” He says Trump fits
each of the nine criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder. The thought of
putting this guy in command of a nuclear arsenal is troubling, to say the
least.
Donald Trump Is
Unfit to Govern a Free People
For these reasons, I believe Trump is unfit to be
president.
“But Hillary!” In at least one regard, Trump would be
even worse than Hillary: as a
Republican president, he would ostensibly represent conservatives like me while
making a mockery out of everything I stand for.
Trump thinks capitalism and conservatism are about being
greedy and “conserving wealth.” I would be hard-pressed to think of a more
grotesque representative for the ideals of free-market capitalism and
constitutional conservatism than Donald Trump. As Alexander Hamilton said, “If
we must have an enemy at the head of Government, let it be one whom we can
oppose, and for whom we are not responsible, who will not involve our party in
the disgrace of his foolish and bad measures.”
“But the Supreme Court!” Trump made it clear that he
couldn’t care less about conservative principles when he said: “This is called
the Republican Party, not the Conservative Party.” So, regardless of anything
that Trump might promise now, what on
Earth makes you think that Donald Trump would nominate an originalist to the
Supreme Court? At best, he would likely nominate more milquetoasts like
John Roberts, who upheld Obamacare, and who pose little threat to major items
on the liberal agenda.
My question is: who would do the most long-term damage to America’s founding
principles — Clinton, by nominating more liberal Supreme Court justices, or
Trump, by placing a stigma upon the Republican Party and conservatism?
Another question for Christians: Who would do the most
long-term damage to the already dwindling church in America? I say the answer
to that is Trump — hands down. In fact, I would say great damage has already
been done. Millions of Christians came out in the primaries to vote for a vile
con man who “drinks his little wine and has his little cracker” and then goes
about flagrantly parading his hubris, greed, and wrath. What effect do you
think that has in the eyes of those who already think Christians are just a
bunch of hypocrites? (Hint: it’s
not good.)
I Absolve Myself
from all Allegiance to the Republican Party
If you are a Trump voter and your goal was to burn down
the GOP, mission accomplished. He has not only split the GOP, he has split the
Tea Party as well, and rendered it impotent. The same voters who are voting for
Trump (many of whom are Democrats) are voting for RINO incumbents in Congress
instead of limited-government conservatives.
If you can walk into a voting booth and vote for Trump or
Clinton with your head held high, then knock yourself out. I cannot. As a human
being, and especially as a Christian, I would be ashamed to admit that I voted for Trump.
There is a limit to the amount of jackassery that I can
endorse. So I will gladly take Mike Huckabee’s advice to leave the GOP. I will
not fall in line behind such a disaster of a candidate just because he has an R
after his name.
We will likely have two candidates from the Democrat and
Republican parties who are more despised by more people than any two major
candidates in the history of the United States. Is a third-party win impossible
in this environment? If so, then We the People deserve exactly what we will
get.
I no longer harbor the Tea Party illusion that the
Republican Party can be overtaken by representatives who will stand up for the
Constitution and America’s founding principles. I will not remain in a party
that chooses to unite behind Trump. Any Democrats who “crossed over” to help
Trump take over the GOP can keep it. I’m no longer interested.
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