One of the arguments that Trump fans make to try to shame principled conservatives into voting for their guy is the assertion that if we don’t vote for Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton will win the presidency. The Trump crowd ignores the overwhelming evidence that The Donald will likely not win a head-to-head matchup with Clinton.
On Monday, the legendary Neal Boortz (also known as “the Talkmaster”) subbed for Herman Cain on Cain’s syndicated radio show, based out of WSB in Atlanta. Cain often comes across as a Trump cheerleader, but Boortz is firmly in the #NeverTrump camp.
The Talkmaster invoked what he calls “Hamilton’s Rule” to make a compelling case against Trump. This axiom stems from a quote from Alexander Hamilton from the run-up to the 1800 election between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Hamilton said:
If we must have an enemy at the head of Government, let it be one whom we can oppose, and for whom we are not responsible, who will not involve our party in the disgrace of his foolish and bad measures.
The context is this: uber-Federalist Hamilton decided he would rather see his enemy Jefferson win the presidency in 1800 over nominal Federalist (FINO?) Adams. Hamilton knew that Federalists could make a better case for the future by railing against Jefferson than by having to explain away a second Adams term.
Boortz has mentioned “Hamilton’s Rule” many times before, and he’s not the only one on the Right doing so, either. But on Monday, he made his point loud and clear over the airwaves in reply to a caller who said that “we have one choice in November – Donald Trump”:
The next president is going to be a disaster, an abject disaster, whether it’s Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.
[…]
If it is Hillary Clinton, it will be their disaster, and you can sit there and point out what a disaster their president is and how we need to do something to recover from the disaster that is their president. If the disaster is Donald Trump, then you immediately have to start talking (if you do) about what a disaster our president, this guy we put into the White House is.
How are you then going to talk about the need for reform? How are you then going to talk about the need to return to more limited government, less government interference? How are you then going to talk about the need for big-time electoral change in the next election coming up in two years? How are you going to do that when you are the person who put the disaster in office in the first place?
[…]
If the next President of the United States is going to be a disaster, you want it to be their disaster, not yours, because then you can honestly, without embarrassment, without remorse, without having to share the blame, you can work to correct the problem.
If it’s your president, then the first thing you have to do is start apologizing and then convincing people to listen to you as you propose solutions.
The Talkmaster shared the unvarnished truth (or “painful truth,” to use his terminology) that a President Trump looks to be virtually indistinguishable from a President Hillary Clinton, so why should the Republicans have to answer for their man when they can go after the Democrats for the policies of their woman? It’s one of the most straightforward cases for the #NeverTrump movement I’ve heard.
We have options. The Libertarian candidates are looking more attractive than they have before, and there’s plenty of talk about a conservative third-party run. We don’t have to “fall in line” and vote for Donald Trump. And Alexander Hamilton has reminded us, by way of Neal Boortz, why Trump losing might not be such a bad thing.
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Image courtesy of Shutterstock.com / Janusz Pienkowski
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