We go through this every primary. Multiple Republicans and Democrats run for president, present themselves as the best candidate, attack their opponents, the field dwindles down until there’s only one winner and those who lost unite behind the candidate who won because as far as they’re concerned, it’s necessary to have a united front so that their party can win. Oftentimes, this means singing the praises of a candidate you previously called unfit for office. Heck, both Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton accurately described Barack Obama as too inexperienced to handle the presidency. They were right during the 2008 primary, but once Obama secured the nomination they sang a different tune.
The same thing happened with Trump in 2016. The 2016 GOP primary was a bitterly-fought battle with lots of casualties, and Trump emerged the victor. Afterward, most of the party united behind him. But, from the beginning, there were those skeptical of Trump, who believed him to be a New York liberal in disguise.
Heck, I was one of them.
Eventually, I got on board the Trump Train, but quite a few never did. You know who they are. They’re the token conservatives on CNN, MSNBC, and other networks who wouldn’t be there if they weren’t NeverTrumpers. They’re the people who were convinced Trump wasn’t a true conservative, but ignore his impressive record of reversing some of the worst policies of the Obama years and bringing about the robust economy that failed to materialize in the so-called Obama “recovery.”
Aside from making our economy strong again, Trump has proven his conservative bona fides repeatedly on issues such as abortion, gun rights, religious liberty, net neutrality, immigration, foreign policy, Obamacare, etc., etc., etc. Despite this record, these conservative skeptics remained unconvinced. Nothing he could do could convince them he did something right. Perhaps because they needed to keep their gigs at liberal networks. Who knows? But over the course of the past four years, these rabid anti-Trumpers have proven one thing: They aren’t Republicans.
How can you be a Republican and vote for Joe Biden? You can’t. Sure, you may not be comfortable with Trump’s style much of the time. I’m not always thrilled with it, either. Sure, you might think he should spend less time on Twitter. Yeah, I get that too. There are plenty of things I’m not thrilled with Trump on. I think the way he treats former members of his administration makes him look petty and gets him in trouble by incentivizing them to write salacious tell-alls and trash him on the news networks.
So, when Carly Fiorina, who ran for the GOP nomination in 2016 against Trump, said she planned to vote for Biden over Trump, I wasn’t totally surprised.
“As citizens, our vote is more than a check on a box. You know, it’s a statement about where we want to go, and I think what we need now actually is real leadership that can unify the country,” Fiorina said in an interview on The Atlantic‘s “The Ticket” podcast. “I am encouraged that Joe Biden is a person of humility and empathy and character. I think he’s demonstrated that through his life. And I think we need humility and empathy everywhere in public life right now. And I think character counts.”
What Joe Biden is she talking about? The same Joe Biden who told African American voters that Republican would put them back in chains? The same Joe Biden who said 10-15 percent of Americans are “just not very good people”? The same Joe Biden who accused Trump supporters of believing all Mexicans are rapists and that all Muslims are bad?
Does Carly Fiorina really see humility and character and a uniter in Joe Biden? Because I don’t see it. That’s a cop-out argument, used by many other NeverTrumpers as well, that is meant to cover-up one simple explanation of why they plan to support Biden over Trump: They are not Republicans.
You can’t be a Republican or a conservative and think a vote for Biden will set this country on a path in line with your conservative ideals. Joe Biden is not a centrist. Joe Biden won’t return us to “normal.” Simply put: there is no excuse for anyone who claims to be a conservative to support Joe Biden.
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Matt Margolis is the author of Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama’s Legacy and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
