As I contemplated yet another reason not to vote for Donald Trump for president — revelations that his campaign manager Paul Manafort was a fixer for a deeply corrupt pro-Russian Urkanian strong man — I realized I’d finally completed all five stages of the grieving process. I’m ready to vote for the real estate mogul. As someone who votes his guns, I knew I had to do it anyway. But perhaps you can relate to this process…
1. Denial
When I first heard that Donald J. Trump was running for president I dismissed his candidacy as a form of public theater; part of The Donald’s endless attempts at self-promotion. In fact, I still think the real estate mogul wasn’t serious at the start of his campaign.
As Mr. Trump progressed through the primary process, gaining traction by promising to build a Mexican-financed wall on our southern border and ban Muslim immigration, I thought it only a matter of time before he’d implode. Surely voters could see he was an ignoramus. When it was Trump vs. Cruz, I believed Trump would be rejected by Republicans. After that, I put my [hail Mary] faith in a contested convention.
Wrong. Obviously.
2. Anger
Regular readers know I let Mr. Trump have it with both barrels, citing his previous support for gun control (the assault weapons ban and a waiting period for firearms purchases) and the dealmaker’s lack of conservative principles (if he even knows what they are). And his lack of coherent convictions about, well, anything. I intimated that Mr. Trump was a proto-dictator.
I was well and truly pissed off that Mr. Trump was the Republican party’s chosen candidate to square-off against Ms. Clinton’s obvious threat to our firearms freedom. To all our Constitutionally protected liberties. Trump’s cascade of ridiculous unconstitutional statements (e.g., he’d tell the generals to bomb ISIS family members) and subsequent “clarifications” did nothing to assuage my anger, and much to stoke it.
3. Bargaining
As the Trump campaign progressed (if that’s the right word), I gradually let go of my anger and latched onto the idea that at least he’d select pro-gun rights Supreme Court Justices. He even released a list of possible future nominees; bonified conservatives! And then I learned he hadn’t contacted any of them. And then withdrew the list.
Sigh.
4. Depression
What could a man of good conscience do? Third party? Not with the Libertarian candidate picking an anti-gun Massachusetts governor as his Vice Presidential running mate. Abstain? And set an example for equally disillusioned gun voters? Nope. If gun rights were at stake — as they always are — I had to vote for the lesser of two evils. A man I’d come to detest.
5. Acceptance
You can and should criticize the mainstream media for failing to give Hillary Clinton the same rectal exam given Mr. Trump. There’s no doubt that they are in the bag for the Big Government Democrat. And how. But the press isn’t wrong to reveal Mr. Trump’s lies, prevarications and lack of character.
Even if half of what they publish is accurate, and by my estimation, Donald Trump is a liar, a cheat, a phony and a fraud. A bully and a braggart. A flimflam man. A candidate with about as much command of history, government or foreign policy as your average high school student. Sad to say. On all levels.
But he’s what we’ve got. I’m now fully prepared to recommend Donald Trump’s election, knowing full well what I’m recommending. I cling to two main reasons: Hillary Clinton and the strength of our three-part government to at least blunt Mr. Trump’s inevitable desecration of conservative principles.
Does any of this ring a bell for you?
Nope.
Nope, not hearing any bells…
I’ll continue to stand by my convictions
Perhaps you can hold Hillarys purse at the inaugural ball. Just don’t look inside.
What, is that where she keeps Trump’s balls, or something? Would certainly explain why he won’t run ads against her in any swing states.
Why would I want to look in the HildaBeast’s purse and see Bill Clinton’s testicles in there?
*snicker*…
“DEAR GOD! SO MANY TESTICLES!!!”
not convictions. they are all dirty and corrupt. none of them give a crap about “the people” . we are dammed lucky to have a true outsider for the first time since I first voted in 1980. When you find the perfect candidate , let the rest of us know. The lying media could make mother Teresa look like a cheap street walker. the #never trump movement looks like and infantile tantrum ginned up by the entrenched sellouts, by pretending they are Oh so principled.
I started this year paying $ 200 to see walker speak. but I have no delusions he is a “good person” , he aligned
with all my interests except border control.
For some strange reason not a single republican or democrat would mention border control until
trump got in the race. Its almost like they all agreed to (take the money) not talk about it. And DOUBLE strange, the media never aske any of them about it.
they wanted to talk heroin crisis all day and never mention where the heroin was coming from.
The since when did we all become so concerned that a candidate be eloquent? do we want a leader , or entertainer? We complain about lifelong politicians , then when someone from outside politics try’s to run we say
” oh I could never vote for them, they don’t know how to work a camera and deliver a line like a Hollywood actor”
chuck Schumer never mis-speaks, and Michael Bloomberg never says anything in-articulate. they look so comfortable and relaxed on camera. All thehosts really seem to like and respect them too!, God I hope one of them runs for president so we can have the privilege of voting for a candidate who really looks good on TV. got my principles you know.
Right on!
This is spot on. No, he’s not ideal, but he’s slightly better than any of the other candidates, and he’s the only one that has a chance at beating Hillary. If Hillary gets elected, there goes the Supreme Court for 10-20 years. Those judges sit for the rest of their lives!
If you choose not to vote for Trump just because he’s not the perfect candidate, you’re widening the gap between Hillary and him. You’re just making it easier for Hillary to continue to screw the country like Obama has been for 8 years. You’re not hurting her feelings at all. You’re not putting up a roadblock on her trek to power at all. Know what you’re doing? Diddly squat. Yeah, that’ll leave a mark. Good job. Remember your “principles” when DC vs Heller and Chicago vs MacDonald are overturned, all semi-auto rifles are banned nationally, and federal agents how up at your door step to confiscate them. Your AR-15, your Mini-14, your Chinese SKS, your Marlin Model 60 .22LR, all of them. You let that happen.
Agreed. I’m still going to vote for Johnson.. Sure, Weld is not pro-gun, but he’s not the top of the ticket. Trump isn’t pro gun either-not really and he IS the top of that ticket. Our two party oligarchy system has failed us and this is the first chance in a long time to get a good showing for a third party candidate.
I want to be ble to look at myself in the mirror and look my kids in the eye and tell them that I did everything I could to prevent everything going to hell. Which may very well happen if eother of the egomaniacs win in November.
If Trump goes all out and goes against the Constitution of the United States, he gets impeached, because his own party hates him. If Hillary does, she gets cheered on by her party.
But sure, let’s let her have it for 4 years. Same crap I heard from people in 08.
Trump getting elected then impeached is an outcome whose likelihood is pretty hard to predict, given how erratic Trump is. However, I’d trade Trump for Pence, and you could probably get me to sweeten the deal quite a bit still. Not the worst thing that could happen from where I’m sitting.
Seriously. Friendly-fire impeachment is the best defense against his reckless politics that you can come up with? Why are those “GOPe” “RINOs” ya’ll were bitching about so much different from statist Dems all of a sudden? I thought they were all the same? Is it because Trump has their backing, now? The fact they didn’t dump his ass at the convention despite massive unnecessary friendly-fire against non-competitor Republicans, despite massive policy gaffs that put him at odds with his own party, and despite raising jack shit in capital & siphoning cash from the party to pay his own ‘salary,’ tells me everything I need to know about how the Republican Party would keep an abusive Trump in check.
This election is already over, it has been at least a month or so, just now the slow-bus Trumpers are realizing it. The only question is whether four to eight years of Hillary will be a hard enough lesson for so-called “conservative” voters who proved themselves an absolute disgrace to those ideals, for them to back someone both competent and actually interested in governance rather than self-promotion next go-around (or even better to simply give up on politics and go back to watching reality TV)
Lovely phrasing…not pro-gun. How about the more precise … very anti-gun. As in, “rifles are weapons of mass destruction.”
What he said!
Better think again!
Johnson is anti gun as well!
who cares what he thinks, he’s at 8% right now.
“Agreed. I’m still going to vote for Johnson.” And you’re symbolic gesture does nothing more than help move a Clinton presidency that little bit further along. In this country “realpolitiks” means that there are two dominant political parties, one of which will always win the presidency. Third-party candidates are always spoilers. Voting for Johnson may make you feel good about yourself (yeah, right . . .) but you are helping elect a decidedly anti-gun president. Good thinkin’.
Trump isn’t a “Conservative,” he has never claimed to be one, and that is a GOOD thing!
What exactly have “Conservatives” actually “Conserved” over the last 30-50 years?
“Conservatives” can’t even “Conserve” the women’s bathrooms, who cares what they think.
Today all the word “Conservative” means is: “A person who doesn’t want to make a liberal sad.”
“Conservatives” haven’t been in power since before Nixon. It’s a term like “Christian” that means very different things to different people.
What have “conservatives” who favored social issues accomplished? Well, they pulled off the DOMA for a decade or so, and got Washington paying for all sorts of ‘faith-based initiatives’ and even got a bunch of foreign aid for oppressed women overseas in A-stan.
What have “conservatives” who favor favorable business climates accomplished? Why, a shit-ton of tax breaks and incentives across the board, and even some key reduced regulation (or protective regualtion), though naturally that’s dropped off a bit since Obama came to town, since his boys kinda make the rules as far as regulations & there’s little congress can do about it.
What have “conservatives” who favor spreading American government and social mores accomplished? Why, they knocked off no less than six or so foreign heads of state & started two massive military operations to install puppet regimes in our image. Say what you will about the wisdom of their policies, they do get results (just perhaps not intentional ones)
What have “conservatives” who favor federal restraint in both authority and spending accomplished? Well, after sweeping victories in both 2010, Republican leadership saw the TEA Party (Taxed Enough Already, back then, before Jesus-heads and Sarah Palins took over) as a threat & conspired to shut them out of committee positions & staunchly refused to hear many of their bills, stealing for themselves the unwinnable “issue” of repealing Obamacare with a majority in a single congressional house. In 2012, then 2014, steady gains among TEA Party types (now affiliated with Jesus-head and nativist types who piggy-backed on the fiscal message with vaguely-fiscal variations of their old topics of gays and Mexicans) delivered Republicans the Senate as well, and opposition to federal spending & overreach came to a head when the Federal Government was “shut down” after a budget failed to pass, led by Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, who felt it more important to endure some short term discomfort in order to force the President’s hand and agree to cut spending & re-negotiate the terms of Obamacare. Once again, party leadership saw these upstarts as threats, and took great pleasure in isolating them from party power, to the point of siding with JEB and Donald Trump during the most recent primary over experienced fiscal conservative politicians with actual governing knowledge like Cruz, Paul, or Walker.
What have “conservatives” who fell early on for Trump accomplished? Well, the party has nominated a three-years-Republican former Democrat bankroller, who has forced the party into a stance of gun control (no fly no buy), fiscal liberalism (minimum wage hike, subsidized childcare, widespread tariffs, corporate subsidies, and unfunded personal/corporate tax cuts), single-payer socialized healthcare, and even immigration amnesty (deportees may immediately file for and receive expedited lawful immigration). Oh, and despite adopting half the Democrat’s platform, they will still bring about the worst defeat since Mondale, with the greatest lasting impacts to conservative ideals since Goldwater’s loss, most likely taking the senate into Democrat hands with them as Hillary gets a bite at three or more SCOTUS appointments. Great work!
“Christian” has an objective definition, “conservative” does not.
Exactly.
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-conservative-void.html
Objective in the eyes of God, perhaps, but not man; there are a great many hypocrites, as there always have been, always the first to cast stones, etc…
Here’s a clue for you as you’re short.
Conservatives have NEVER run the national GOP. Ever. Last Conservative Presidential candidate was Barry Goldwater and the NE RINOs are still wetting themselves over that election. Ronald Reagan was the only Conservative leaning Presidential candidate selected by the GOP and that was over the hyperventilating whining fo the NE RINOs (as Bush, Done, McCain, Dole, Romney, Nixon, Eisenhower).
Conservatives have and do run a number of states. Check if they are more free and have a balanced budget for an indicator. And NO Trump is NOT a Conservative. Also he not a RINO (hopefully he is not worse). BUT he is NOT freaking Hillary. NEVER THE DOWAGER EMPRESS.
You’re either for Hillary and all she brings or not. The choice is very simple. Both are damaged goods to be sure. But he is the only alternative we have right now.
If you want to stand on some principles of your own, stay home and lose again, have at it. I’m tired of losing and I’m tired of the same old politicians doing the same old things I’m ready for a major change and I’m willing to roll the dice on the Donald.
Is he my first or second choice? No. But he’s who we have right here and right now.
I shudder to think of the Spreme Court packed with Hillary appointees ruling for the next 20-30 years.
Hold your nose and vote Trump. Anything else is aiding and abetting the enemy.
^ This
The enemy is anyone who willingly tosses aside their integrity out of fear or convenience.
I’ll keep mine
So much saltiness.
Do you live in the real world? If you know the perfect politician, Doctor, plumber, dentist, cop, wife, mechanic, contractor, gunsmith, and so forth please publish your list. I’d be happy to patronize them whenever I can.
My plumber doesn’t make shite up or blame others for his errors. He charges fairly and comes right back to fix something amiss. He gets more biz through word of mouth. If we disagree we handle it like grow ups. He doesn’t care what my gender, religion, class, education, race or country of origin is. I didn’t choose him because of any of those characteristics. It’s about the pipes. Maybe we should hold politicians to that standard.
Matt Richardson,
Consider the following nightmare scenario. A local crime lord descends upon you, your wife, and your three children. Somehow, he has the upper hand and you have no means to stop him. He then tells you his sick game:
(1) you must choose a family member
(2) he will execute that family member in front of you
(3) he will release everyone else
(4) he will never harm you or your family ever again
(5) if you refuse to choose someone, he will execute your entire family and leave you alive — with his promise to never harm you.
(6) you know all of this for certain because you have seen this crime lord do this to other families — including seeing the crime lord keep his promises.
Your response would be, “I could never be a member of his sick game so I would refuse to participate on principle and have a clear conscience! And it would not be my fault that my entire family was dead!” Yes, it would be your fault that your entire family was dead. We don’t always have control over the hand that life deals to us. We only have control over how we play that hand. And refusing to play a hand because you don’t like it guarantees that you lose.
This election is the same situation. Our political system and government has thrust themselves upon you. They are forcing you to choose. Refusing to participate on principle does not change the fact that the political system and government will affect your entire family. Why not choose to minimize the negative consequences to your family. Alternatively, how does refusing to choose reduce the negative consequences to your family?
Saying it another way, “You might not care about politics, but politics cares about you.” Having a clear conscience will be little comfort when the politicians that you refused to oppose with your vote come knocking on your door to collect your life and your family’s lives.
Your response would be, “I could never be a member of his sick game so I would refuse to participate on principle and have a clear conscience! And it would not be my fault that my entire family was dead!” Yes, it would be your fault that your entire family was dead. We don’t always have control over the hand that life deals to us. We only have control over how we play that hand. And refusing to play a hand because you don’t like it guarantees that you lose.
Funny, I use almost the exact same scenario to arrive at the exact opposite conclusion. No, you would not be at all responsible for your family’s deaths. The responsibility is entirely on the one who chose to kill them. I find it stupid, and a bit terrifying, honestly, that some people can apparently reason, “well, he’ll kill people anyway, so I may as well become a party to the murder!”
Our opponents on the other side of the political spectrum also have their “principles and integrity” they cling to.
Your refusal to compromise will be a paving stone in the road the liberals will walk into the White House. After the Supreme Court aboshlishes Heller, I’m glad you’ll still have your integrity to cling to. Because you sure won’t have your rights or your guns.
Yep, all those deep-held principles will do you so much good when you are in a Federal prison, tossed in there by Hillary’s goons after being convicted by one of her rigged kangaroo courts, for violating some “executive order”. Or, maybe you are also an elite, and so don’t worry about that stuff.
Except that it’s not. At all. That’s not how presidential elections work in this country. We effectively vote for a party at the state level. Whichever party wins that state gets to send its chosen electors to the electoral college to vote for the presidency. Winning a state by a landslide or losing it by a landslide means no more than a single vote win or loss respectively.
If I remember correctly, jwm lives in California, where Clinton has a 2:1 advantage over Trump in the polls. What are the chances he’ll win that state? Slightly more than zero. I live in Washington, where she has a similar lead. We are in excellent positions to vote third party. This is the first election where the two republicrat candidates suck so absolutely that people are seriously considering the alternatives. If a third party candidate can get over 20%, it will destabilize the republican v. democrat false dichotomy. Johnson is the least libertarian libertarian candidate–after Bob Barr, but he’s still more libertarian than anyone the republicrats have ever nominated.
More important: a vote for him isn’t a vote for Johnson as much as it is a vote for replacing the broken system.
Now if you live in a state where the poll numbers are close and Trump actually has a shot, then by all means, hold your nose, take some anti-nausea meds, and vote Trump.
This. Thanks for being logical when so few are.
You win the most pragmatic award of the night.
YES. THIS. If only more people would actually think this through.
Absolutely this.
Actually below is a link to a cool website if your not sure how your state leans or want to see history in quick graph format back to 1800’s. Also, oh god D.C. is a liberal cesspool….surprising? /sarc
http://www.270towin.com/states/District_of_Columbia
I am tired of voting for the lesser of two evils. At least now I can vote for a “could possibly be good,” instead of “definitely evil, but not as evil as…”
i will…but he will lose. he is just such a tool – just an awful personality. Blame lies at the feet of primary suckers … err, i mean voters, and Trump not caring enough about what happens to man up and step aside,
He is not a bad candidate. The republican establishment hate him worse than the democrat, and that’s a good sign.
I would “up-vote” your analysis, if I could.
This is much of how I view him. When I see Bill Kristol getting his panties in a wad over Trump, I smile.
If you live in a district that you know will go to Hillary, vote libertarian. Get them the public recognition that puts them on debate stages.
Gary Johnson is severely flawed, but he’s not in danger of winning. The libertarian party will have many more candidates for consideration.
If you live where your voice will be drowned out, I believe this is the only way to effectively use it.
Damning with faint praise is still damning.
It’s time to let go of your angst.
Or get back in touch with his honest side
Is it damning that all indications are he’s heading for a loss worse than McCain’s against Obama, only to a hated old hag on her last legs, and STILL isn’t running any campaign ads in swing states, preferring to spend his days amid adoring crowds constituting .01% of the electorate as his speeches are barely covered at all (and not fairly nor favorably), and sucking as much RNC-raised general-fund campaign cash into his deficient campaign’s coffers as possible?
Trump’s already lost, not that he had any intention of winning, I’m only curious about his end game at this point;
1) Setting himself up as the noble martyr for his fervent believers, so he can comfortably go to his grave one day knowing millions still believe he was the great savior for our nation, whose glory was stolen by those conniving liberal weasel MSM/GOPe/DNC/globalis/etc boogeymen who “rigged the election” despite every predictive measure showing crushing loss & unpopularity were imminent. This is the best outcome at this time, as his followers will likely be so jaded as to stay home in future primaries (and the RNC will doubtless take protective future measures against the vast hordes of cross-over Democrats who polluted the decision making process this go around in many states)
2) Proudly asserting his role as master troll spoiler after his defeat, working for Hillary all along to destroy the Republican party once and for all, and making them pay for it while reaping a tidy sum for himself along with tons of free publicity. The betrayal would be so severe and biting that the GOP would likely sunder permanently, both “morals” and “constitutionalist/governance” conservatives refusing to break bread with each other ever again, and our nation would quickly slip into the next phase of Fiscally Reckless Socialists vs. Expropriating Communists seen in Europe today. I don’t think Trump is a Clinton asset, since the DNC hack would’ve exposed this, but it is possible he resorts to this explanation for his defeat in order to sever his ties with the burned out hulk of the GOP and (re)forge them with the resurgent dominating Democrats.
“Trump’s already lost,”
Wow, I did not know the election was held already.
Such “doom and gloom.”
The polls mean crap these days. They don’t start to mean anything until mid-September, and even then so only in a few states. Most polls won’t have any correlation to the election outcome until about two weeks prior to the election itself.
This election will be about turn-out (as most of them are). The ‘stay at homers’ could well hand it to Hillary if they stay home, or win it against Hillary if they vote.
Moving the goals, to September, are we? Alright, not that it’ll make any difference, you’ll get a one-month reprieve from the realization, I suppose, you’ll come to it eventually (unless you plan on being an Al Gore-style election-truther forever more). I remember during the primary, when it was remarked how Trump was single-mindedly ignoring Democrats to focus exclusively on destroying his rivals, that as soon as he had the nomination, he would unleash blistering TV ads and superpac money on Hillary, the likes of which had never been seen, in conjunction with utter domination of the airwaves due to his reality-TV ratings prowess. Utter bullshit, all of it. He’s a net negative drain on the GOP down-ballot coffers, rather than their biggest contributor, and is polling even worse than McCain against Obama –despite his opponent being almost as unpopular as himself!
You may not believe polls, but understand that it is merely belief. A “hope” that things will “change,” if you will. The fact is that these metrics (polls, ad spending, donations raised, number of battleground states) are the most accurate means we have of predicting outcomes, and while far from perfect, Trump is so deficient that his defeat is a near certainty. Hillary is pulling out of several swing states not because she has no hope of winning, but because her lead appears so insurmountable as to warrant no further investment. Trump needed nearly all the swing states to even be competitive.
Nope.
#AnyoneButHillary
Yup.
The only point in Trump’s favor is that he isn’t Hillary goddam Clinton.
That’s it.
..and as far as I’m concerned, that’s enough.
Nope, not a chance I vote for Trump.
People who do vote for Trump are wasting their votes and will prevent Gary Johnson from winning…if you vote for Trump it’s a vote for Hillary
Catch a clue! Johnson doesn’t have a snowballs chance in hell of winning, so voting for him is just giving Clinton one more vote over Trump. So when she’s in the WH, YOU will be one of the people we can all blame.
Well neither does Trump, for that matter. He’s on pace to underperform McCain, for crying out loud (McCain was liberal as hell, Trump was even more liberal…I say we nominate an even stronger liberal next time!)
Maybe someone in the republican party will get a clue and stop letting democrats vote in the primary.
I know. Open primaries are the most retarded thing ever, which is why Democrat state houses forced them upon Republicans in several heavily-Democrat states. The siren-song went out long before the registration cutoffs that havoc-minded Dems were to vote for Trump as well, so even closed-primaries may not have been a sufficient deterrent (caucuses may have been, but are very unpredictable/uncontrollable). I’m thinking it was Nate Silver or somebody that used math & stats to numerically prove that a huge number of the “record primary turnout” numbers were in fact previously Democrat voters, and likely constituted the great majority of Trump’s inexplicable support in several states where he overperformed.
Turns out when your own party’s primary is a foregone conclusion, you can spare enough voters to totally screw with your opponents’
Unless you’re in a state where the margin is likely to be close, this is not true at all.
Electoral College votes are awarded winner-take-all at the state level, which means the nationwide popular vote is mostly irrelevant. If it’s a close race in your state, take that into account in your decision. Otherwise, do whatever you want, because your vote is only symbolic at best.
Not only does Johnson not have a chance, he’s not a real libertarian, not is he a friend of the 2A. Neither is his mate.
This is really unfortunate, but it’s a fact.
Word.
It truly is ridiculous; even though she is the devil, Hillary really is the only candidate acting like she represents her party’s issues. She isn’t all for oil company subsidies or gun rights or something random like that despite being a Democrat. We’ve got Trump pushing limited gun control, minimum wage increase, and single-payer healthcare…and Johnson/Weld decrying religious freedom & finding common cause with Socialist Bernie Sanders.
It’s more of a Giant Retard/Retard Sandwich/Full Retard than Giant Douce/Turd Sandwich/Stoned Loser this go around
I think John is being ironic
The only rational explanation I have is he’s acting as a spoiler for Trump, trying to absorb as many Hillary voters as possible by adopting positions completely opposite to his history, because he sees Trump/Republicans as less destructive to Libertarian ideals. Very weird, dangerous game, one that Trump has himself been accused of playing for Hillary (and if you think about it, if Trump is some sort of Manchurian Candidate throwing the election to Hillary, the only way to counteract that is to get him elected despite his best efforts to lose by throwing a second ringer into the mix). It may also simply *appear* like this, due to all three parties undergoing a messy political realignment as America adjusts to a solidly more liberal ideal.
Even if was within the realm of possibility (not even close) why would you want Gary Johnson to win? He and his VP are both Democrats masquerading as Libertarians.
Any Libertarian, or any third party candidate, for that matter, has a snowball’s chance in hell of winning the presidency. And that is without considering that Johnson chose a rabid anti-gun vice president candidate to run with him.
In a two-party system all a third party candidate can do is dilute the voting pool for the side he most closely resembles and siphon away votes from that candidate. And a siphoned vote from a candidate with the potential to actually win is a vote in favor of the candidate you least want to win.
The time to support third parties is in the interim between elections and during the primary process. Support them until they become real parties with real chances of success in elections. After this election it is high time we supported an alternative to the increasingly corrupt and inept Republican party, but this presidential election is not the time to throw a Libertarian tantrum and potentially cost us any hope of electing a president that will have at least not openly declared war on the U.S. Constitution and along with her husband devised a seemingly legal (or at least prosecution-proof) way to take massive bribes from foreign governments. (See the book “Clinton Cash”)
The statement to make this November is to elect conservatives, RINOs and Libertarians to Congress and to State governments in November in order to balance any stupidity by whichever idiot gets elected president, then, after the election, go and change your voter registration – ABANDON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY! Only a massive decline in their voter roles will convince the RNC that they are a sinking ship and that they need to do something constructive to regain the trust of the electorate. Or perhaps it will convince more voters to abandon the Republicans and throw their support to create a viable third party for the mid-terms and next presidential election.
I was a Cruz supporter. Didn’t think there was any possible way Trump would get the nomination. Had my own personal “all is lost moment!” when he did. But you just gotta rub dirt on it, take a lap, and vote Trump. If you are a 2A voter, there really is no other choice IMHO.
Exactly my stance. I even gave Cruz $( a 1st from me for any pol). And I had to drop all the “never Trump” groups I was part of. The road to hell is paved with “good intentions” .Hillary is the devil. At least Donnie picked a great VP…BTW I saw someone comment Trump has zero support among black folks-you really think they’re coming out with Bury Soetoro numbers? Oh yeah RF-nobody died…yet.
Bingo. Sadly, I’m now convinced he is a Democrat plant who’s job is to throw the whole thing to Hillary. If I’m wrong, what would he be doing different with his campaign if he was? But yeah, I’m voting for him because…Hillary!
Luckily Johnson is *also* a Democrat plant & drawing off as many Bernouts as possible, lol
This will be the first time in 16 years that I will vote for a Republican presidential candidate. Johnson is a weak Libertarian candidate and his VP ridiculous comments pushed me back onto the Trump Train.
Agreed.
Trump wasn’t my first choice, be he is a heck of a lot better than my last choice . . . Clinton. Johnson isn’t even a contender so why would I waste my vote on him?
A gazillion times this.
Too many folks are letting seeking perfection be the enemy of good enough.
I am voting Hillary to hasten the collapse.
Very Galt of you, but I need to point out that in Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand paid only lip service to the massive numbers of average people who had to suffer and die before Galt’s strike reached its conclusion.
We may or may not be at the point where we need to shrug off this government and this society. If we aren’t, we are getting close, but do we have a Galt’s Gulch to retreat to while the nation and the world implodes? Are you sure they will let you in?
I’m ready to give this government one more 4 year cycle and watch carefully what happens. The alternative is not as pretty and as idyllic as Galt’s Gulch seemed in the book. It was not just a place to protect themselves from the decay of the country around them, it was a place where they did not have to watch the suffering every day. Should this nation come to that point it will take a strong resolve to simply wait out the inevitable horror before coming out of the sanctuary to try to rebuild.
Bad as our current .gov is who replaces it if it collapses? The Chinese? The UN? Putin? Mexico? Only a very disturbed individual would wish for the collapse of the US.
“in Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand paid only lip service to the massive numbers of average people who had to suffer and die before Galt’s strike reached its conclusion.”
On the contrary, heh heh heh (dark laugh). Rand fled Soviet Russia, remember? She was more than well aware what socialist collapse meant for the masses. Her position was very clear; they deserved everything they got. Same position as Alexandr Solzhenitsyn; “We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation…. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward”
Just as the Tree of Liberty needs to be refreshed with the blood of patriots now and again, perhaps it must also sometimes succumb to fire for patriots to be reborn. Trump has already lost, and lost badly; I would think this would serve as a valuable lesson to voters about the dangers of unprincipled populism, but history has shown the useful idiots will quadruple-down twice as hard next go-around. The Republican Party likely won’t survive this in a manner that leaves them with a shot at majority to oppose radical confiscatory policies, so we’ve finally arrived at the Event Horizon.
Yeah, I agree……Dammit.
If he cared one lick about our gun rights, he would have at least made an attempt to run a serious general election campaign. Not only has he continued to say crazy/stupid things, he has not spent one dime on ads. Not one, while Hillary has thrown down over $60 million worth. She is expanding her operation into normally red states like Georgia, but Trump can’t boast a 10th of her ground game in Florida. This race was over the minute Trump clinched the primary.
He’s keeping his powder dry. There is still another 3 months to go and Hillary has overspent and the media has burnt through every bit of mud they can throw. The last month before the election is when Trump’s campaign is going to start spending.
This is the worst plan ever. Enduring ages and ages of being perceived as a loser on the hope that somehow, at the last minute, he can turn it around is moronic. He’s producing extremely negative coattails right now. There’s talk of losing the Senate and maybe even the House. He could turn a bad Presidential election for the Republicans into a catastrophic national election generally.
Donald Trump would not be the reason Republicans lost the Senate or the House. It would be moderates and liberals masquerading as Republicans who lost their own seats.
Blaming others for your own failure is a liberal hallmark.
He doesn’t have to spend. The msm in their effort to scuttle him are providing his campaign for free. Throw in the interwebz and other media and he’s got a great campaign.
In contrast, hillary has the msm in her pocket and has spent 60 million and she’s still floundering. She can’t even get support in Berkely, the liberal heartland.
She’s in such a state of panic she has her minions showing up here trying to convince us to waste our efforts on useless third party candidates.
This would be more convincing if his campaign were actually working, and he was not getting blown out by the weakest Democratic candidate in history.
If 45% of the Republican electorate was actually serious about making sure Hillary was beaten (let alone governing properly afterward) they would have NEVER supported this man. His nomination had nothing to do with principles, or ideals, or policy, or even stopping Hillary. His popularity stemmed purely from the fact he convinced people he was the most hated enemy of the Democrats –a position completely opposite to how we properly select leaders that will work with each other in a Representative Democracy– and primary voters in their blind fear of Hillary, shackled themselves to the person who redirected that painful emotion into confident anger. But getting angry at a barbell doesn’t make it lighter, and rushing at it with a jerking-twisting motion will only result in your own injury.
We all expected this to be an epic fight. Most of us saw the fight as difficult, but definitely ours to lose, and it was. We all sharpened our tongues and arguments in anticipation, spoiling for the opportunity to finally come at the socialists with clarity of purpose and intention, and take back the bloated, overbearing government erected by Obama and past presidents. A diverse array of champions with various tactics for performing this task lined up ahead of the battle…and then along came Trump.
He wanted to lead the charge, didn’t matter what tactics were required to come at the enemy, he wanted to be the one to lead them. So he saw fit to cut the hamstrings of all the other strong warriors who might beat him to the punch, warriors who had had no intention of crippling a fellow ally right before a difficult battle, throwing into disarray the broader force who had shown some loyalty to these figures, and giving conflicting orders to his own lieutenants. On the day of battle, he strode to the hilltop, then ordered his forces to lead the battle, so he could stay behind with the women and minstrels and hear his praises sung.
Even now, Trump refuses to campaign seriously, giving speeches to adoring crowds who represent a tiny fraction of the electorate, while failing to market himself to the broader populace, failing to stay focused on his real opponents, and failing to stay on message. He fails to raise money, and falls back on the Party general fund to sustain his operations, operations which spend their money exclusively at his properties (thereby transferring Republican Party money to Trump Inc) and even paying himself a salary. When confronted about these betrayals, he threatens to stop campaigning altogether & sabotage the election, unless may be permitted to continue siphoning funds and resources. He has an absolute joke of a local organization in many important swing states, consisting of a mere handful of individuals who are supposed to deliver a competitive state. Trump is losing all of the traditional swings states, badly enough to be outside the margin of error in practically all, often by multiple digits. States that have been safely Republican for decades are now in danger of flipping, even Texas is less than ten points away from a Democrat victory. Most recently, it is becoming apparent that even the Senate may be lost, not two years after the Republican Party saw the most sweeping gains in legislative election in a century.
The election was a lock; eight years of Obama’s crap and Hillary’s incompetence, and the Democrats were arrogant enough to steam-roll Hillary of all people to the nomination & dare put her up against someone who could honestly articulate her failings for all to hear in stark relief to our ideals. We were ready for this, we had plans for undoing Obama’s overreaches, policy goals for the legislature to expand gun rights and protect economic freedom, and the court would be restocked with Originalist jurists who would reign in the excesses of the past three decades at long last.
All for naught. None of it will come to pass. We will likely see either an assault weapon ban or restrictive national carry law passed by a Democrat Senate and rammed over a divided borderline Republican House, then upheld shortly thereafter by a SCOTUS stacked 6-3 with Sotomayors before ending up 8-2 for future cases. ITAR regs will be expanded under Executive authority to cover discussion in gun forums, and most imports of civilian firearms/ammunition will cease. Hate Speech laws will probably become the order of the day once the gun issue is slain for the time being, and will be upheld by the 8-2 court, even as civil unrest by racial supremacists continues to rise (or rather, because of the violence). The NRA-ILA will probably be curtailed in its advocacy activities or risk losing non-profit status. And we’ll be forced into this arrangement for at least another 20 years as the electorate is packed with erstwhile illegal aliens & felons. All because <35% of the Republican electorate (plus whatever crossover Democrats) wanted to showboat to victory more than they wanted to beat Hillary.
TCB
It doesn’t matter who I vote for. I live in NY so, guess who is getting all 27 electoral votes; and Trump is going to lose anyway.
Something shocking and unforeseeable is all I can hope for.
Yes, in a way your vote (like mine in MA) doesn’t count — except that Hillary must never be able to claim a mandate. If she loses, great. Let’s have a party. If she wins small, well, we’ll have to deal with that and it won’t be easy.
But if she wins big, you’ll have to bend over and spread ’em wide. and even then, it’s gonna hurt so bad you may never sit again.
The only way you can throw your vote away is if you don’t use it on the anti-Hillary.
THIS!!!!!
She won’t need a mandate, the Senate will do. This will not be over quickly. You will not enjoy this. She will be your queen;-)
Trump is doing everything he can to give her that mandate. He’s running an anti-campaign. With the way events have been shaping up, any other Republican would be crushing Clinton in the polls. Trump is in danger of losing states that have been red for decades.
He needs to act like a real candidate, but he shows no signs of doing so. That’s why Clinton has a giant lead even though everyone thinks she’s dishonest.
It’s the same situation for me in Illinois. Hillary will win here and will get all of the Electoral votes (which is not the way the system is supposed to work, oh well). I’m still voting for Trump. I’m not going to sit out and I’m not going to vote for a couple of fake Libertarians–I’m not going to be part of the problem. Hillary will be far worse than Trump.
“Something shocking and unforeseeable is all I can hope for.”
Giant Meteor 2016.
Just end it already…
https://twitter.com/votegiantmeteor
If the race is a landslide for Hillary, then vote for whoever you really want. If this is a close race, and you want the right Judges, you have one choice, and that is Trump. Besides, Trump has the best overall plan right now.
Also nope. Trump is the one candidate from the republican field who is so scary on the Constitution (aside from the 2nd, which I also don’t trust him on) that I can’t vote for him, even against Clinton. I was going to be a single-issue voter this year but then Trump happened.
No need to not trust him; his history is clear, and even his current statements though he pretends to be our ally. His understanding of the 2nd extends to the idea that we “second amendment people” can violently resist a politician like Hillary if she does something we don’t like –“kind of” true (though badly incomplete and/or inaccurate) but more broadly the stereotypical image of Murderous NRA Patriot Rebels attributed to us by anti-gun New York liberals like Trump and Hillary.
Mr. Farago,
Grow up.
Please buy and read Don Surber’s new book “Trump the Press”. It’s a different kind of expose’.
Nope. As things stand right now, Trump cannot win. The conservative vote is divided four ways: Trump, Johnson (Libertarian), Castle (Constitution), and McMullin (Independent). Most non-Trump Republicans–and former Republicans who left the party when he was nominated–favor McMullin or Castle. Those in favor of the other candidates besides Trump are *never* going to vote for Trump. They are specifically supporting the other candidates because they are not Trump.
We know 50% of Republican women said they will never vote for Trump under any circumstances. His poll numbers are atrocious and everyday he opens his mouth, they get worse. It is looking increasingly like the RNC is going to cut him off financially and shift all of their financial support to Republicans in the other races. Many higher-ups in the RNC have already conceded a loss and want to work as hard as they can to keep other conservatives in office. The biggest Republican supports (Koch brothers) will have nothing to do with Trump. National Review says that even higher ups in Trumps campaign have all but given up because he is incapable of appealing (or even attempting to appeal) to a wide enough audience to get elected.
Hillary well be an absolute horror show, and, at this point, it is all but inevitable. Something major needs to change very quickly or we’ve got a big problem. The only way there can even be a slim chance for a conservative president is if the RNC pull Trump within the next few weeks. As long as he stays in the race, it’s already over.
For those interested:
http://Castle2016.com/
http://EvanMcMullin.com/
They fact that I never even heard the names Castle or McMullin before reading your post tell me exactly what sort of chance they have of making any sort of difference in this election – they will take votes away from Trump when and where he needs them most.
I DO NOT like Mr. Trump, and I don’t really trust him, but he is the only viable alternative to Hillary with a possible chance of beating her this November. If he is absolutely terrible as president then he will not get a second term, that’s the best I can hope for, and I will work diligently during the ensuing four years to support a real conservative to replace him and to create a viable third party to replace the Republicans in the meantime.
None of the parties you mentioned, or their candidates, are viable. You might as well drink a six-pack of PBR, turn into the wind, and let loose.
Has nothing to do with third parties, and everything to do with Trump simply not running a campaign. He is a net-negative fundraiser (rather than supplying funds for down-ballot races, he saps from their resources) which is unprecedented. If you follow the money, he is plainly trying to lose & take others with him. In all likelihood, the results will show a large portion of Republicans failed to vote for any presidential candidate this election –I know I won’t be, same as 2008. I only hope that Trump’s crap isn’t enough to irreparably damage down-ballot races to the point the Democrats take the Senate, as looks increasingly likely. But it sure felt good for some primary voters to vote for Trump and stick it to the Democrats, that’s for sure!
It ain’t over until the proverbial fat lady sings…
I sure wish we could swap Wayne LaPierre for Trump. Wayne can deliver the same populist message but in a more inclusive fashion. And he wouldn’t miss a chance to attack Clinton without the foot-in-mouth disease that Trump has.
Only if the NRA then dumps Trump like a hot pile of Uranium-239 & replaces him with Colion Noir, and kicks his ass out of the NRA for gloriously destroying our best chance in 20 years to get real progress on gun rights at the federal level
Much respect lost, Robert. Your integrity is the only thing nobody can take from you, why would you give it away because you’re spooked?
I’m voting for Trump and I have integrity. I support and vote for pro gun candidates. Or at least, the most pro gun of available candidates. I’m perfectly fine with Trump’s stand against Syrian refugees and support of veterans. I supported Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. Now, it’s DJT.
Maybe I’m just much less naive and far more pro gun than most people here, but I’m going to happily vote for Trump. The fact that he gives liberals conniptions is a welcome addition. There’s not a single person here who has not made mistakes or changed some portion of their politics in their life.
If Trump winds up sucking I withdraw my support and support someone else. If. Hillary, on the other hand, is the most anti-gun and corrupt presidential candidate I have ever seen. We*know* she hates Heller, hates the 2nd Amendment, and rabidly supports big government.
*Fist-Bump*
You enjoy a good fisting don’t you…
If only Trump shared your dedication. I could have *could have* seen myself voting if he truly wanted to win, but since he clearly doesn’t, I know my vote will not matter, hence why bother risking aspirating my vomit choosing his name at the polling station? He almost had me fooled with his acceptance speech, saying close-enough-to-conservative things, articulating his desires clearly, gracious & unifying words for all he bested but would rely upon for support going forward…and then he pulls the most childish, spiteful, manic garbage against a fellow Republican I’ve even heard of, the very next day. At that point I was done. He has subsequently gone on to give not one, not two, but three subsequent eloquent speeches that I could buy into, but immediately afterward either contradicts himself or completely distracts from his own message. I’m well past done, we should have nominated whoever his speech-writer and policy-paper author was, and sent his ass back to Manhattan where they want him. At this point all he is is a massive drain on election resources for every other candidate running, to the point we’re on track to lose the Senate & most of the House majority…two years after the House saw the largest Republican majority in 100 years.
This isn’t going to end well either way. You are not even one of the state aggregates, so your vote is something that only you will have to live with.
Trump says some dumb things sometimes. But he is light years better than Hillary Clinton. Her mistakes may have got people killed (e.g. Bengazi). She was almost indicted by the FBI a week before her convention. She used her cronies in the DNC to basically ensure that she won her primary. She encourages and gives moral support to BLM thugs. She wants to import more “Syrian refugees” like Angela Merkel did in Europe. She is also the most anti-gun nominee ever. She is the namesake for the hideous “Hillary Holes” in Smith & Wesson revolvers.
Vote for whoever you want. I’ll take Trump anyday over that witch! I don’t want to let her replace Scalia with some liberal hack.
I see many, many reasons not to vote for Hillary. I see very, very few reasons to vote for Trump, and most are almost as convoluted as the ones that claim a vote for Hillary is the best path forward for RKBA.
Trump is the only candidate who could actually lose to Hillary Clinton.
The. Only. One.
Supporting Trump, as so many people have done, have guaranteed – G U A R A N T E E D – a Hillary presidency.
Anyone – literally ANYONE else – would do better than Trump. He is on track for the largest electoral landslide since Reagan whipped Mondale.
Worse, Trump is dragging down the House and Senate that Republicans will so desperately need to deflect Hillary’s policies.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-gops-chances-of-holding-the-senate-are-following-trump-downhill/
The state of the republican party, and the union, would be better off if Trump would just quit, just say “this isn’t fun anymore”, and step aside. Let Pence have it. Or Kasich.
The Trumpettes have doomed us to a Hillary presidency, and there is nearly zero chance that it won’t come to pass. FiveThirtyEight puts their prediction of Hillary beating trump at 86.9%. Trump has a 13.1% chance of winning.
So to those who say “a vote for anyone but Trump is a vote for Hillary”, first of all, that’s retarded. But second of all — the reality is, those of you who support Trump are actually ensuring Hillary gets elected. And the longer this circus goes on, the more likely the Republicans lose the Senate majority, which tanks their ability to stop her Supreme Court nominees.
If Trump had any decency at all, he should quit. We should have a do-over and have a real election with actual, genuine, serious, electable candidates. That is the ONLY way to avoid a Hillary presidency. Trump cannot and will not beat her, and he is destroying the party that is the only political force that could stop her. He is toxic, he is radioactive, and he’s King Midas in reverse — everything he touches turns to crap. So no, I do not support him. I will not reward his war on the Republican party with a vote. Hillary will win, Trump has guaranteed that, and there is absolutely nothing I can do to stop it. Trump has ZERO percent support among Blacks, and astonishingly huge majorities of women and hispanics will never under any circumstances vote for him. He cannot win. It is over.
And it isn’t my fault, for not voting for him… It’s the Trumpkins’ fault, for supporting him and getting him the nomination.
You are being illogical. If you want the Republicans to win the White House, vote for the Republican nominee. Convince your friends to do the same. Donate money to the campaign and volunteer to phone bank. Don’t just give up and wallow like a baby because it’s difficult.
Trump can absolutely still win. Polls go up and down. Trump was leading Clinton in polls a few weeks ago. She pulled ahead after the conventions, but her lead is slipping again.
Except that Trump’s polls have only gone down and he shows no indications of starting an actual campaign. Where are the ads attacking Clinton on her honesty? Where are the state organizations in the battleground states? He has one, singular one office in Florida staffed with four people. He should have dozens staffed with hundreds of volunteers, going door to door, passing out leaflets, talking to potential voters, getting his message out one on one.
Bitching online at people in states that are going to go at least 60-40 for Clinton will accomplish nothing for Trump. He needs to do the work to get elected and he’s just not doing it.
Your information about Florida is outdated. He is upping his game.
https://www.google.com/amp/www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/08/14/trump-goes-all-in-on-ground-game-in-florida-25-offices-2oo-staff/amp/?client=ms-android-verizon
Your information about Florida is outdated. He is upping his game.
http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/08/14/trump-goes-all-in-on-ground-game-in-florida-25-offices-2oo-staff/#disqus_thread
It’s better than nothing, but starting the ground game on Labor Day is ridiculous. If he goes full court press from now until the election, and minimizes the derp factor, he’s got a chance. If he continues to treat the election like a joke, the way he has been, he’ll lose, lose big, and inflict huge damage on the Republicans in the process.
They nominated a ham sandwich for president because it looked the least like Hillary, and now they’re surprised that not only does the broader electorate think it’d be stupid to vote for it, but it’s grown moldy and stunk up all the down-ballot races as well.
With any luck Trump will make HiLIARy crack-up and make a complete fool out of herself in the first Debate. No one but Trump or HiLIARy has even a slim chance of winning the Election and to refuse to vote for one of them or the other is a bad idea. You can salve your conscience with whatever meaningless rhetoric you can concoct, but THAT is all you will accomplish. Bottom Line remains only Trump or HiLIARY will win in November and THAT is the hard fact. If HiLIARy’s bad health doesn’t incapacitate her before November 8 and she wins, it will incapacitate her during her first Term, then we’ll get Tim Kaine as POTUS. *shudder!* Vote for Trump, then re-register as an Independent or whatever Not-Republican or Not-Democrat you wish.
So Trump’s path to victory relies entirely on Hillary screwing up, is what you’re saying? Oh, he’ll destroy her with insane, ratings-grabber attacks unprecedented outside the WWE in the debates, just as you all said he would in TV ads and media-appearances on the campaign trail just as soon as he got the nomination & could stop worrying about all those GOPe cuckservatives stealing the nomination he was entitled to. Just promise me you won’t take a shot every time Trump fails to jump on an opening Hillary gives him at the debate, or fumbles a difficult question from the moderator.
“So Trump’s path to victory relies entirely on Hillary screwing up, is what you’re saying?”
No, and not even a good try at inference on your part. HiLIARy is trying to hide the fact that she has serious health and related mental problems. Trump’s recent two speeches on the Economy and Law and Order are sounding like he’s finally understanding he cannot keep making the ill-advised “off the cuff” remarks and starting to deliver serious messages. If HiLIARy’s health problems turn badly on her, that could be a bonus for Trump, however.
Everything except the “acceptance” part. Vote for somebody decent to send a message to the main parties and join the NRA. That way, you vote your guns and your conscience. Local and state elections are frankly more important unless you’re in a swing state.
I live in a battleground state. I never was a Cruz supporter. I thought that the RINO fix would be put in and that Bush would be the candidate, much as the idea of warmed over Bush versus a rotten old Clinton was seriously disgusting. I will vote for Trump. I believe that in the unlikely event he wins, the Congress and even if necessary the military will keep him in check. I also believe he is not as bad as his detractors, both R and D, would have us believe. If he loses, it is essential that Hillary win by the smallest popular vote margin, and that the downstream R candidates win. Sure, she will claim a mandate based on the phony electoral vote, but she is a Clinton. She lives by the polls. This is not only about gun owners’ rights. It is about Hillary and the globalist Democrats’ overall agenda, with gun ownership only being one part.
Trump hasn’t always been reliably 2A, but he has been for several years, and he’s one of the few candidates with a carry permit who carries.
Some of these comments reek of the same cognitive dissonance I hear from liberals who claim Trump is Hitler, ignoring the fact that his son-in-law and father to three of his grandkids is Jewish. Sure. Makes total sense.
Well, Hitler’s father was Jewish, so that’s a stupid line of argument.
Not there yet. As crooked as HRC is, Rubio had Trump pegged when he said, ‘If you hadn’t inherited $100 million you’d be standing in Times Square right now selling wrist watches.’ They both should be spending the next 8 years in jail. Sure, there’s a slightly better than 50% chance that the man-child would be better than the Hildebeest, but somebody’s got to convince me that it’s worth giving up on 2020 to get him my vote.
Consider following Ted Cruz’s lead on this. During the Primary, he said any of the 17 Republican cannidates would be much better than Hillary Clinton. He has not made a formal endorsement yet, mainly because Trump was a jerk at the end of the primary and has not yet properly apologized.
I suspect that Cruz will ultimately endorse Trump (either formally, or just by saying he plans to vote for him). I believe Cruz will do that because he is a good man who doesn’t want Scalia (who he clerked for) to be replaced by someone like Sotomayor who would overturn his key decisions and destroy his legacy. God forbid Clinton gets elected and then Thomas passes away too. It would be the end of Originalism in American law. I know that sounds extreme, but I’m not exaggerating.
Frankly, one of the biggest reasons I’ve resigned to the country’s fate either way is because of the Trumpies reaction to Cruz’s non endorsement. Cruz said to vote the entire ticket – yes I know he was insinuating that Trump didn’t live up to these standards but he said the entire ticket – for those who share your values and will uphold and defend the Constitution. And for that he got booed off the stage by people who obviously knew that their guy was absolutely NOT the guy to uphold and defend the Constitution. As much as I want to see both of HRC’s fans disappointed, one of the perks to a Hillary presidency will be all the gnashing of the teeth among the Trumpies. Besides, I think the second Clinton impeachment will be a hoot to watch.
Really, for me it comes down to 2020. Like a Cubs fan’s ‘there’s always next year’, I’m not really sure I’m OK with the trade that blows any chance of winning next year either.
He was booed because he used the exact slogan of the dump Trump delegates. Vote your conscience was literally their motto that was supposed to explain why it was okay to throw out the results of the primary.
Cruz was being too cute. He is not a Never Trumper. They were allies for half of the primary. He was just angry because Trump used nasty tactics at the end of the Primary. So he wasn’t ready to endorse. Anyway, I would bet that he will eventually endorse because he cares more about his country than his pride. I suppose we will see.
You’re assuming that Cruz thinks like you do, that Trump would be better for the country than Clinton. But perhaps Cruz thinks like I do that it’s a toss up either way.
I know. Dumbass Trumper’s would never accept Cruz’s endorsement of Trump at this point, anyway, so I see no reason the man should shackle himself to a saboteur. Frankly, even Cruz’s supporters would largely not be moved by his endorsement (I know I wouldn’t be budged by that one action independent of any other on Trump’s part). Trump is a lethal drag on all Republicans at this point, and is working in conjunction with party leadership to purge what few constitutionalist holdouts made their way into the party during the TEA Party rebellion, so as to stamp it out once and for all. As sure a thing as we could ever get in presidential politics has turned into a route that will cost us the Senate and discredit conservative candidates for generations. Not even Goldwater/Johnson was this bad, Trump is our Mondale.
I generally stay out of this argument. I’ll continue to do so but I have a singular quibble with RF’s comments here.
Targeting the families of terrorists may be unseemly but it is certainly not unconstitutional to wage a war of attrition. Unless you’re a US citizen or on US soil you have no Constitutional rights. None.
On top of that, while the world may clutch their pearls at the suggestion, targeting the families of terrorists is actually a smart move in many cases. Now, it’s not universal but most of these people know damn right well what their terrorist fuckhead family member is up to and they support it actively or tacitly. That makes them fair game just like blowing up railroads and derailing trains is fair game.
Just look at the pictures of Palestinian “Summer Camps” that came out a few days back. They’re teaching kids techniques for sentry elimination with a knife. That’s not roasting marshmallows, that’s teaching five year old to murder the “infidels”. If those parent get a visit from a JDAM I really don’t care. They’re actively involved in raising the next generation of terrorists. Fuck them and the camel they road in on.
Maybe, just maybe these people will change their tune when they realise their family might be held accountable for aiding our enemy. If not, who cares, they’re all dead.
You don’t win the hearts and minds of terrorists or their supporters. You exterminate them.
Or we can stay out of the ME to begin with, no more wars for “other nations”.
Not only does Trump win, he wins in a landslide. It will be the largest Republican margin of victory ever.
The libertarian vote can stay home and the cuckservative vote can stay home, and he still wins in a landslide.
Men will not vote for Hillary. Men will do everything they can to ensure that a woman never holds the presidency. Men will do what is necessary and vote for Trump.
Vote libertarian, or don’t vote, but if you chose to do either, your man card is revoked.
Not sure if Baghdad Bob, or satire, or genuine belief…
You know… I don’t know about anyone else here but I am SICK TO DEATH of this freaking VIRTUE SIGNALING over Donald Trump in this election. Why… in the HELL do the normally rational people in the 2A community just go full on pants on head retarded over this issue of Trump?
We all know that Hillary Clinton is CANCER to gun rights. We know that while Johnson is fully pro-2A that he’s a long shot. Yet almost DAILY now we have to have yet ANOTHER piece about Donald Trump and everyone’s bitching and moaning about him his existence, and in a way that’s only BARELY relevant to this entire website.
Jeus… just what the HELL is wrong with people anymore?
Johnson’s Pro 2A status should seriously be questioned based on his VP pick. Anyone who thinks he is a friend to guns, is lying to themselves.
It’s not ‘virtue signaling,’ it’s outrage that Trump has cost us the election. Not one other candidate running (no not even the hated Bush) would have willfully sown such discord and enmity between Republican factions, and intentionally slow-walked his campaign after ensuring all his Republican competition had been neutralized the way Trump has. We told you all that he was a ringer, either a Hillary plant or incompetent boob it made no difference, but a plurality of the party didn’t listen, and then the party leadership saw the conflict as an opportunity to purge all those uncomfortable constitutionalists that made their way into the scene in 2010-2012 as the TEA Party. Now what had been a near-certain Republican wave election against the excesses of Obama has been turned into a Republican civil war that the party probably won’t survive. It no longer matters that we vote for Trump or not, the man has no support in a broad sense, and won’t be pulling it out of his ass three days before the election. His supporters now hope and pray that Hillary dies of an aneurysm in the debates, as though this is a) realistic and possible, or b) even in the best interest of a Trump victory (hint: it would likely be viewed with shock & horror, and Biden/Kaine would win on sympathy). Even now, the Trump supporters aren’t serious about beating Hillary, only “making an impression” on the liberals
I’m gonna be even more blunt, and frankly, my dear readers, I don’t give a damn what anyone thinks.
You need to vote for Mr. Trump because that is the only way to stop Hillary Clinton from winning the Presidency. If she is elected, then this country will deteriorate into full-blown, open civil war, very possibly by the end of 2017. This is very simple. She is an evil woman who thinks from between her boobs and is as such certain to actually try something truly stupid and dangerous, something even Barack Obama has yet to do (granted, he still has 6 months left in his term.) History has long proven that tyrants and their empires come to bad ends.
Therefore, unless you want to die, and me as well for that matter, you’ll vote for Mr. Trump. I’m not stupid. I want to live a life worth living and pursue happiness.
You and I may die anyway. But better to perish a free man than to live a slave with no future and no hope.
Tom
You might have an argument if Trump was as set on winning as you are. He has spent 0$ on television ads in swing states at this point, all while drawing a salary as candidate from donations, and making sure all his campaign expenses go to purchasing Trump Property goods so as to divert public donations to his own corporate holdings. He is actually raising so little money at all these rallies & speeches, that he is drawing from the GOP general fund meant to finance vulnerable down-ballot house & senate races, rather than providing the bulk of its resources from his own tally as is typically the case. The man is a saboteur. Even a saboteur would be a better president than Hillary, but Trump seems intent on making that impossible.
Bill Bennet said it well; better to lower my standards than to lose my country. Welcome aboard Robert.
I not voting for a President, I’m voting for a Supreme Court.
Also – anyone else notice that when Trump grins he looks like a living Guy Fawkes mask?
Nice to see that the #nevertrump retards are as busy arguing about the arrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic as ever. You do realize that with the Black Lives Matter terrorist group up in arms all over the country, we’re right on track for a major civil war? Right?
But no… Your corporate backed “conservative” got his ass kicked and now you’re going to bitch about it while Hitlary guts what’s left of this country.
Please. If you were serious about beating Hillary, you’d have supported someone who’d be serious about defeating her, and had not been praising her post-Benghazi tenure as SS not three years ago. Nope, you thought it more important to ‘send a message’ to the liberals and SJWs out there, who you were so convinced were horrified & pissed about a Trump candidacy. Didn’t even occur to you he knew nothing about a general election campaign, nothing about forging political relationships to broaden support & resources enough to actually win, and hardly a thought to his policy proposals which range from Democrat boiler-plate to literally impossible. Didn’t even occur to you that he probably didn’t want to win, just has he didn’t the last times he’d flirted with running for president. Whatever, what’s done is done (or will be in three months), and you got to feel good voting for a loudmouthed asshole for a change, rather than a serious statesmen seeking to actually run a nation after the election. And feels is what’s important, after all.
Yeah… We have different definitions of “serious statesman”. The way I see it, Trump was the only GOP candidate that didn’t pander to illegals, Democrats, or terrorists. (or a combination of the three) But please, keep rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg. You “traditional conservative” cretins will get exactly what you deserve.
Wait…do zeppelins have deck chairs? Weren’t we previously rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic? Can we just pick one metaphor and stick with it, please?
Also, if the party is a sinking ship (or a burning airship), does that mean we should abandon it completely? That seems to run counter to the points your making.
No son… You seem to miss the joke…
America isn’t sinking. You’re not rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It’s going up in flames, you’re on the Hindenburg boyo.
Yeah, I definitely don’t understand why the shift in metaphor. Since the country is not literally going up in flames any more than it’s literally sinking, I fail to see why the Hindenburg is somehow more appropriate to the situation than the Titanic, especially when we have not even answered the all-crucial question of whether airships even have deck chairs.
Ok, so you are whining about what happened in the past and not addressing the present, the future, or pwrserge’s topic at hand. Ted Cruz or whoever else you wanted is no longer a candidate. Does it matter what the score is, or does it matter who wins? Not voting for trump directly benefits Hillary, especially in swing states like Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio. Trump absolutely needs these states, or you can embrace a lasting supreme court moving this nation straight to marxism and disarmament.
As was pointed out recently on PJMedia, I believe, at this point in the 1988 campaign Mike Dukakis was 17 points ahead of GHW Bush in the polls. We know how that worked out. Only saying that Trump isn’t necessarily dead yet. As a Cruz supporter who has moved to “anyone but Hillary”, I intend to hold my nose and vote for Trump as the most likely to keep Hillary out of the WH.
To quote from “The Notebooks of Lazarus Long” (Robert A. Heinlein, “Time Enough for Love”) ….”If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for… but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By the rule you will rarely go wrong.”
How do we vote against all the main party candidates, and all the third party candidates? They kind of all suck, and nearly equally, this go around. Heinlein also was assuming that everyone running for office was, you know, actually in it to win it for the most part.
Because there is no such thing as a “third party”. No third party candidate has ever won the presidency in the entirety of US history.
Well. You can always vote twice. One for Trump, one for Johnson, or whatever. Since voting doesn’t require ID, you can just make some shit up. Vote six or seven times. Drive to Florida and vote 10 times, on your way through. This is what the dems are doing, you should be doing it too.
Who cares who wins. Like you ever had any say more than what they let you think you have, Electoral college… This country was wrested from one bunch of crooks and thugs and given to another, and since then has been going down the toilet one law and travesty at a time, since Whiskey Rebellion Washington. Just enjoy what you’ve got left, while you’ve got it. Well all the time ya spend trying to get back what’s been took from ya, more is going out the door. After a while you just have to try to get a tourniquet on it. – No Country.
You people make me ill. Jesus give Trump a shot. Maybe about TIME someone besides a career politician gets in office. The economy sucks the country sucks he wants to bring JOBS back to the US. He knows China kicking our ASS on trade. Manufacturers are leaving the US and you want to vote for a 3rd party. Jesus just vote for Hillary and just shoot me now. I want to say the F word so pissed. Just funny how Trump became all these bad things once the media started there BS. but nobody talks about Hillary FBI investigations all the lies this BITCH tells. I know Trump not perfect but right now he’s who we have. If you value your 2 Amendment rights. She will put several Supreme Court justices in there and the US will never recover from that. It’s going to take years decades from the shit Obama put us threw. I talk to several different people that know big shots in Homeland Security and other top branches and well there’s a reason they bought 1.5 billion rounds of ammo.
All I want to know is what is Tramp, sorry Trump, real agenda???
He’s 70. He’ll probably leave the White House feet first. What possible personal agenda could he have?
Trump is what he is. Right now he’s the closest thing to a 2a supporter with any chance of winning.
Johnson might say all the right things but there’s no chance of him going from 10% to 40% within the remaining season. What he will do is sap the final 5% Trump needs to win, resulting in a victory for Hillary. She will spin it as a mandate for every policy she has.
The exact same business is what gave us the last two term Clinton presidency. If that’s what people want then they can vote for her to further insure that outcome.
In four years no ones going to remember what people were protesting against Trump for or who the third party was. They’ll be too busy bitching about having to do background checks every time they try to buy ammunition for their smart gun. Trump will be back to building his real estate empire and the GOP will be back to unsuccessfully convincing people that we need another Bush in 2020.
The question will be if the fight against gun control is even an issue when it’s failed to sway the prior three elections.
The only vote wasted is the vote not cast.
So much of this She won already or He won already is just noise to get you to stay home on election day. The fat lady hasn’t even started to sing yet so nothing is over and nothing is decided yet.
Do you live in a swing state? If not, then your vote doesn’t really matter anyway.
I beg to differ. A Hillary victory with less than a majority would deny her the mandate she needs to legitimize her positions.
Everyone needs to get ready for Hillary 2016.
http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/
Um… No. Even if Hillary “wins” her election is illegitimate. She’s not eligible to be president.
Her “eligibility’ is ultimately determined by mob rule. Millions of freedom hating individuals are relying on her to take more of their freedom. Make no mistake, if elected, her prior illegal/negligent activities and their investigations are moot.
Yeah, the difference is that the millions of people who hate her are armed.
After she is elected, there will be parades of feminists, celebrating a woman president, inner city beta-male metrosexuals, trannies, triggypuffs, SJW, BLM, and millions of others celebrating the selection of freedom-hating liberationists to the supreme court and the complete transition of the United States to liberal extremism. Never mind that she is grossly incompetent and can’t send an email from the correct email account or take a phone call at 3:00am in an emergency. All will be moot.
Yea, but they’re not going to do anything. To too many, any type of rebellion or noncompliance (with arms) is seen as poor taste, and hurtful for the firearms freedom cause. Even from POTG. They will grit their teeth, and rely on the supreme court to strike them down (which will now be controlled by Hillary).
its sad that voting third party has never crossed your mind it seems. looks like they have you shackled on both ankles.
Voting “third party” is for idiots, suckers, and cowards. If you want a policy change, just primary your candidate into one of the main parties. That’s what real conservatives did with Trump.
Even though I won’t enjoy a Hillary presidency at all, it does make me chuckle at the Trump supporters. They simply have no idea what they have done. There are WAY too many of us who won’t vote for Trump for him to get elected. There’s simply no way I could do it. He’s not a conservative and he doesn’t represent me so I won’t vote for him.
I will vote for Johnson and hope that the Republican party will quit ignoring the more Libertarian side. Personal insults won’t dissuade me; they’ll simply help me understand why you think Trump would be a good leader…
Libertarianism is a pipe dream. It simply doesn’t work with a socialist leaning welfare state like the one we have set up.
What I am hearing from some is that conservatives should just jump on the Trump train now without getting any concessions or redresses of grievances we have with his positions on the issues and how he is running his campaign. Well, I’m not ready to do that yet. While he is whoring after Bernie Sanders supporters and telling the media he can win without conservatives, conservatives are jumping up and down and waving their hands shouting “look over here, we have some things we would like to discuss with you” while he continues to ignore conservative concerns. 1. He stated during the campaign he would negotiate with the NRA presumably to soften the NRA’s position to make those positions more acceptable to gun controllers, 2. He pandered to big agriculture over ethanol subsidies in Iowa in a losing effort to win the caucus., 3. After the convention, he flip flopped on the minimum wage saying he would support a federal $10 minimum wage., 4. After the convention, he flip flopped on the debt and deficit spending saying the federal government should borrow even more money while rates are cheap., 5. Although he says he is against abortion, he still keeps saying good things about America’s largest abortion provider and resists calls for federal defunding of Planned Parenthood. 5. He advocates an additional $1 Trillion in “infrastructure” spending. Can you say Obama Stimulus 2.0? 6. He seems to have a love affair with Putin. 7. He says he would replace Obamacare with a system we would all love much better where everyone is covered and the government will pay for it. Can you say single payer? 8. He says he will build a wall but then seems to advocate touch back amnesty by telling illegal immigrants the gate in the wall will work both ways where all they have to do is go home and then you can come right back. 9. He seems to love giving government more power in seizing private property through the expansion of eminent domain by professing his approval for the supreme court’s Kelo decision.
So forgive me for not being ready just yet to pledge my support and vote for Donald Trump. I would like to see some changes and clarifications on just a few of his views first. Otherwise, conservatives really have no leverage if we just give it to him now without concessions.
So before I just jump on the Trump train and pledge my vote
If you believe the election and polls are not rigged and you want the possibility of owning your guns legally when this country implodes, then you should vote for Trump. The destination is the same, it’s just the path that might be different.
“You can and should criticize the mainstream media for failing to give Hillary Clinton the same rectal exam given Mr. Trump. There’s no doubt that they are in the bag for the Big Government Democrat. And how. But the press isn’t wrong to reveal Mr. Trump’s lies, prevarications and lack of character.”
This is another reason to vote Trump, or rather, given only two choices vote “Not Hillary Clinton.”
A President Trump will be subject to constant, relentless, universal push back and scrutiny – as it should be for all presidents. A President Clinton will be subject to boosterism, cheer-leading, obfuscation, and worse.
We don’t need a “free press” as a state (and party) propaganda arm, we need a “free press” as a kind of permanent opposition. Since the “journalism” profession has decided they like being hacks and flacks for Presidents they like, we should, any must, only elect presidents the press despises.
Hi TTAG community, I’m still alive by some miracle! Just wanted to remind you that I launched two disastrous wars that created ISIS, crashed the housing market, destroyed millions of jobs and turned Clinton’s surplus into a $1.4 Trillion deficit. And instead of blaming me, Republicans lost their minds and blamed Obama and nominated Donald Duck Trump! ‘MURICA!!! I live in Dallas now and don’t give no EXPLETIVE DELETED. #godandguns
*bona fide
All I can say is they’re all turd party.
Comments are closed.