Donald Trump has drawn about the only Democratic candidate he could easily beat this year – Hillary Clinton.
For all the years each of us has had to choose between the lesser of two evils for president, this year takes the cake.
Both candidates’ negative ratings are in the stratosphere. Normally you can pretty reliably predict who’s going to win if either candidate has more than a 50 percent unfavorable rating. This year, each is well over 50 percent and Trump is past 60 percent. Of course the general election campaign hasn't started yet. Each can add to their unfavorability before the election.
People say Hillary lies, cheats and steals. Other say Trump is unfit and doesn’t have the temperament to be president. Oh, and he lies too.
You choose.
I’ve spoken to some Republican friends who are not fans of Trump. But, they will vote for him because they hate the Clintons. Other Republican friends won’t vote for Trump and are looking for a third-party alternative, like Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. The question about voting for a third-party candidate or writing in someone is – while it may be a vote against Hillary and Donald, is it a vote for something because no third-party is going to win the presidency? I have Democratic friends who will vote for Hillary while holding their noses. What a year.
At best, a third party, in its wildest imaginings, could throw the election into the House of Representatives and guess who you’d get then? Since Republicans are in the majority, you get Donald Trump. So you may as well choose and be part of the problem, I mean solution.
So is a third-party or write-in vote the answer? It may soothe your conscience that you didn’t vote for Hillary or Trump, but you probably then really voted for both of them.
It is a most difficult year to make up one’s mind. And it’s a most important year to make up one’s mind.
While some argue the Supreme Court is at stake, does anyone trust that Trump would name a conservative justice? The question there really is, can you trust Donald Trump who has lied time and time again? We know Hillary will name liberal justices. Do you vote for Donald, take an unfit candidate and a hope that he’ll appoint conservatives? Or do you take Hillary an untrustworthy candidate and accept liberal justices?
A horrible choice, but a choice we need to make because that’s, well, our choice.