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While reading some news and commentary online this morning, I came across a link that led to an opinion piece by Laura Ingraham entitled “A Time to Unite” (A Time to Unite | LifeZette). Ingraham called for Republicans to unite around Donald Trump.
Her central argument concerns the opportunity for Republicans to regain control of the White House. She explained, “…if Hillary wins, all Republicans will be shut out of the executive and judicial branches of government for four more years… [A] Trump victory would give lots of Republicans a chance to wield levers of power that can only be reached from the White House.”
She closed her piece by writing that “all Republicans have some big choices to make,” while simultaneously warning, “The citizenry will be watching closely.”
Republicans most definitely have a highly consequential choice before them. That’s not up for question.
But if one looks more closely at the piece, it is missing something very big.
Of course, there’s nothing about policy, ideas, or solutions. But good Americans have some sharply contrasting opinions on policy matters, the role of government, etc. Something far more basic yet far less contentious is lacking.
There is nothing in Ingraham’s commentary that appeals to Republican voters to embrace Trump on grounds of making a good, respectable, or honorable choice. It’s all about seizing what appears to be an opportunity to gain power. That lack of ability to rally voters to Trump on grounds of making a good, respectable, or honorable choice is not simply a flaw that is limited to Ingraham’s opinion piece. It is the fatal flaw of the Trump candidacy itself.
There is nothing good, respectable, or honorable about a Presidential candidate who divides people along ethnic and religious lines and condemns large groups of people as ‘bad.’ Whatever happened to judging individuals on the basis of their own character or conduct?
There’s nothing good, respectable, or honorable about a Presidential candidate who seeks to strip the First Amendment of its meaning when it comes to protections afforded the Media and religious freedom. Whatever happened to limited government?
There is nothing good, respectable, or honorable about a Presidential candidate who ruthlessly seeks to destroy the character and reputations of those who seek to block his path to power. Whatever happened to integrity?
Even if the author is correct in her assessment that Trump is the single Republican candidate who can win the election this year—a highly dubious assumption based on the polling data—the far better choice is to unite behind his opponent. In the primaries, there is now a single candidate who still has a small but real chance to defeat Trump. The Ohio Governor, who abandoned the Salt Lake City debate an hour after Trump said that he would not attend and gave Trump the cover he needed to avoid the consequences from doing so, is not that candidate. There is a strong probability that Trump will, in fact, prevail and become the Republican nominee for President.
Trump lacks the character, capacity, and policy solutions to allow the nation to address its challenges or pursue its opportunities. For all his nationalistic rhetoric, he is incapable of viewing all of the nation’s people as a single, American people capable of helping the nation forge an ever better future.
Trump is no Republican. He is no Conservative. He is only a loud and highly insecure demagogue.
In the traditional Republican and Conservative perspective, it is the American people who made the nation great. In Trump’s worldview, “e pluribus unum” is obsolete. As has been the case with demagogues across time, Trump is filled with narcissistic hubris. He believes that he alone can make the nation “great” and that no one else can. He is also plagued by an enormous sense of insecurity. He sees enemies everywhere—at home and abroad, among Americans and allies, alike. For him, diversity is only weakness and differing perspectives are threats.
Occasionally, there are things that are vastly more important than whether one major party or the other gains power. Election 2016 presents one such occasion.
In today’s era of Social Media, the hashtag #NeverTrump conveys the only good, respectable, and honorable choice available to the electorate. #NeverTrump will be equally relevant in the Primary process and the general election. And, as Ingraham observed, “The citizenry will be watching closely.”
Her central argument concerns the opportunity for Republicans to regain control of the White House. She explained, “…if Hillary wins, all Republicans will be shut out of the executive and judicial branches of government for four more years… [A] Trump victory would give lots of Republicans a chance to wield levers of power that can only be reached from the White House.”
She closed her piece by writing that “all Republicans have some big choices to make,” while simultaneously warning, “The citizenry will be watching closely.”
Republicans most definitely have a highly consequential choice before them. That’s not up for question.
But if one looks more closely at the piece, it is missing something very big.
Of course, there’s nothing about policy, ideas, or solutions. But good Americans have some sharply contrasting opinions on policy matters, the role of government, etc. Something far more basic yet far less contentious is lacking.
There is nothing in Ingraham’s commentary that appeals to Republican voters to embrace Trump on grounds of making a good, respectable, or honorable choice. It’s all about seizing what appears to be an opportunity to gain power. That lack of ability to rally voters to Trump on grounds of making a good, respectable, or honorable choice is not simply a flaw that is limited to Ingraham’s opinion piece. It is the fatal flaw of the Trump candidacy itself.
There is nothing good, respectable, or honorable about a Presidential candidate who divides people along ethnic and religious lines and condemns large groups of people as ‘bad.’ Whatever happened to judging individuals on the basis of their own character or conduct?
There’s nothing good, respectable, or honorable about a Presidential candidate who seeks to strip the First Amendment of its meaning when it comes to protections afforded the Media and religious freedom. Whatever happened to limited government?
There is nothing good, respectable, or honorable about a Presidential candidate who ruthlessly seeks to destroy the character and reputations of those who seek to block his path to power. Whatever happened to integrity?
Even if the author is correct in her assessment that Trump is the single Republican candidate who can win the election this year—a highly dubious assumption based on the polling data—the far better choice is to unite behind his opponent. In the primaries, there is now a single candidate who still has a small but real chance to defeat Trump. The Ohio Governor, who abandoned the Salt Lake City debate an hour after Trump said that he would not attend and gave Trump the cover he needed to avoid the consequences from doing so, is not that candidate. There is a strong probability that Trump will, in fact, prevail and become the Republican nominee for President.
Trump lacks the character, capacity, and policy solutions to allow the nation to address its challenges or pursue its opportunities. For all his nationalistic rhetoric, he is incapable of viewing all of the nation’s people as a single, American people capable of helping the nation forge an ever better future.
Trump is no Republican. He is no Conservative. He is only a loud and highly insecure demagogue.
In the traditional Republican and Conservative perspective, it is the American people who made the nation great. In Trump’s worldview, “e pluribus unum” is obsolete. As has been the case with demagogues across time, Trump is filled with narcissistic hubris. He believes that he alone can make the nation “great” and that no one else can. He is also plagued by an enormous sense of insecurity. He sees enemies everywhere—at home and abroad, among Americans and allies, alike. For him, diversity is only weakness and differing perspectives are threats.
Occasionally, there are things that are vastly more important than whether one major party or the other gains power. Election 2016 presents one such occasion.
In today’s era of Social Media, the hashtag #NeverTrump conveys the only good, respectable, and honorable choice available to the electorate. #NeverTrump will be equally relevant in the Primary process and the general election. And, as Ingraham observed, “The citizenry will be watching closely.”