There seems to be a small, boutique industry that has grown up around people who allege that they are life-long Republicans who, suddenly, just can’t vote for Trump. Fair enough. I know how they feel. But not voting for Trump is not enough, Hillary Clinton has been miraculously transfigured from a incompetent, vindictive geriatric crone into Pericles. The latest installment comes from a guy named Daniel Akerson who apparently was once the Chairman and CEO of General Motors.

I am the son of a World War II and Korean War veteran. As a young man, the men I respected most were my father and my uncles, who collectively fought in the Battle of the Atlantic and the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, D-Day, Iwo Jima and Inchon. I came of age in the service of our nation. I never had a draft card. I entered the U.S. Naval Academy before my 18th birthday and served in the Navy for five years. My older brother volunteered as well. Simply put, it was expected. We were raised in a good Catholic home and believed in God and country. My wife of 44 years and I have sought to pass these values to our kids and grandkids.

And I have always voted for Republicans for president. Not this year.

I have to say whenever I read this my 12 years experience as a RedState moderator sets of all kinds of warning bells. This is the typical opening of a concern troll in the comments section or a seminar caller on a talk show.

There is no way to verify how Akerson voted but what we can tell from his political donations is that while he has donated a pittance to Republicans, the overwhelming majority of his political spending is directed towards Democrats. While he has given $15,000 to the DNC and related DNC organizations he has never given a single red cent to the RNC or the Michigan GOP. All of this casts his claim to being a loyal Republican into question.

Be that as it may, let’s go back to the article.

The compelling rationale behind this decision: leadership. A good leader must demonstrate such qualities as competence, integrity, empathy, character and temperament. Hillary Clinton has these essential qualities. Donald Trump does not.
…
…Trump does none of that. While running a successful hotel business is honorable and hard work, there is no comparison to running a sophisticated global operation such as the U.S. government. Trump is simply not up to a job of this complexity.
…
Long ago, I learned an old Navy saying from a good friend and now-retired admiral: “Ship, shipmate, self.” This motto set the priorities for my life during my service. The civilian equivalent would be “country, fellow citizen, self.” As individuals and as a nation, we must aspire to serve the greater good. We must exhibit the empathy that places the greater good of the nation and its people above individual self-interest.

Unfortunately, Trump has appealed to the lowest common denominators in our society: prejudice, xenophobia and intolerance. He has mocked people with disabilities, tarred ethnic minorities, demeaned women and insulted religious leaders, including the pope.
…
By contrast, Clinton has been tested. She has demonstrated balance, calm and an even temperament. She has an unparalleled knowledge of foreign and economic policy; she has run complex organizations such as the State Department. Over the years, she has demonstrated that she can take criticism and work with even her most strident political opponents. Like other leaders, including myself, she has made mistakes. I believe she has learned from those mistakes. In my opinion, she is ready to be commander in chief on Day One.

Even though I agree with everything in Akerson’s critique of Trump, and I’ve written all of that and more on RedState this election season, his characterization of Hillary Clinton is, without doubt, the most bizarre and counterfactual excursion into Cloud Cuckoo Land that I’ve ever encountered. How can anyone with at lick of commonsense look at Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state and see integrity, honesty, competence, or the ability to take criticism. You can’t for the simple reason that none of those attributes can be found within her. You burn down your own credibility when you claim that Hillary Clinton has competence or temperament or is anything more than a self-aggrandizing grifter. If Donald Trump began self-identifying as female, he’d be a more entertaining and less somnolent Hillary Clinton.