Trump Wins the Lesser Evils Debate Every Time
Trump may be a bombastic playboy with no true moral center, but his ideology is decidedly non-existent. However ugly his behavior, Americans will choose him over a far-left vision every time.
This is the eighth issue of Self-Evident, the revamped Liberty Hawk Newsletter now migrated to Substack.
This issue is a re-printing of the November 9, 2019 newsletter first published at The Liberty Hawk.
Trump Wins the Lesser Evils Debate Every Time
If the Democrats would be willing to run on a “return to normal” platform, I don’t think Donald Trump would stand a chance. Even many of his erstwhile supporters are growing fatigued of the whirlwind news cycles, the constant and bitter tweeting, and the palace intrigue of the whole debacle. I’m pretty confident that a large portion of American voters would love to have a presidency that wasn’t in the headlines every day.
But a “return to normal” platform seems to be the farthest thing from the minds of prominent Democrats. Instead, they want to beat the drums of counter-revolution. While Bernie Sanders was a leftist outlier just a few years ago, nearly every Democratic candidate has placed themselves in his ideological orbit in one way or another.
Here’s some cold water on this socialistic progressive parade: step outside of the progressive coastal enclaves and the one thing that becomes very clear is, in a matchup between Donald Trump and a hard-left American future, Donald Trump wins.
Donald J. Trump may be a bombastic playboy with no true moral center, but his ideology is decidedly non-existent and his political goals are frankly juvenile. He is little more than a petty, small man who is playing a role for the entertainment of his base.
However ugly his behavior and however concerning the consequences of his unserious leadership, if the American electorate is faced once more with a “lesser of two evils” choice, they will choose him again.
If Democrats are betting that a large majority of Americans see Donald Trump as such an “existential threat” that they’ll be willing to “vote blue no matter who,” then they are once again demonstrating just how out-of-touch they are with a nation that remains largely center-right.
PS I myself have long abandoned concerns over lesser-of-two-evils considerations. If our major political parties choose to engage in a contest between the equally statist positions of socialism and nationalism, they can do so without my participation or consent. I will happily oppose both and endeavor to see each election concluded with a smaller percentage of consent and a weaker mandate of authority and legitimacy for the “lesser evil”.
I Guess We’re Still Fake News
In the previous newsletter, I mentioned the magical unicorn dust (or poop) that is holding large parts of the partisan electorate in a trance-like daze. What I was getting at was the absurd power to which so many voters grant narratives and talking points.
There’s this growing idea in both partisan camps that in order for a source of political news or opinion to be “on their side” it has to meet the narrative checkboxes (correctly saying shibboleth and all that). Kind of like how Fox News was the flagship of Right-wing Inc. until they dared released a poll that spoke counter to Trump’s triumphalism.
In other words, not only is political correctness still alive and well, but many so-called conservatives now march to their own new iteration of it. Stray but a little, and you will be labeled fake news.
Why do these culture warriors of the new right act so amazingly similar to the woke social justice warrior snowflakes who can’t handle different perspectives and spend most of their political capital virtue signaling? Well, it’s not like self-awareness is a thing right now.
Democrats Are Missing the Barn
Shortly after the 2016 election, I saw a moment where many centrists, independents, and Democrats were understanding the monstrosity the modern presidency had become as Donald Trump wielded its power in ways that horrified them. There was even a substantial uptick in the use and support of federalism and the checks and balances of our constitutional system.
I thought a great positive outcome could arise from the Trump era as a greater portion of Americans came to understand the presidency had grown far too powerful. I sensed, for a fleeting moment, a desire was welling up in the hearts of Americans to reel back the power of the presidency so that every election did not feel so damn consequential.
This moment, at least for now, has been eclipsed by Democrats who are entirely missing the barn. Their argument against Donald Trump isn’t any kind of corrective response to post-constitutionalism but an energetic declaration that he’s simply not abandoning constitutional values in the right way.
Every viable Democratic candidate, to one extent or another, would amount to a doubling down of the socialistic progressive policies that so many Americans rejected when they held their nose and voted for Donald Trump.
It’s becoming more and more apparent that, amazingly, Democrats may actually need another four years of Trump to learn the lessons they should have learned the night of November 8th, 2016.
Now, What Have You Got?
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Stay Free My Friends,
-Justin