Why the ‘NeverTrump’ Movement Pushes Back

Of course, Democrats don’t want you to vote for Donald Trump. But one of the most conservative magazines, The Federalist, has seven reasons why you should not vote for Trump. They’re not alone, but their reasoning is striking.

From The Federalist:

Donald Trump is not worthy of your vote. He is manifestly unfit to be the president of these United States; he is perhaps the least qualified, most unqualified candidate to ever secure a party’s nomination. Nothing that happens between now and Election Day can possibly change this. He has proven himself irredeemably incompetent for the presidency. You should not vote for him.

Wow. Tell us how you really feel! You want us to vote for Hillary?? Why??

Hillary would be an awful president—incompetent in her own right, self-serving, scheming, inept on the world stage and heavy-handed at home—and she would also usher in another four to eight years of screeching, grating identity politics, this time on behalf of America’s professional, perpetually aggrieved feminist class. Even one term of Clinton would be awful.

No. . .but. . .wait. . .what?! The Federalist does give two reasons to vote for Hillary. First, a Hillary term would be such a disaster that a true conservative could walk to the White House (no need to “run”) in 2020. And, second, because she’s not Donald Trump. [Comments have been edited for space. Go to the link to get the full explanation.]

1. Donald Trump Is a Serial Liar
Trump is perhaps the most serially dishonest person to have ever sought the presidency; he makes Bill Clinton look like a cherub in comparison.

2. Donald Trump Is Not a Conservative
He himself admitted almost as much a short while ago: after assuring us that he is in fact a conservative, he recently told George Stephanopoulos: “This is called the Republican Party. It’s not called the Conservative Party.”

3. Donald Trump Promotes Political Violence
Trump has brought disgrace upon the presidential primary process by inciting and promoting violence throughout his campaign.

4. Donald Trump Is a Gleeful and Unrelenting Debaser of Women
The insults he has levied at various women include: “slob, “dog,” “grotesque,” “unsexiest woman alive,” “fat, ugly face,” “disgusting.” He once told a contestant on his reality show, “It must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees,” a thinly veiled reference to oral sex.

5. Donald Trump Is An Unabashed Flip-Flopper
Over a decade ago, Republicans rightly derided John Kerry for flip-flopping on a great many important political issues. Yet now the GOP is poised to nominate a man who is just as bad as Kerry, if not worse.

6. Donald Trump Is Avowedly Anti-Free Speech
Trump takes a dim view of Citizens United, the Supreme Court decision that correctly decided for free speech and against censorship. . . He has [also] vowed, once in office to “open up” libel laws to make it easier to sue newspapers that write negative things about him.

7. Donald Trump Could Ruin the Reputation of Conservatism
Trump is no conservative: he is simply a liberal who has seized upon conservatism because it is convenient for his own selfish purposes. . . But because Trump is an unreliable, abrasive, and egomaniacal crackpot of a politician, he could do serious damage to American conservatism simply because people will come to associate conservatism with Trump.

[And, in conclusion:] Clinton Is Horrible; Trump Is Worse
There is no good reason to vote for Donald Trump. There is not a single, solitary good reason to cast your ballot for this dangerous and unstable person. . . the principal electoral purpose of the 2016 campaign season, for every good and decent American, should be keeping Donald Trump out of the White House. The best bet for doing that? Voting for Hillary Clinton.

An earlier Federalist article offered many of these arguments, but had two more:

1. Donald Trump Admires Tyrants
In December, Trump openly admired Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling him a “strong leader.”. . . When challenged on Putin’s record, Trump responded, “He’s running his country, and at least he’s a leader, . . This is apparently a pattern with Trump. Back in 1990, he was asked about China’s response to the Tiananmen Square student protests. . . Trump praised the crackdown: “When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength.”

5. Trump Is an American Fascist
The case against Trump, then, is that he is an autocrat in democrat’s clothing, a tyrant in the wings, a bully who admires the “strength” of tyrants and butchers, who finds a free press to be an inconvenience that he intends to tame with legal force once elected, a man who demonizes opponents and romanticizes violence, especially against minorities, who pines for the day when government could have its way with people without the trouble of constitutional law getting in the way.. . .As Wehner rightly said, Trump is “a demagogic figure who does not view himself as part of our constitutional system but rather as an alternative to it.”

How adamant was Paul David Miller in that earlier article? Would you believe, he compared Trump to Hitler:

“Trump isn’t Hitler” isn’t a defense; it’s an excuse. . .

Besides, even Hitler wasn’t “Hitler” when he was running for office in 1928 and 1932. He hadn’t yet brought down democracy in Europe, started the most catastrophic war in all history, and murdered millions. He was just a powerful orator who knew how to connect with everyday people—mainly by exploiting their fears and anxieties over economic dislocation, racial tension, and their belief that they just didn’t win anymore. He wanted to help make Germany great again, and Germans agreed. The rest is history.

Note: This article is a companion to Why do Trumpists Love Trump?