Republican Party should be condemning Trump
Here’s the message that the Republican Party has a duty to deliver to its members.
We strive to recommend voting for good members of our party with the hope that they will honor its traditional tenets: limited government, minimizing taxation, preserving our nation as a beacon of freedom and opportunity. This year’s presidential election is the most important ever, to which we must give great thought.
It is with regret that we must make the unprecedented announcement that we cannot provide our imprimatur to Donald Trump.
First, we would note Mr. Trump is not a reliable conservative. It is hard to determine what his ideology is: is it what he says today, what he said yesterday, or what he will say tomorrow? He has a history of liberal activism and contributions to Democrats. He pledges support for Planned Parenthood. He savaged Republican President George W. Bush for “lying us into war” in Iraq. His positions change with the wind. He regards fact as mere opinion.
Trump bemoans the $19 trillion national debt, but his plans would vastly increase it. To beef up the military, make no changes to crumbling entitlements, and provide massive tax cuts cannot be accomplished. His anti-trade posture and threats which could provoke trade wars would bring about job loss and a negative jolt to the economy.
Trump became notorious for the consistent, bellicose call which began his campaign: to seize and deport 11 million illegal immigrants, stereotyping them as “drug dealers, criminals, and rapists.” Now, recognizing how offensive and impossible his original proposal was to implement, he is attempting to appear moderate and reasonable.
Trump initiated the offensive, racist “birther” movement, which sought to deny the presidency to a man he despised. He was proven wrong, but has not apologized.
Trump has attempted to “insult his way to the presidency” as Jeb Bush said. He has denigrated African-Americans, Muslims, women, and war heroes like John McCain, serving to minimize and tarnish his valor. He attacked the parents of a Muslim American who gave his life for our country, outrageously suggesting that the parents’ faith did not allow the mother to be speak publicly.
When someone challenges Trump, the thin-skinned nominee strikes back with rhetorical rage. The coarse and crude manner in which he speaks causes one to have to guard against their children watching him on television lest they believe that vulgarity and talk about one’s sexual prowess is accepted.
Trump proposes to enact a religious test to keep Muslims out of the country, having ludicrously asserted that all of Islam is at war with us. How, precisely, would this work, and what would such a test do to our reputation throughout the civilized world?
Remarkably, Trump has promised that all crime and violence will end when he is president and that store clerks will again say “Merry Christmas.”聽 Can he truly believe such absurdity? What an insult to our intelligence!
The candidate clearly references assassinating his opponent if she were elected, suggesting that “The Second Amendment people” might be able to do something to preclude a Hillary Clinton from selecting Supreme Court justices. Following this and other outrageous statements, he backs down when called on it, falsely asserting that he was joking or being sarcastic.
Trump rallies do not disparage attendees who express in the most vile terms their hatred and contempt for Hillary Clinton, immigrants, and others. Violence is stimulated by the candidate, who has expressed a fondness for the era in which those who caused trouble would be “carried out on a stretcher.”
He claimed that the primary election system was rigged against him … until he won the nomination. Now, with nothing to back it up, he levels the same charge vis-a-vis the general election, an assertion which would no doubt vanish if the people were sufficiently misguided as to elect him.
Prominent military leaders and those who have served in other capacities in Republican administrations have united to warn of the danger and calamity Donald Trump would pose in the Oval Office. GOP grand dame Barbara Bush has stated that she does not understand how any woman could vote for Donald Trump. Our allies are fearful of a Trump presidency.
What about the Supreme Court? We would first ask whether anyone who has heard the lies and distortions of Mr. Trump feels that his pledge to appoint conservative jurists can be relied upon. If a man who is unable to accept criticism should begin the final war, Supreme Court justice selections will be irrelevant. Do we want to hand the nuclear codes to someone who responds with threats to the slightest challenge, including his suggestion that libel laws should be given more teeth so that he could criminally charge media organizations that annoy him?
House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have sold out, endorsing Trump, putting the country last, setting aside principle simply because Trump has an ‘R’ after his name. We cannot join Messrs. Ryan and McConnell in abandoning our principles and our basic decency.
We have touched on but a few of the factors precluding our endorsing Donald Trump.
Vote for Hillary Clinton, a third-party candidate, or no one, but please demonstrate your patriotism and conscience by withholding your vote from the abomination who seeks to lead the free world.
Oren Spiegler is a resident of Upper Saint Clair Township.