Posted on 05/24/2016 7:37:22 AM PDT by servo1969
When you differ from people you admire, you have to question yourself. After all, what is the purpose of admiring people if they aren't capable of influencing you?
So, I have had to challenge my position -- stated since the outset of the Republican presidential debates -- that if Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination, I will vote for him over Hillary Clinton, or any Democrat for that matter.
I devoted many hours of radio and many columns to criticizing Trump. His virtually assured nomination has therefore caused me grief as an American, a Republican and a conservative. That his character defects, gaps in knowledge on some important issues, and lack of identifiably conservative principles came to mean little to so many Republican voters is quite troubling. (Though, I might add, it is even more troubling that virtually all Democrats ignore the even worse character of Hillary Clinton, as well as the idiotic socialist ideas of Sen. Bernie Sanders.)
#NeverTrump conservatives, such as (in alphabetical order) Jonah Goldberg, Bill Kristol, Ben Shapiro, Bret Stephens and George Will are not merely people I admire -- they are friends and colleagues. Goldberg, Stephens and Will have made multiple videos for Prager University, which receive millions of views. Shapiro and I have spent Shabbat together. I have had the privilege of writing for Kristol's The Weekly Standard and having him on my show many times. And I have enthusiastically promoted their books. These individuals are special to me not only as thinkers, but as people.
However, in the final analysis, I do not find their arguments compelling. Take the "conscience" argument that one can sleep with a clear conscience by not voting for Trump. I don't find it compelling because it means that your conscience is clear after making it possible for Clinton or any other Democrat to win.
In fact, the "conscience" argument is so weak that Goldberg -- to his credit -- published a column two days ago titled "Sorry, I Still Won't Ever Vote for Trump." He wrote, "If the election were a perfect tie, and the vote fell to me and me alone, I'd probably vote for none other than Donald Trump."
Shouldn't all Americans vote as if their vote were the deciding vote? Including those whose votes "don't count" because they live in states that are so left-wing they would still vote Democrat if Vladimir Lenin headed the Democratic ticket?
The choice this November is tragic. As it often happens in life, this choice is between bad and worse, not bad and good.
But America has made that choice before. When forced to choose between bad and worse, we supported Joseph Stalin against Adolf Hitler, and we supported right-wing authoritarians against Communist totalitarians.
It seems to me that the #NeverTrump conservatives want to remain morally pure. I understand that temptation. I am tempted, too. But if you wish to vanquish the bad, it is not possible -- at least not on this side of the afterlife -- to remain pure.
The most moving interview of my 33 years in radio was with Irene Opdyke, a Polish Catholic woman. Opdyke became the mistress of a married Nazi officer in order to save the lives of 12 Jews. She hid them in the cellar of the officer's house in Warsaw. There were some Christians who called my show to say that Opdyke's actions were wrong, that she had in fact sinned because she knowingly committed a mortal sin. In their view, she compromised Catholic/Christian doctrine.
In my view -- and, I believe, the view of most Catholics and other Christians -- she brought glory to her God and her faith. Why? Because circumstances almost always determine what is moral, even for religious people like myself who believe in moral absolutes. That's why the act of dropping atom bombs on Japan was moral. The circumstances (ending a war that would otherwise continue taking millions of lives) made moral what under other circumstances would be immoral.
In the 2016 presidential race, I am not interested in moral purity. I am interested in defeating the left and its party, the Democratic Party. The notion (expressed by virtually every #NeverTrump advocate) that we can live with another four years of a Democratic president is, forgive me, mind-boggling. To that end, with at least one, and probably multiple, additional leftists on the Supreme Court, a Republican presidential victory in 2020 would mean little. All the left needs is the judicial branch, especially the Supreme Court. Left-wing judges pass so many left-wing laws that they render those who control Congress, and even the White House, almost irrelevant.
Here, then, are nine reasons (there are more) why a conservative should prefer a Trump presidency to a Democrat presidency:
--Prevent a left-wing Supreme Court.
--Increase the defense budget.
--Repeal, or at least modify, the Dodd-Frank act.
--Prevent Washington, D.C. from becoming a state and giving the Democrats another two permanent senators.
--Repeal Obamacare.
--Curtail illegal immigration, a goal that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with xenophobia or nativism (just look at Western Europe).
--Reduce job-killing regulations on large and small businesses.
--Lower the corporate income tax and bring back hundreds of billions of offshore dollars to the United States.
--Continue fracking, which the left, in its science-rejecting hysteria, opposes.
For these reasons, I, unlike my friends, could not live with my conscience if I voted to help the America-destroying left win the presidency in any way.
I just don't understand how anyone who understands the threat the left and the Democrats pose on America will refuse to vote for the only person who can stop them.
Sounds like Praeger decided not to sacrifice whatever is left of his career on radio
He always spoke against voting 3rd party or staying home. I guess he’s practicing what he preaches. He’s got my respect.
While Dennis comes to a “correct” conclusion some of his arguments in getting there are off the wall:
“When forced to choose between bad and worse, we supported Joseph Stalin against Adolf Hitler”
So a vote for Trump is like supporting Stalin against Hitler? There has got to be some strange radiation hitting talk radio recently to cause so many in it to go start raving mad at times.
When faced with the lesser of two evils... and you choose neither, be assured you will get the worst of the two! A non decision IS a decision. #NeverHillary “trumps” #NeverTrump.
Now if he would select Milwaukee sheriff David Clarke as VP, a landslide awaits.
Jonah Goldberg, Bill Kristol, Ben Shapiro, Bret Stephens and George Will
*********************
These are not conservatives, they are propagandists for the Cheap Labor Express
That's why the act of dropping atom bombs on Japan was moral. The circumstances (ending a war that would otherwise continue taking millions of lives) made moral what under other circumstances would be immoral.In the 2016 presidential race, I am not interested in moral purity.
I presume his position is, then, that use of the A-bomb was "not moral purity" either. Not to draw equivalence, by the way, but he argues that the morality of an action can depend on circumstances (e.g., between two bad choices, or do a bad thing for a good end), and that dropping the A-bombs on Japan was moral, period.
But in this election, he is not looking for moral "purity," so voting for Trump is OK?
Nitpicky on my part, and I'm glad he's decided to work against Hillary and the DEMs, but his argument or justification is similar to the one I had to use to pull the lever for McCain and Romney, and in no way do I see my decisions in those cases to be moral. They were immoral - added legitimacy to elections that were little more than a con-job by players on the NWO stage.
I still opposed Obama (still do), but there is a bigger game afoot here, and Prager and his ilk (the #NeverTrumps in spirit) are not on the same side I am on, other than we all oppose the DEMs.
—Curtail illegal immigration, a goal that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with xenophobia or nativism (just look at Western Europe).
*************************
This is exactly what drives the #NeverTrump agenda.
They cannot allow the citizens to retain the rule of law or our country.
The #NeverTrump propagandists have for years been trying to convince us to give up our country without a fight.
They must keep the Cheap Labor Express running.
I used to like Prager, but he’s lost me for good.
Even here, he refuses to make a case FOR Trump, he only makes a case that Trump doesn’t suck quite as badly as Hitler.
No sale.
We held our noses and voted for Bush 41, Bush 43, Dole, Romney and (gag...)McCain. It’s time to return the favor.
I have occasionally made the remark that everything Trump’s opponents and everything his supporters say about him is all true. And he is still the best man running.
I was (and am) a Cruz supporter, so Trump was always my second choice, but he was the only other man in the race that I trusted to actually secure the border. And turn around the influx of muslim colonists. And straighten out the economy.
The other candidates, some of whom were likeable, could be trusted only to continue the status quo, running at the iceberg at half speed rather than full speed. There were only two men in the race who actually wanted to change directions, and Trump was one of them.
So supporting Trump gives me no heartburn at all, he was the only other man in the race I trusted. Granted, I don’t trust him completely on everything, but on national sovereignty and on the economy, I do.
So its an easy choice. Someone who will secure and defend our sovereignty, versus an open criminal. That should be the easiest choice we’ve ever had. Someone who actually understands how the economy works versus someone with a line of dead bodies following her throughout her sorry career. Someone who made his billions building things versus someone who made her billions selling her, and her husband’s, office. Any would-be pundit who doesn’t see that distinction should be embarrassed.
Prager caves. Anyone who is surprised, raise your hand.
Given the situation, what other choice does he have?
“Prager caves.”
He has said he would vote for Trump over Hillary since the primaries began.
Now run along.
Your thoughts and my positions are identical to yours. Many others are thinking this way too. The NeverTrump fanatics have made assumptions that are way off base on the mindset of the electorate.
“Sounds like Praeger decided not to sacrifice whatever is left of his career on radio.”
Sounds like you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.
My first thought exactly. That, and Mike Gallagher must have worked on him.
“The choice this November is tragic. As it often happens in life, this choice is between bad and worse, not bad and good.”
Sums it up; falls right in line with the “usual” choice at election time (for me, since Reagan).
I am disappointed when I read columns like this from someone whose writing usually appeals to me. Saying that voting for Trump is like supporting Stalin over Hitler is about as back-handed a compliment as one could devise. What really disappoints me is seeing a Jew like Prager come to the “difficult decision” to vote for Trump when the left is hand-in-glove with the BDS anti-Israel crowd.
Prager should not be comparing support of Trump with support of Stalin. It's not at all similar.
His list of friends who he admires and who like him are media hoes say all I need to hear.
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