A friend of mine recently wrote and said, “I am saddened you are voting Democrat.” Here’s my response in 10 bulletized statements. Much more could be said and has been said, so I want to keep this brief.
- I am not saddened to reject a person who paid hush money to cover up an affair with a porn star that occurred shortly after his son was born.
- As a father, husband and man, I am not saddened to reject a serial adulterer and convicted sexual predator known for sensibilities like “I moved on her like a b–ch,” and you can “grab them by the pu–y.”
- I am not saddened to reject an unsound person whose former Chief of Staff, two Defense Secretaries, National Security Advisor, and Vice President have said is unfit to be president again, dangerous, and ‘fascist to the core.’
- I am not saddened to reject a subversive person who has openly expressed a desire to terminate parts of the Constitution and has shown his willingness to act on it. He attempted to overturn a legitimate election by pressuring state officials to ‘find votes,’ orchestrating fake slates of electors to falsely certify his victory, instructing the vice president to block the certification of electoral votes, and ultimately inciting a mob to storm the Capitol.
- I am not saddened to reject a nascent authoritarian who suggested unleashing the military against “people within” because we “have some very bad people. We have some sick people. Radical left lunatic.” He then identified Pelosi and Schiff as “enemies within.”
- In sum, I am a Christ follower, privileged to be “Christ’s Ambassador (2 Cor 5:20),” hence I am not saddened to reject a Galatians 5:19-21 demagogue whose vileness, lawlessness, malevolence and provoking of grievances and rage is antithetical to that calling.
- And for those utilitarian friends less concerned about character and uprightness, I am not saddened to reject a candidate whose proposed economic policies, headlined by an asinine proposed tariff plan, would likely lead, according to a WSJ survey of leading economists, to worse inflation, deficits, and interest rates than his opponent. To wit: Trump’s policies would add an estimated 7.75 trillion to the U.S. deficit compared to an estimated 3.95 trillion by Harris’s policies, neither of which our nation can afford, as we are still reeling from the unprecedented 8.4 trillion deficit from Trump’s first term.
- Nor am I saddened to reject a candidate whose previous foreign policy merited an “F” through an ideological commitment to unilateralism and whose current vice-presidential candidate seeks Ukrainian surrender to Russia’s demands, including Russia’s retention of all conquered territory.
- Nor am I saddened to reject a candidate who torpedoed the recent bipartisan border bill, which would have given the president new legal authority to close the border and reform a broken asylum system, because he didn’t want to give the Democrats a “win.”
- Finally, I could still vote for a third party like I did in 2016. But this year, I’m voting for Harris in part because the sensibilities of Trump and his disciples that have hijacked the Republican party need to end. Our country needs a sane and virtuous conservative party. But before that can happen, the Maga spell born of outrage, anger, misinformation, and fear must be broken. And because none of the other arguments, whether about character or policy, seem to matter, a resounding defeat at the ballot box seems to be the only message they will receive.