Most people have already made up their minds what they will do if Trump is the GOP nominee, but I haven’t. Some have already decided they would vote for him over either of the Democrats, some have already decided they would sit out, some have already decided they would vote for the Democrat, or Michael Bloomberg, if he runs.
To me, all these options are on the table if Trump is the nominee. I will definitely give him a chance to convince me that he deserves my vote and would make a better President than Hillary (or Bloomberg). I will look at his demeanor, his temperament, I will watch to see what else he backtracks on in the general election, and I will see what he does to boost the conservative cause in general by helping other Republican candidates.
Incidents like last night’s infantile howling over Ben Sasse’s criticism push me strongly towards not only not voting for Trump, but actually voting for his opposition, whoever it might be. Ben Sasse is without a doubt a good conservative. No doubt Trump does not like the fact that Sasse is criticizing him, just like Ted Cruz probably does not like the fact that Orrin Hatch is criticizing him or Marco Rubio does not like Jeff Sessions criticizing him. Likewise, I am sure that Cruz was bitterly disappointed in Sarah Palin’s behavior towards him last week, which included not only endorsing Trump but cravenly sending her daughter out to write an absurd attack post against Cruz.
Let me tell you how grown adults handle this sort of thing: they brush it off. They politely say, “Well, I disagree with the esteemed former Governor of Alaska” and move on. They don’t react like this:
The great State of Nebraska can do much better than @BenSasse as your Senator. Saw him on @greta – totally ineffective. Wants paid for pols.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2016
.@BenSasse looks more like a gym rat than a U.S. Senator. How the hell did he ever get elected? @greta — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2016
If Trump intends to run his general election campaign by burning to the ground every Republican who does not agree with him or who has endorsed one of his opponents, including good conservative Republicans like Ben Sasse, then not only will he not get my vote, but I will do everything in my power to make sure that he suffers a historic loss. Worse than Mondale loss. I will start Republicans for Hillary PAC if I have to.
Donald Trump likes to constantly remind us all that he is the Republican front runner. Well, it’s time for him to graduate from diapers to Pull Ups and act like it. He’s going to take some heat from people along the way, not just Republicans but Democrats and Independents. And if he responds to each person who criticizes him by acting like a spoiled brat then not only does he deserve to lose, but he deserves to lose very badly – the kind of symbolic loss that sends a message to all the people who thought nominating a clown like him would be a good idea. We’ll pick up the pieces in 4 years and hopefully the country will still be here to fix. Look, I might well be convinced at the end of the day to hold my nose and vote for him – I did it for McCain, after all. But if he’s going to spend the next 10 months fighting against actual conservative Republicans, then I’m going to fight against him. I don’t make The Donald’s rules, I just play by them.
If Trump acts like a Republican front runner, and stays [at least allegedly] pro-life, and campaigns for other Republicans and just in general cleans up his act, I will vote for him. If he continues being a moronic oaf and/or backtracks on his promise that he’s pro-life, I’ll probably just stay home. If he keeps attacking and insulting other Republicans, I’ll vote Hillary and be glad about doing it.
Of course, there’s a pretty good chance that’s the entire point of the Donald Trump 2016 campaign.
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