The “get in line” mantra from the GOP higher-ups and talking heads continues, and it is very tiresome. For those like RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, winning matters more than anything. He’ll happily ride the coattails of any candidate – even Trump – to get there, no matter the cost. Needless to say, this is extremely foolish.
With the GOP front-runner, we have a flip-flopping liberal whose lack of conservatism is shockingly apparent. If you’re not aware that he’s nothing but a political hack, you’ve not been paying attention. But we are supposed to line up behind him just because he’s currently in first place and may receive the nomination? No thanks. A win that costs us our conservative principles is not worth having. Period. We should not subscribe to groupthink as liberals do, especially when a non-conservative is leading the pack. I, for one, refuse to coalesce around him. Reince sees that differently, however, as The Hill reported on Friday:
“It is essential to victory in November that we all support our candidate,” Priebus said at the RNC’s spring meeting in Hollywood, Fla.
“This goes for everyone, whether you’re a county party chairman, an RNC member, or a presidential candidate. Politics is a team sport, and we can’t win unless we rally around whoever becomes our nominee,” he added, drawing applause from the audience.
Priebus is no leader, as has been clear for a while. He’s showing himself to be nothing but a sheep herder who only cares about getting the flock to Point B with no regard for what it would cost to get there.
If one does not support Trump, the often-used accusation is that person supports Hillary. I will not cast a vote for Hillary Clinton, but neither will I cast a vote for Donald Trump. Neither represents me or conservatism, regardless of whether one has an (R) beside their name. This is what Priebus, and many others, just don’t care about. They would rather vote for someone who lacks conservative principle than support a legitimate conservative.
Although Real Clear Politics predicts that a general election between Clinton and Trump would result in Trump’s defeat by a margin of 9.3%, let’s just say for now that Trump would beat Hillary. Congratulations, the Republican party has taken back the White House. But at what cost? It would be nothing but a Pyrrhic victory. Do we really want to set back conservatism? Trump has shown himself to be weak and substance-free on issues foreign, domestic, and social. It’s difficult to keep up with how often his so-called “policy stances” change. He is widely supported by those who are fueled by nothing but racist tendencies, as I’ve seen firsthand. He couldn’t care less about basic tenets of conservatism, like being 100% pro-life. And to top it off, he’s an immature individual who seems to be doing all this for fun, not to actually improve America, and certainly not promote conservative values.
I would actually prefer we painfully lose the White House if our only options are Clinton or Trump. That pain would serve to push us out of complacency, which is sorely needed at the moment.
We have sat for quite a while under an Obama administration, and what has that taught us? From the looks of it, we’ve decided that only winning is important. You know what? I would rather lose with someone like Ted Cruz, a legitimate conservative who I would happily cast a vote for, than to win with Donald Trump. (On a side note, Real Clear Politics shows a smaller margin of victory for Hillary in a Clinton v. Cruz showdown, so he may have a shot at victory should he be the nominee.)
So no thanks, Reince. I’ll continue to be #NeverTrump. At least I won’t be compromising anything to do that.
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