Okay, before anything else, I’d like you to read this article by Gemma Hartley published at The Establishment entitled Abandoning Trump’s America Isn’t The Answer. The general thrust of the article is that liberals who (even jokingly) suggest they might emigrate if Trump becomes President should stay and fight the good fight. Here’s a key quote:
True allies to the marginalised communities that Trump disparages should think twice before flippantly mentioning running away. It is not a strong show of liberalism or morals, but rather a show of cowardice—or worse yet, apathy. If those who were once invested in the democratic process to this degree decide to up and leave, they are essentially saying they have no faith or interest in the future of the United States and the people who will go down with it.
I can’t fault the logic. Firstly, if Trump becomes President, protesting him becomes all the more necessary. Secondly, if Trump is so scary and dangerous, simple self-preservation dictates that the worst thing you can do is leave and make yourself a target of whatever batshit foreign policy he’s cooking up! Shit, if Trump wins I might move to America! I’d want to be as close to that crazy bastard as possible.
But the thing which really baffles me is this: Why are Left activists protesting Trump in the first place? Don’t get me wrong, there are obviously a shitload of reasons, and I’m sure you don’t need me to go through them again here. But bear with me. I’m going somewhere with this.
There are currently three candidates left in the running to be the Republican Presidential nominee; Trump, Cruz, and Kasich. Now, we can discount Kasich because…fuck it. Everybody else has. Though it probably shouldn’t, personality counts in elections and John Kasich has about as much personality as an Excel spreadsheet. That just leaves Trump and Cruz. Like it or not, one of these two is going to get the nomination. Based on my understanding of what Left activists want, it baffles me that they’re expending so much energy protesting Trump instead of Cruz. Cruz is by far the more dangerous candidate.
Firstly, I think Hillary has got the Democratic nomination all but sewn up at this point (Sorry Bernie Bros. I just call it like I see it) and Hillary will have a much easier time defeating Trump than Cruz. Trump has so many negatives to exploit that Hillary could run a different attack ad every day from now to the heat death of the universe and still have material to spare.
Secondly, for all Trump’s anti-women remarks, I doubt he cares that much about reproductive rights. It took him less than 2 hours to backpedal on his comment that women who get abortions should be punished. Cruz, on the other hand, is a committed pro-lifer. If Cruz gets in, he’s going to spend his four years doing everything he can to make access to abortion and contraceptives harder, not because he thinks it’ll play well with voters, but because he genuinely believes it’s the right thing to do. I predict that if Trump becomes President, he won’t do anything much to repeal Roe v Wade. If Cruz gets his way, by 2020 the average American woman’s nearest abortion clinic will probably be in Toronto.
The point is that, as anti-woman as Trump is, in terms of what I believe he is prepared to do, Cruz is even worse.
Thirdly, for Trump, this whole thing is an ego trip. He doesn’t care about governing. He just wants to strut around the White House while a brass band trails after him playing ‘Hail to the Chief’ while he ‘air-conducts’ with his tiny hands.
And does anyone really think Trump is more of a bigot than Ted Cruz? Personally, I think he’s probably less of bigot. With Trump, him being a con-man and all, there’s always a chance that he’s just blowing smoke, just saying whatever ugly shit he thinks will get him through the next debate or the next interview. Cruz, on the other hand, is perfectly sincere. Trump talks about building a wall because that idea resonates with a lot of voters. Cruz talks about building a wall (yes, he wants to build one too) because he really, truly, honestly believes it’s the right thing to do. Trump may also believe that, but there’s a chance he may not. With Cruz, there’s no question. There are two differences between Trump’s bigotry and Cruz’s bigotry. First, Cruz has been quieter about it. Second, Trump probably means it, Cruz definitely means it.
Trump’s comments on Muslim immigration are also pretty messed up but does anyone really think that a bona-fide religious lunatic like Ted Cruz will be any kinder to them?
It seems to me that, as bad as Trump is, he’s less objectionable than Cruz on just about every point of comparison. The only difference is that Trump is just more in-your-face offensive. He’s like a bad-tempered dog. Cruz is a snake. If Cruz was a Harry Potter character, he’d be in Slytherin sucking up to Draco Malfoy. Trump would be a blast-ended skrewt.
“I know words. I have the best words.”
In my opinion, Left activists would do better to devote all their resources to doing everything to ensure Cruz doesn’t get the nomination. He’d be a harder candidate to defeat, and an even more disastrous, more hawkish, more unstable President if he wins.
gospeloftrevor 