Damned if You Do, or Damned if You Don’t?

Hillary and DonaldMy brother calls this election a choice between “The Unindicted and the Total Dickwad.” I can’t argue with that; wouldn’t be prudent. But my position as written in my 23 April, 2016 blog hasn’t changed one iota. I wrote “I want to be very clear. I will vote for the Republican nominee, no matter who that person is. We simply cannot afford 4-8 more years of this unmitigated national nightmare. I will hold my nose and pray, but the vote will be for the GOP….(I fear)…the numbers don’t add up. We could be headed for a Johnson-Goldwater debacle. If you are a Republican and care about your country, I implore you to commit yourself to stopping more progressive leftist destruction. To not vote is to open the door for Hillary.”

I have more than a few friends who think I am way too pessimistic. They see the coal miners, and unemployed manufacturing workers in the rust belt (to name two historically democrat-leaning constituencies) lining up behind Donald. They see polls showing more than 60% of our millennials not trusting Hillary. Some see a landslide in favor of Trump. Well, I don’t, but then again, I have been consistently wrong for months! (For proof, click here!)

Numbers, by the way, are not our friends. Check out this summary of registered Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. There are more of them than there are of us. Now you can take solace, I guess, in a massive amount of people who now call themselves independents. You can conclude (erroneously) that they are independents because they are fed up with everyone and everything that can be considered “establishment” and thus they are prime Trumpians. Alas, more independents are presently leaning toward Hillary than they are Donald.

“What about Johnson/Weld?” you say. Who? (click here for some background.) More than 60% of likely voters don’t know who they are, and only circa 15% even know Mr. Johnson is a former Governor. They have no money and will never hit the mainstream radar. They may be appealing, but they are political deadman walking. Making matters worse, given the fact that both Johnson and Weld are erstwhile Republicans, to the extent they do make a dent, it will more than likely inure to the benefit of Hillary.

The shame of it all is that if our nation’s future weren’t at stake, the next few months could probably prove to be massively entertaining. I mean, who knows what either of these candidates are capable of doing and saying? I do think Mr. Trump has a golden opportunity to pounce on Hillary’s pandering to the far left (in her effort to convince Bernie’s army to move into her camp.) Time will tell if he can effectively rope-a-dope her into a corner so far left that there is no return. I mean, she has actually gone there of her own volition. All Donald has to do is point out the lunacy of the things she has said and promised. Easier said than done. 

Shifting gears, here is an alternative viewpoint on why James Comey did what he did last week, when he announced that the FBI would not be recommending charges against Hillary Clinton. (See transcript here.) A contrarian school of thought is that by not recommending charges, Comey ensured that this dialogue will stay alive for months. Had he not made his thoughts public, the issue could have died with Attorney General Lynch. I doubt there is much credence to this theory, but I like it!

I’ve said it before and now I am saying it again. We are in uncharted waters. Anyone who tells you they know what will transpire between now and November is delusional. 

Buckle your seat belts. Its going to be a rough ride! The question regarding a vote for our GOP nominee is are we indeed damned if we do or damned if we don’t?

More to follow-