theamericanconservative--2020-10-26--Americans Must Render Judgment Against Joe Biden At The Polls

April 12 , 2016 in Washington , DC .
( Photo by Teresa Kroeger/Getty Images for World Food Program USA ) The election is right around the corner and , as expected , it is not without its share of bombshells .
The most recent bombshells were revealed by the NY Post , which detailed a web of emails and transactions allegedly involving Hunter Biden , Joe Biden , China , Ukraine , and others .
Despite the serious nature of these alleged “ transactions , ” Joe Biden has not been questioned about the troubling information .
Of course @ @ @ @ @ @ @ establishment , there is no reason for Joe Biden to address these reports .
Specifically , if Biden is elected ( and Democrats retain the House and gain control of the Senate ) , the establishment could control Biden ’ s future whether or not he is implicated in any wrongdoing .
Therefore , if Biden is implicated , this will only really matter if he loses the election .
As such , to prevent a possible miscarriage of justice , Americans must render judgment and punish Biden at the polls .
Let @ @ @ @ @ @ @ authentic ( it now appears that they are ) , that the sources are all credible , and that Joe and Hunter Biden were engaged in criminal or other nefarious conduct .
If Joe Biden is elected president in November , the left-wing establishment can approach Biden ’ s potential wrongdoing in several ways .
On one hand , the left-wing Establishment can take the position that Biden ’ s alleged wrongdoing can not result in his indictment while he is president , as this would “ undermine the capacity of the executive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” This is not set in stone , however , and would possibly be legally challenged .
It would also be contrary to the position that many Democrats took with respect to President Trump .
They could also argue that Biden ’ s conduct is not impeachable because a president can not be impeached for conduct that occurred before he took office .
Therefore , if Democrats maintained control of the House , impeachment could be a non-starter even if Biden was involved in any wrongdoing .
On the other hand , Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ opening for Democrats to remove him from office and to replace him with Kamala Harris , who would be next-in-line .
This is not outside the realm of possibility , as many believe that Biden is merely a conduit for an eventual Harris presidency .
This position is bolstered by Nancy Pelosi ’ s recent press conference regarding the formation of a commission that would allow Congress to oust a president from office , using the 25th Amendment .
Many considered this to be a preview of the left ’ s plans to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
While the information about Joe and Hunter Biden is highly relevant to Joe Biden ’ s fitness to serve as president , the Democratic Establishment and its various left-wing mouthpieces have no reason to address it and every reason to avoid it .
After all , if Joe Biden is elected president and Democrats retain the House and take control of the Senate , any action against Joe Biden is unlikely until after his term as president expires ( or at all ) unless there is an attempt to prosecute a sitting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , even if Biden ’ s conduct is found to be improper or illegal , Democrats could ultimately decide whether or not to impeach him so long as they maintain control of the House ( removal , of course , would depend on who controls the Senate ) .
If they chose to do so , Harris would become president , which is in line with what many on the left seem to desire .
In reality , the most significant impact that the recent bombshells could have is on voters , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ address them and why the left-wing media and debate “ moderators ” have not questioned him about them .
While the moderator briefly brought the issue up last night , she also interrupted the president regularly when he tried to press Biden about the damning reports .
It is also why tech giants like Twitter and Facebook have joined in blocking the NY Post and others from disseminating the information .
If Biden can simply get through the next week or so without addressing the damning NY Post stories , he might be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ temporarily ) if he is elected .
Of course , recent polling shows a shift against Biden since the NY Post ’ s articles .
Therefore , Biden is playing with fire and taking a chance by failing to address the allegations head-on .
As was evident in last week ’ s debate , Biden ’ s response to the bombshell reports included the all-too-often utilized Russia disinformation defense , a blanket denial ( “ not true ” ) , and that he did not get any money from foreign countries ( this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t receive such payments which were subsequently “ shared ” with Biden ) .
While the recent bombshell reports against Joe and Hunter Biden are very serious and warrant further investigation , they will be most impactful and significant if Joe Biden loses the election .
Given that they were released so close to election day , it is doubtful that any significant legal action , if warranted , will be taken against the former vice-president prior to November 3rd .
As such , it is up to the American public to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conduct at the polls .
If they don ’ t , and if Democrats have a strong showing at the polls , the allegations involving Joe and Hunter Biden could become yet another set of disturbing allegations that go unpunished .
Elad Hakim is a writer , commentator and a practicing attorney .
His articles have been published in The Washington Examiner , The Daily Caller , The Federalist , The Epoch Times , The Western Journal , American Thinker and other online publications .

The election is right around the corner and, as expected, it is not without its share of bombshells. The most recent bombshells were revealed by the NY Post, which detailed a web of emails and transactions allegedly involving Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, China, Ukraine, and others. Despite the serious nature of these alleged “transactions,” Joe Biden has not been questioned about the troubling information. Of course, from the perspective of the Democratic establishment, there is no reason for Joe Biden to address these reports.
Specifically, if Biden is elected (and Democrats retain the House and gain control of the Senate), the establishment could control Biden’s future whether or not he is implicated in any wrongdoing. Therefore, if Biden is implicated, this will only really matter if he loses the election. As such, to prevent a possible miscarriage of justice, Americans must render judgment and punish Biden at the polls.
Let’s assume that the emails are authentic (it now appears that they are), that the sources are all credible, and that Joe and Hunter Biden were engaged in criminal or other nefarious conduct. If Joe Biden is elected president in November, the left-wing establishment can approach Biden’s potential wrongdoing in several ways.
On one hand, the left-wing Establishment can take the position that Biden’s alleged wrongdoing cannot result in his indictment while he is president, as this would “undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions.” This is not set in stone, however, and would possibly be legally challenged. It would also be contrary to the position that many Democrats took with respect to President Trump. They could also argue that Biden’s conduct is not impeachable because a president cannot be impeached for conduct that occurred before he took office. Therefore, if Democrats maintained control of the House, impeachment could be a non-starter even if Biden was involved in any wrongdoing.
On the other hand, Biden’s potential wrongdoing could provide an opening for Democrats to remove him from office and to replace him with Kamala Harris, who would be next-in-line. This is not outside the realm of possibility, as many believe that Biden is merely a conduit for an eventual Harris presidency. This position is bolstered by Nancy Pelosi’s recent press conference regarding the formation of a commission that would allow Congress to oust a president from office, using the 25th Amendment. Many considered this to be a preview of the left’s plans to remove Biden should he win in November.
While the information about Joe and Hunter Biden is highly relevant to Joe Biden’s fitness to serve as president, the Democratic Establishment and its various left-wing mouthpieces have no reason to address it and every reason to avoid it. After all, if Joe Biden is elected president and Democrats retain the House and take control of the Senate, any action against Joe Biden is unlikely until after his term as president expires (or at all) unless there is an attempt to prosecute a sitting president based on sufficient evidence. Moreover, even if Biden’s conduct is found to be improper or illegal, Democrats could ultimately decide whether or not to impeach him so long as they maintain control of the House (removal, of course, would depend on who controls the Senate). If they chose to do so, Harris would become president, which is in line with what many on the left seem to desire.
In reality, the most significant impact that the recent bombshells could have is on voters, which is why Biden has chosen not to address them and why the left-wing media and debate “moderators” have not questioned him about them. While the moderator briefly brought the issue up last night, she also interrupted the president regularly when he tried to press Biden about the damning reports. It is also why tech giants like Twitter and Facebook have joined in blocking the NY Post and others from disseminating the information.
If Biden can simply get through the next week or so without addressing the damning NY Post stories, he might be able to put them to rest (temporarily) if he is elected. Of course, recent polling shows a shift against Biden since the NY Post’s articles. Therefore, Biden is playing with fire and taking a chance by failing to address the allegations head-on. As was evident in last week’s debate, Biden’s response to the bombshell reports included the all-too-often utilized Russia disinformation defense, a blanket denial (“not true”), and that he did not get any money from foreign countries (this does not mean that his family didn’t receive such payments which were subsequently “shared” with Biden).
While the recent bombshell reports against Joe and Hunter Biden are very serious and warrant further investigation, they will be most impactful and significant if Joe Biden loses the election. Given that they were released so close to election day, it is doubtful that any significant legal action, if warranted, will be taken against the former vice-president prior to November 3rd. As such, it is up to the American public to penalize Biden for his alleged involvement and conduct at the polls. If they don’t, and if Democrats have a strong showing at the polls, the allegations involving Joe and Hunter Biden could become yet another set of disturbing allegations that go unpunished.
Elad Hakim is a writer, commentator and a practicing attorney. His articles have been published in The Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The Federalist, The Epoch Times, The Western Journal, American Thinker and other online publications.


theamericanconservative--2020-10-26--The Anti-Catholic Attacks on William Barr

The New York Review of Books runs a scurrilous piece on the attorney general that takes apart not his record but his faith .
U.S. Attorney General William Barr testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in the Congressional Auditorium at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center July 28 , 2020 in Washington , DC .
( Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images ) The November 5 issue of the New York Review of Books contains a scurrilous anti-Catholic screed masquerading as a critique of U.S. Attorney General William Barr .
Let it be said that the New York Review has declined appreciably @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of its co-founder and longtime editor Robert Silvers .
Even so , the paper remains a useful indicator of trends in left-leaning American intellectual life .
So the willingness of the current editors to run a drive-by attack on Roman Catholicism is at least worth noting .
The screed ’ s author is Fintan O ’ Toole , an Irish journalist availing himself of the apparently universal prerogative of commenting critically on the American political scene .
( Do Argentine journalists opine about Irish politics ?
Do Nigerian writers weigh in regarding the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but for some reason Americans politics are like football , i.e .
soccer—it ’ s a game that attracts a worldwide following . )
I am no fan of the attorney general and my contempt for his boss is boundless .
Yet as a Catholic , I have with age acquired an acute sensitivity to the persistence of the anti-Catholicism that survives in certain pockets of the intelligentsia .
O ’ Toole ’ s essay offers a case in point .
O ’ Toole depicts Barr as Donald Trump ’ s “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s principal henchman , he is allowing “ the transition from republican democracy to authoritarianism , ” a process now well underway in Washington .
Indeed , according to O ’ Toole , “ rescuing ” America “ from the decadence of progressivism and restoring authoritarian rule ” describes Barr ’ s life ’ s work .
It defines “ what Barr has always wanted to do to the United States.
” What has inspired Barr to his life ’ s calling ?
O ’ Toole offers two answers .
The first centers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jewish convert to Catholicism who spent the bulk of his professional career as a headmaster at prestigious private schools .
For O ’ Toole , the key to understanding the elder Barr is his 1973 science fiction novel Space Relations .
O ’ Toole describes the book as “ atrocious , ” “ unreadable , ” “ wacky , ” and “ demented.
” Yet he also says it reveals great truths .
The father ’ s sci-fi novel provides an interpretive lens through which to understand the son .
Space Relations “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ themes that bear heavily on William Barr ’ s present position as Trump ’ s most formidable enabler.
” Prominent among those themes are “ the legacy of slavery , Catholic sexual dogma , and the proper response to revolt from below.
” For O ’ Toole , Space Relations testifies to the nuttiness that is at the core of Catholicism .
Has William Barr read his father ’ s novel ?
Did it make a lasting impression ?
O ’ Toole either doesn ’ t know or won ’ t say , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ As “ a probe launched from conservative , white male America into the strange inner worlds of its own psyche , ” Space Relations provides a perfect vehicle to understand what makes William Barr tick .
The second answer to what makes him tick builds on the first : Catholicism itself .
Indeed , O ’ Toole finds a “ very strong connection between Donald Barr ’ s hard-line Catholicism and William Barr ’ s present position as the main ( perhaps the sole ) intellectual buttress of Trump ’ s presidency.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ preference for authoritarianism .
The Church , according to O ’ Toole , is anti-democratic .
At least implicitly , therefore , it is anti-American .
“ Authoritarian rule , ” O ’ Toole writes , “ is a defining feature of hierarchical institutional Catholicism.
” Rome issues orders and the people in the pews ostensibly obey , O ’ Toole cites “ the bans on contraception , divorce , abortion , homosexual sex , and same-sex marriage ” as examples of the Church ’ s authoritarian rule .
As a description of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presided over the Archdiocese of New York and Richard Cardinal Cushing served as the longtime kingpin in the Archdiocese of Boston , O ’ Toole ’ s characterization may have borne some correlation with reality .
Over a half-century after the Second Vatican Council , in the aftermath of the clergy sex abuse scandal , and during the pontificate of Francis I , it is laughably out of date .
Deference to the hierarchy is not , to put it mildly , a defining characteristic of contemporary Roman Catholicism , especially in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Catholic , according to O ’ Toole , Barr is ipso facto an advocate of authoritarianism , asserting “ the rights of a quasi-papal presidency.
” As a Catholic , Barr is intent on reinstituting “ moral absolutism.
” As a Catholic , he seeks “ to delegitimize the republican view of democracy.
” As a Catholic filling the office of U.S. attorney general , he will “ lie to the American people ” and “ flout the very principles he claims to uphold.
” He will also use the power of his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ religious persuasion from going to the polls .
“ To suppress those votes , ” O ’ Toole concludes , will be “ to uphold the authority not just of Donald Trump , but of God.
” I can ’ t say for sure if Barr is intent on doing any of these things .
Maybe he is , although it ’ s not my impression that God and President Trump are playing for the same team .
What I do know is this : to attribute Barr ’ s worldview and his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ identity as a Catholic is sheer bigotry .
That the New York Review of Books would open its pages to such patently offensive nonsense is more than passing strange .
Could it be that the editors agree ?

The November 5 issue of the New York Review of Books contains a scurrilous anti-Catholic screed masquerading as a critique of U.S. Attorney General William Barr. Let it be said that the New York Review has declined appreciably in prestige and clout since the death of its co-founder and longtime editor Robert Silvers. Even so, the paper remains a useful indicator of trends in left-leaning American intellectual life. So the willingness of the current editors to run a drive-by attack on Roman Catholicism is at least worth noting.
The screed’s author is Fintan O’Toole, an Irish journalist availing himself of the apparently universal prerogative of commenting critically on the American political scene. (Do Argentine journalists opine about Irish politics? Do Nigerian writers weigh in regarding the latest doings in Dublin? Probably not, but for some reason Americans politics are like football, i.e. soccer—it’s a game that attracts a worldwide following.)
I am no fan of the attorney general and my contempt for his boss is boundless. Yet as a Catholic, I have with age acquired an acute sensitivity to the persistence of the anti-Catholicism that survives in certain pockets of the intelligentsia. O’Toole’s essay offers a case in point.
O’Toole depicts Barr as Donald Trump’s “Enabler in Chief.” As Trump’s principal henchman, he is allowing “the transition from republican democracy to authoritarianism,” a process now well underway in Washington. Indeed, according to O’Toole, “rescuing” America “from the decadence of progressivism and restoring authoritarian rule” describes Barr’s life’s work. It defines “what Barr has always wanted to do to the United States.”
What has inspired Barr to his life’s calling? O’Toole offers two answers. The first centers on Barr’s father, a Jewish convert to Catholicism who spent the bulk of his professional career as a headmaster at prestigious private schools. For O’Toole, the key to understanding the elder Barr is his 1973 science fiction novel Space Relations.
O’Toole describes the book as “atrocious,” “unreadable,” “wacky,” and “demented.” Yet he also says it reveals great truths. The father’s sci-fi novel provides an interpretive lens through which to understand the son. Space Relations “deals in a usefully unguarded way with themes that bear heavily on William Barr’s present position as Trump’s most formidable enabler.” Prominent among those themes are “the legacy of slavery, Catholic sexual dogma, and the proper response to revolt from below.” For O’Toole, Space Relations testifies to the nuttiness that is at the core of Catholicism.
Has William Barr read his father’s novel? Did it make a lasting impression? O’Toole either doesn’t know or won’t say, and obviously doesn’t care. As “a probe launched from conservative, white male America into the strange inner worlds of its own psyche,” Space Relations provides a perfect vehicle to understand what makes William Barr tick.
The second answer to what makes him tick builds on the first: Catholicism itself. Indeed, O’Toole finds a “very strong connection between Donald Barr’s hard-line Catholicism and William Barr’s present position as the main (perhaps the sole) intellectual buttress of Trump’s presidency.” The essence of that connection is a preference for authoritarianism. The Church, according to O’Toole, is anti-democratic. At least implicitly, therefore, it is anti-American.
“Authoritarian rule,” O’Toole writes, “is a defining feature of hierarchical institutional Catholicism.” Rome issues orders and the people in the pews ostensibly obey, O’Toole cites “the bans on contraception, divorce, abortion, homosexual sex, and same-sex marriage” as examples of the Church’s authoritarian rule.
As a description of American Catholicism back when Francis Cardinal Spellman presided over the Archdiocese of New York and Richard Cardinal Cushing served as the longtime kingpin in the Archdiocese of Boston, O’Toole’s characterization may have borne some correlation with reality. Over a half-century after the Second Vatican Council, in the aftermath of the clergy sex abuse scandal, and during the pontificate of Francis I, it is laughably out of date. Deference to the hierarchy is not, to put it mildly, a defining characteristic of contemporary Roman Catholicism, especially in the United States.
Yet as a committed Catholic, according to O’Toole, Barr is ipso facto an advocate of authoritarianism, asserting “the rights of a quasi-papal presidency.” As a Catholic, Barr is intent on reinstituting “moral absolutism.” As a Catholic, he seeks “to delegitimize the republican view of democracy.” As a Catholic filling the office of U.S. attorney general, he will “lie to the American people” and “flout the very principles he claims to uphold.” He will also use the power of his office to prevent citizens not sharing his religious persuasion from going to the polls. “To suppress those votes,” O’Toole concludes, will be “to uphold the authority not just of Donald Trump, but of God.”
I can’t say for sure if Barr is intent on doing any of these things. Maybe he is, although it’s not my impression that God and President Trump are playing for the same team. What I do know is this: to attribute Barr’s worldview and his actions as attorney general entirely to his identity as a Catholic is sheer bigotry. That the New York Review of Books would open its pages to such patently offensive nonsense is more than passing strange. Could it be that the editors agree?
Andrew Bacevich is TAC’s writer-at-large.


theamericanconservative--2020-10-27--The American Conservative 2020 Presidential Symposium

Readers of my blog have been convinced for a long time that they know how I ’ m going to vote this fall , despite my public agonizing over it .
The liberals are sure I ’ m going to vote for Trump in the end , and the conservatives believe that I ’ m going to vote for Biden .
They can ’ t imagine that anybody is conflicted .
Well , I have been .
Donald Trump has been a lousy president .
He was given so many opportunities to advocate for real populist reform , especially on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ delivered .
His presidency has been consumed by his narcissism and chaos .
It is hard for any actual policy ideas to gain traction in the Trump-dominated environment .
To his credit , though , he has nominated good judges , and though this is perhaps the soft bigotry of low expectations , he hasn ’ t started any new wars .
The case for Trump , at least to me , is about him standing as the last bulwark against the woke left taking over the federal government , and using its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That ’ s not nothing .
What ’ s more , I believe that over the next couple of decades , as the American populace moves further to the left—that is , as the Boomers die out , and the much more liberal Millennials and Gen Z gain more power—the federal judiciary is going to be the last line of defense of First Amendment liberties , religious liberty in particular .
There have been times when I have considered voting for Biden just to get Trump out of office .
On the right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to have the serious and necessary conversations about reform populism until Trump goes , because he sucks up all the air in the room .
I want serious populist political voices—for example , Sen. Josh Hawley ’ s , Tucker Carlson ’ s , and J.D .
Vance ’ s—to have a chance to be heard , and to lead the right .
Plus , I long for stability in the White House .
Having said that , it is very , very hard to justify giving any power to Biden , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ endorses the radicalism of his party ’ s extreme on social issues .
And yet : four more years of Trump , and his QAnon crackpottery , could cause the right to be fully discredited and exiled from power for many years .
A vote against Trump would be , for me , a vote to give the real populist right a chance .
But is that kind of strategic voting sensible ?
I haven ’ t voted in a presidential race since 2004 , because I am so alienated from both parties @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on social and cultural issues , but more to the left on economic policy , in the sense of wanting the government to do more for workers and ordinary people , and wishing that the GOP were not so much in thrall to its donor class .
I ’ m a Tucker Carlson/J.D .
Vance conservative .
It ’ s easy for me to withhold my vote , living as I do in Louisiana , a red state that is going to go for Trump .
But I am tired of not voting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ myself to make a decision , and live with it .
Fortunately , when I looked recently at the Louisiana ballot , I discovered that the American Solidarity Party was on the presidential line—that is , its nominee Brian Carroll and his running mate Amar Patel .
When I read the platform of the ASP , I found that I didn ’ t agree with everything , but the overwhelming majority of its pro-family , Christian Democratic ( in the European sense ) policies I could endorse .
I realized that 2020 will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that I can cast a presidential vote for a candidate and his party , as opposed to against the greater of two Republicrat evils .
So that ’ s what I plan to do , while voting Republican for Senator Bill Cassidy , and for U.S. Representative Garrett Graves .
Brian Carroll won ’ t win , but I can not pass up the chance to show my support for a party that actually represents the full spectrum of my views as a conservative Christian .
To be honest , if I were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t know that I would do this .
I probably would , though , because it ’ s unusual to experience voting as an act of civic affirmation , instead of civic despair , and I would like to do that at least once in my life .
Having been told countless times that any conservative committed to his principles must denounce Donald Trump , I find mine telling me the only honest thing to do is embrace him .
I do not believe the people who tell me that if Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a normal that was overrated in any case by all the people who have lost their minds since 2016 , if not by Iraqis or Libyans .
There is no normal after the FBI and intelligence community initiates a spurious investigation of the incoming president at the behest of the outgoing White House , or after Congress tries to impeach that same president based on accusations that match Joe Biden ’ s activities much more closely than Trump ’ s .
Don ’ t let anyone tell you the latter is responsible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The most substantial thing a voter has a say about this November is whether they wish to approve or disapprove of all this .
I disapprove of it .
Whatever the disappointments of this administration , or however most Republicans differ from my ideal views about the economy or international relations , or however one finds him personally unpleasant , if one wishes to choose the lesser of two evils , it seems obvious to me that that is Trump , whether or not one agrees with any positive case for him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the CIA , Wall Street , the Atlantic Council , Bill Kristol , China , and big tech , pick the other one .
It ’ s not complicated .
Please , America , for the sake of the republic , do not reward these people by putting Joe Biden in the White House .
Giving these people the confidence of having gotten away with it is a bad precedent , and an invitation to consolidate their power further .
That ’ s why this November I hope Americans vote to wipe that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ America ’ s most powerful Gus Hall voter , as I intend to do .
The 2020 presidential election is being hyped as the most important ever .
I suppose it might be if a contested outcome poses a threat to the constitutional order .
It grieves me to say that such a possibility can not be completely discounted .
But if ( as expected ) Joe Biden wins and if ( as all patriotic citizens must hope ) a peaceful transfer of power occurs , then the 2024 presidential election rather than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up being the pivotal one .
Biden is unlikely to be a transformational president .
He ’ s too old and too much a creature of the establishment .
The most we can hope for from a Biden presidency is that it will keep the ship of state from capsizing .
Addressing the pandemic and restoring economic growth will absorb administration energies and attention .
Progressives will demand more , of course , but once Biden is in the White House , they will find themselves obliged to bide their time .
Meanwhile @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the post-Trump GOP .
If it remains loyal to the ex-president , it will forfeit any possibility of returning to power in the foreseeable future .
The party may simply disintegrate .
My bet is that Republicans will turn away from Trump ( as some are already doing ) and seek new leaders committed to a new conception of conservatism .
Should that occur , then 2024 could see a showdown between progressive Democrats with lots of pent-up energy and a new cohort of Republicans who have rediscovered conservative principles .
That would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Andrew J. Bacevich is president of the Quincy Institute and TAC ‘ s writer-at-large .
I ’ m voting for Donald Trump .
I think he ’ s been a C + president , unprepared to effectively staff his executive branch , overly reliant on cronies and family , his most important campaign promises unfulfilled .
He might have constructed a Trumpian congressional majority in 2017-2018 but failed to do so .
Earlier this year I donated to Klobuchar and Yang , and was inclined to support any kind of centrist Democrat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at least nudged the GOP in good directions ( and away from the Bush-Cheney-McCain style of warmongering ) and that a more disciplined and savvy nationalist-conservative GOP candidate might emerge during the next cycle .
In a long voting history , I ’ ve voted for Democrats about half the time .
But the summer of George Floyd changed that .
The poisonous spawn of left-wing academia—critical race theory , a Marxist offshoot which defines America and essentially all Western societies as irredeemably evil , found suddenly a comfortable home in the Democratic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ elite liberal institutions .
Suddenly every platform—CNN , the Times , Democratic leaders , the Twitter mob , the big name universities , were screaming in unison : cops are racist killers , looters and arsonists are to be celebrated as peaceful protesters , every notable white male figure in American history deserves to be trashed—and if they happened to have a statue commemorating them , literally .
I shudder to think what will happen when these mobs have the levers of the federal government behind them .
Of course we all know @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” But he is clearly on the edge of senility , and in Kamala Harris he chose , of all possibilities to succeed him , probably in the year or two , the most mob friendly possibility he could .
It was Harris who solicited bail funds on social media for the looters and arsonists before the fires were extinguished in Minneapolis , it was Harris who in mid-June after billions of dollars of damage had been inflicted told an interviewer the “ protests…are not going to let up and should not.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not find it within herself to condemn the ripping down of a Christopher Columbus statue in Baltimore : “ People will do what they do , ” she said .
A younger Biden might have chosen otherwise .
He could have picked Klobuchar ; Elizabeth Warren has at least a track record of intellectually serious economics based liberalism .
But whatever mysterious process guides Biden ’ s decisions at this stage of his life landed on a woman who bombed as a presidential candidate and represents little besides wokeism—she had actually charged Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unpopular and educationally ineffective regime of forced busing during the ’ 70s .
While this is not true of all Democrats , the party in the main now stands for an enforced lie , about race relations in America , about American history , about the legitimacy of the American experiment .
Trump , for all his failings , does not .
I ’ m voting for President Trump , the only president since the Berlin Wall fell who hasn ’ t started a war .
Donald Trump has advanced the conservatism that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trade , immigration , and foreign policy—and has been the most reliable president since Ronald Reagan ( or ever ) for bedrock conservative concerns about taxes , judges , and the right to life .
Neocons who have rebranded as “ NeverTrump ” want wavering voters to put personality over policy .
This is how they sold George W. Bush to the GOP , too , with genocidal consequences for the Christians of the Middle East .
No one of conscience should listen to them .
Joe Biden himself voted for the Iraq @ @ @ @ @ @ @ campaigned as a critic of the war , nonetheless was convinced by the liberal interventionists with whom he surrounded himself to go to war in Libya , and nearly to do so in Syria .
A Biden administration will be packed with the same liberals and led down the same path : if even the “ antiwar ” Obama wouldn ’ t resist them , the Biden who voted to invade Iraq surely will not .
By contrast , Trump ignored John Bolton ’ s warmongering advice , and Trump ’ s recent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sort of people TAC has always wanted to see in policy roles—indeed , some are TAC writers .
Libertarian non-interventionists and independent minds on the antiwar left have every reason to support Trump over Biden , if actual policy counts for more than intellectual prestige .
There are too many think-tank critics of U.S. foreign policy whose realism is only academic .
Be brave , do the right thing , and re-elect the president who has delivered peace .
Daniel McCarthy is editor of Modern Age and TAC editor-at-large .
Some 60 percent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a viable third party but then turn around and won ’ t vote for one because , in a self-fulfilling prophecy , voting third party somehow means the worst two party candidate ends up winning .
Third party fails because we don ’ t trust it enough to give it the votes it needs to succeed .
Democrats , from the Obamas on down , tell me I would be wrong to vote third party again , naive , a closet Putin supporter .
The wrong guy will have the nuclear codes , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Armageddon .
Hard to build a movement around possible responsibility for ending life on earth .
I guess I can stay home , the functional equivalent of hiding out in the monastery coloring in manuscripts while medieval society devolves around me .
Hmm , sounds like another plague out there , better close the window .
But if I vote Biden/Harris I am endorsing the rally call of the Democratic Party against change .
But if I vote Trump I am telling the Democrats they failed , again , and they may realize @ @ @ @ @ @ @ party in 2024 or they will functionally no longer exist , pretend opponents like those teams who played against the Harlem Globetrotters years ago .
A Trump win could be a wake up call to the Democratic establishment that they have to deal with real desire for change , not ignore voters , or try to scare us into abandoning our conscience by again trading short term goals for long term progress .
Dismissing such a vote as only sending a message dismisses the importance of the message .
For those who support @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , please , vote that way .
But don ’ t disparage others of us for believing we can do better .
Too many have accepted , election after election , the long con .
Give an even longer view a chance .
Democratic primary voters deserve our gratitude for making the choice this November so easy .
The Biden/Harris ( or is it Harris/Biden ? )
ticket is thoroughly awful .
Its embrace of the full spectrum of woke culture war positions , abortion chief among them , is immediately disqualifying .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to despise !
They ’ ve got the fervent backing of our Silicon Valley oligarchy , and these past few weeks have shown exactly how our tech overlords plan to wield their unprecedented power against political opponents .
Delaware Joe ’ s cozy history with his home state ’ s credit card companies doesn ’ t exactly portend that he ’ ll be much of a crusader against unchecked corporate power once in the office he ’ s always coveted .
Add in the parade of Iraq war architects lining up to endorse @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a perfect storm of the worst people in our politics supporting the Democratic ticket .
No thanks .
So what of the uncouth New York businessman on the other side of the ballot ?
I find hysteria over Trump ’ s behavior tiresome .
Of course he ’ s a terrible role model for my children .
We ’ ve known this for decades .
He ’ s a rude vulgarian whose impulses are consistently handicapping his better political instincts .
I won ’ t defend his behavior , or his many dubious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s past time we get beyond the man himself and look at the bigger picture .
In the five short years since announcing his candidacy , Donald Trump has shattered a multitude of stale , outdated , counterproductive GOP conventions .
The right is finally having conversations about which foreign , economic , and immigration policies actually benefit the American people—not the global managerial class .
A Trump second term would help ensure the right continues to move in this direction , instead of snapping back to the discredited pre-2016 consensus of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the rootless ruling class that yearns to return to those days has invaded my home state of Virginia , effectively rendering my vote moot .
But nevertheless , I will cast my ballot for Donald Trump , in a feeble attempt to remind those recent residents that we few relics of the old Old Dominion remain .
Emile Doak is TAC ‘ s vice president of advancement and programs .
Sitting in a corner sipping a beer from an appropriate social distance , I witnessed a familiar scene for a thousandth time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ table , with a young man and woman interrogating a third friend , a fellow I gathered served in a branch of the armed forces , about his support for President Donald Trump .
The interrogators rehashed a number of arguments that were already stale in 1972 , with Saul Alinksy conspicuously replaced with “ that ’ s not okay.
” The Trump supporter largely refused to play along , sitting stoically and staring at his beer while his friends informed him of their righteousness , sounding as much as a bad parody @ @ @ @ @ @ @ totally secularized ) as stereotypical liberal college students .
While far weightier issues are at stake , I suspect this election will be decided in part by voters who hope that Trump ’ s disappearance would mean the end of his exhausting political discourse versus those who fear this kind of inquisition will be a permanent feature of American life and that even fairly benign Democrats will offer no resistance to the coming Truth and Reconciliation Commission .
Trump has actually exceeded my meager expectations .
I anticipated that Rudy Giuliani would be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ neoconservative foreign policy , rather than on a search for Hunter Biden ’ s emails or hanging out with Borat .
Despite Mike Pompeo ’ s best Giuliani impression , there has been no war with Iran .
The Trump years have made Tucker Carlson more influential on the right than Bill Kristol , diminished ( admittedly only after attempting to enhance ) John Bolton ’ s standing among conservatives , and sent many a neocon back to their ancestral Democratic homes while getting partisan Republicans to talk about the imperative of ending @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this is , however , it is not as good as , you know , actually ending the wars .
Pompeo , Tom Cotton , and Nikki Haley are better positioned to succeed Trump while the president has destroyed Jeff Sessions ’ s career .
Perhaps Trump has finally realized that personnel is policy .
Here is my dilemma : my friend Michael Brendan Doughertycorrectly predicted Trump would wind up “ making the causes of a pro-American trade policy and foreign policy more stupid , ugly , and repulsive to many who would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ defeat will likely be a severe setback for these causes as well given the forces it would empower in both parties .
Older paleocons would undoubtedly point to the experience of Pat Buchanan as evidence that even a more sophisticated version of Trumpism would be savaged by the elites ( including , as I pointed out in this space four years ago , Trump himself ) .
But Trump also would have to govern much more effectively than he did in his first term for Trumpism to mount an enduring challenge to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interest in doing so .
A pity Kanye West is not on the Virginia ballot .
W. James Antle III is politics editor at the Washington Examiner .
This year , I intend to write in the American Solidarity Party ’ s candidate , Brian Carroll , for president .
While politics is indeed the art of compromise , the options offered by our two political parties are—for me , at least—impossible to choose between .
Trump ’ s approachto immigration and the plight of refugees , foreign policy ( especially—but not limited @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policy , and environmental policy have all been concerning to observe over the last four years .
In many instances , human rights atrocities have been callously ignored .
On issues regarding the ecological health of our nation , Trump ’ s administration has refused to make difficult but necessary decisions to safeguard our land , water , and food sources .
Far from “ draining the swamp , ” Trump ’ s leadership resulted in billions of taxpayer dollars being funneled into the pockets of the nation ’ s largest , wealthiest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ frustrations with Trump ’ s character are dismissed as petty complaints over “ personality.
” But personality and character are different things—and the latter must be taken seriously , even where we might offer leniency on the former .
Trump is a serial philanderer and adulterer who bragged about groping women without their permission .
He has bullied and demeaned his political enemies on Twitter with a constancy and vehemence that are inexcusable .
As Ross Douthatput it , Trump is “ a bigot and an aggressive liar , he winks at violence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he ’ s given to cultural conservatives with the courts , he ’ s taken by making us seem like hypocrites and making embarrassments like Jerry Falwell Jr. the face of conservative Christendom.
” Trump ’ s character points to a denigration of the dignity of human persons that does not , in my mind , fit with a truly consistent life ethic .
Being pro-life is not just about protecting the unborn .
It is about seeing human life as sacred : from birth to death , in every circumstance , across @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in one ’ s political “ enemies ” as well as in one ’ s allies .
Honoring the sanctity of life requires a treatment of human persons that reverences their inherent dignity .
This demeanor is markedly absent from Trump ’ s character , and from his presidency .
So why not vote for former vice president Joe Biden ?
There are things about Biden ’ s platform I appreciate , even while there are many I disagree with .
But Biden ’ s ( and the Democratic Party ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ primary reason I can not vote for him this year .
As professor of Christian ethics Andrew Walker has suggested , we ought to ask ourselves : “ Is our vote contributing to a systemic injustice by further entrenching its worldview ?
Are we empowering mechanisms that will dilute abortion ’ s grip on American politics or promote it ?
” Voting for a presidential incumbent who hasrefused to condemn white supremacy is something I can not do .
But I also can not and will not vote with a Democratic Party that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stage of development , and completely ignores the plight of the unborn .
Isuggested in February that Simone Weil ’ s warnings in “ On the Abolition of All Political Parties ” should caution Americans on both left and right : “ partisan spirit makes people blind , ” Weil writes , “ makes them deaf to justice , pushes even decent men cruelly to persecute innocent targets.
” Weil ’ s words require us to consider the many instances in which our political parties have willingly embraced violence and injustice to serve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have thus made us complicit in their work ) .
This is why I will vote with the American Solidarity Party : a party that displays a consistent life ethic , a desire for prudence and subsidiarity in politics , and a steadfast opposition to ourthrowaway culture .
My hope is that enough Americans will follow suit to send a clear message to our political leaders that we are not blind or deaf to justice , and will not stop seeking the good .
Gracy Olmstead is a writer and journalist located outside @ @ @ @ @ @ @ admitting the obvious .
On November 3 I am voting for the reelection of Donald Trump and for every Republican I see on my ballot .
Although Trump is verbally impulsive and often sounds like an egomaniac , he has been a more than adequate chief executive .
( In a delicate balancing act , Roger Kimball described Trump as “ socially and aesthetically impossible ” but then proceeded to praise his accomplishments in office . )
Before the coronavirus beset us , Trump managed to improve our economy significantly by renegotiating trade @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taxes .
Although some of his beneficiaries may not appreciate his achievements , Trump did more to lower black and female unemployment than any other American president .
He also worked tirelessly to control illegal immigration and tried to protect our police force against disempowerment by local and state governments occupied by the left .
Trump ’ s other accomplishments were also real , whether it was decimating the ISIS caliphate or brokering a peace between the Israelis and two Arab Emirates .
But these are not the major reasons I am voting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reason is that I loathe and fear the Democratic Party and its media allies .
They have done everything possible to bring down a president who is not to their liking and to squelch effective opposition .
Indeed , as a European historian , I am struck by the remarkable similarities between Trump ’ s enemies and how the Nazis and Communists seized power .
The assistance given to the looting mobs this past summer by Democratic operatives , Biden ’ s unwillingness to admit that Antifa terrorism is more than an “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Democrats will free us from the disorder they helped instigate in areas under their control , are all routine tactics used by those engaged in a coup d ’ état .
The lockstep support given by the media to these activities and most recently , their suppression of information about the Biden family ’ s shameless financial dealings with China and in the Ukraine point toward what has become de facto censorship .
Biden ’ s ( really Kamala Harris ’ s ) elevation to the presidency would render our already precarious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is the editor-in-chief of Chronicles .
I haven ’ t voted for a major party candidate for president since Republican Bob Dole in 1996 , and that was only because I was 19 and my first choice in the GOP primary , Pat Buchanan , told me to .
This is a tradition I intend to continue this election when I vote for Libertarian Jo Jorgensen for president .
Republican Donald Trump has probably come closest to making me vote for a major party for president again .
As a libertarian-conservative , I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in decades who hasn ’ t started a war , has dramatically changed the conversation about foreign policy within the GOP , enacted deregulation and tax cuts , chose solid SCOTUS justices , passed major criminal justice reform legislation , and defies and derides the Deep State , something no other president is likely to do in my lifetime .
I have said on this site that I would still vote for Trump if he made the bold move of pardoning whistleblower hero Edward Snowden .
But some of the ugliness in our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ immigrants and refugees now , the president constantly stoking division needlessly in the most childish of ways—these are things I can not endorse .
Beyond policy , there is the larger issue of Trumpism and what it means for the right and the country long term that I can not support .
I would support Trump over any Bush-Cheney alumni Republican , and a vote for Biden is comparable to restoring that old guard .
There are reasons so many NeverTrump neoconservatives now stump for Joe .
Add in the massive amount of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up , and there are just too many disqualifiers .
So the Libertarian will get my vote , one merely of conscience .
In this chaotic environment , sometimes that is the best one can do .
Jack Hunter is the politics editor at Rare.us and the former new media director for Sen. Rand Paul .
When I participated in this symposium in 2016 , I argued that given our choices , not voting was a perfectly reasonable decision .
For 2020 I still think that is the case .
I know many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election did halt the smug elitism chomping to surge forth from Brooklyn and overwhelm the country , and it shook some of the unquestioned nostrums of the ruling class .
He has had some clear successes : judges , no new wars , a good criminal reform bill .
And it did allow a brief moment of reflection ; remember all those mainstream reporters being sent to the “ real ” America ?
But it has not lasted .
The left has doubled down in a way that is by turns unsurprising , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ result has been an even stricter left wing orthodoxy .
It was the Republicans who missed an opportunity—but they missed it years ago .
The fruits are now clear .
The media , entertainers , corporate commissars , human-resources consultants and assistant deans who run the country grew up in educational and cultural institutions conservatives largely abandoned .
When given a chance—admittedly under a deeply flawed leader—there were not enough troops or ideas available .
Most of the conservative establishment is still too tied into the libertarian/hyperpower fantasy to see that the foreign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do with them .
There was too little outreach to minorities when it could have made a difference .
Trump has been unable to control the deep state to the degree needed .
The nation is undergoing a great awakening—many of those suburban progressives and woke warriors are embracing a religion , not a set of political positions .
And only an equivalently strong belief system can provide an alternative .
Because of that I fear there will be a lot of burnt-over country in the future no matter who wins the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the University Bookman .
This will be my first chance to vote in a presidential election ( I had just turned 17 in 2016 ) , and I ’ ll be casting my lot for Kanye West .
I vote in my home state of Massachusetts , which the Democratic Party holds locked in a death grip .
That was all well and good when fine men like James Curley and Bill Bulger held sway over the state party , but the expulsion of conservatives and populists from the halls of Democratic power @ @ @ @ @ @ @ irrelevance of the MA GOP ) has left anybody with a brain in the state without a home in its politics .
Trump is not without his virtues .
Were I a citizen of a state where he had a chance , I would vote for him without much hesitation .
But the fact that my vote counts even less than everybody else ’ s allows me to dwell , without remorse , on the negatives .
Despite lip service for the pro-life cause , federal funding for Planned Parenthood has increased since @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been taken toward reform , to say nothing of abolition .
The conservative line on marriage has simply been erased , and the LGBT agenda holds almost as much sway in the Republican Party as the Democratic .
These are some of the problems Trump has actively accelerated , but the list of problems he has simply ignored is endless .
The GOP has bought the progressive line on birth control hook , line , and sinker .
Nobody has talked about land reform since , like , 1877 .
God has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government—and our churches before long .
Even after the Trumpian realignment , neither side seems particularly interested in fixing any of these things .
While the bipartisan consensus continues to leave conservatives behind , one candidate , and one candidate alone , has voiced his concern for these vital and forgotten causes .
In 2020 I can ask , without a hint of irony : Who better than Kanye West ?
Declan Leary is the Collegiate Network Fellow at The American Conservative .

Rod Dreher Readers of my blog have been convinced for a long time that they know how I’m going to vote this fall, despite my public agonizing over it. The liberals are sure I’m going to vote for Trump in the end, and the conservatives believe that I’m going to vote for Biden. They can’t imagine that anybody is conflicted. Well, I have been. Donald Trump has been a lousy president. He was given so many opportunities to advocate for real populist reform, especially on the economy, but he has not delivered. His presidency has been consumed by his narcissism and chaos. It is hard for any actual policy ideas to gain traction in the Trump-dominated environment. To his credit, though, he has nominated good judges, and though this is perhaps the soft bigotry of low expectations, he hasn’t started any new wars. The case for Trump, at least to me, is about him standing as the last bulwark against the woke left taking over the federal government, and using its power to advance the cultural revolution. That’s not nothing. What’s more, I believe that over the next couple of decades, as the American populace moves further to the left—that is, as the Boomers die out, and the much more liberal Millennials and Gen Z gain more power—the federal judiciary is going to be the last line of defense of First Amendment liberties, religious liberty in particular. There have been times when I have considered voting for Biden just to get Trump out of office. On the right, we won’t be able to have the serious and necessary conversations about reform populism until Trump goes, because he sucks up all the air in the room. I want serious populist political voices—for example, Sen. Josh Hawley’s, Tucker Carlson’s, and J.D. Vance’s—to have a chance to be heard, and to lead the right. Plus, I long for stability in the White House. Having said that, it is very, very hard to justify giving any power to Biden, who, despite his moderate affect, fully endorses the radicalism of his party’s extreme on social issues. And yet: four more years of Trump, and his QAnon crackpottery, could cause the right to be fully discredited and exiled from power for many years. A vote against Trump would be, for me, a vote to give the real populist right a chance. But is that kind of strategic voting sensible? I haven’t voted in a presidential race since 2004, because I am so alienated from both parties. I am deeply on the right on social and cultural issues, but more to the left on economic policy, in the sense of wanting the government to do more for workers and ordinary people, and wishing that the GOP were not so much in thrall to its donor class. I’m a Tucker Carlson/J.D. Vance conservative. It’s easy for me to withhold my vote, living as I do in Louisiana, a red state that is going to go for Trump. But I am tired of not voting for president, and want to push myself to make a decision, and live with it. Fortunately, when I looked recently at the Louisiana ballot, I discovered that the American Solidarity Party was on the presidential line—that is, its nominee Brian Carroll and his running mate Amar Patel. When I read the platform of the ASP, I found that I didn’t agree with everything, but the overwhelming majority of its pro-family, Christian Democratic (in the European sense) policies I could endorse. I realized that 2020 will be the first time in my life that I can cast a presidential vote for a candidate and his party, as opposed to against the greater of two Republicrat evils. So that’s what I plan to do, while voting Republican for Senator Bill Cassidy, and for U.S. Representative Garrett Graves. Brian Carroll won’t win, but I cannot pass up the chance to show my support for a party that actually represents the full spectrum of my views as a conservative Christian. To be honest, if I were in a swing state, I don’t know that I would do this. I probably would, though, because it’s unusual to experience voting as an act of civic affirmation, instead of civic despair, and I would like to do that at least once in my life. Rod Dreher is a senior editor at TAC.
Back to top Arthur Bloom Having been told countless times that any conservative committed to his principles must denounce Donald Trump, I find mine telling me the only honest thing to do is embrace him. I do not believe the people who tell me that if Biden wins things will go back to normal, a normal that was overrated in any case by all the people who have lost their minds since 2016, if not by Iraqis or Libyans. There is no normal after the FBI and intelligence community initiates a spurious investigation of the incoming president at the behest of the outgoing White House, or after Congress tries to impeach that same president based on accusations that match Joe Biden’s activities much more closely than Trump’s. Don’t let anyone tell you the latter is responsible for America’s slide into authoritarianism. The most substantial thing a voter has a say about this November is whether they wish to approve or disapprove of all this. I disapprove of it. Whatever the disappointments of this administration, or however most Republicans differ from my ideal views about the economy or international relations, or however one finds him personally unpleasant, if one wishes to choose the lesser of two evils, it seems obvious to me that that is Trump, whether or not one agrees with any positive case for him. If a candidate is supported by the CIA, Wall Street, the Atlantic Council, Bill Kristol, China, and big tech, pick the other one. It’s not complicated. Please, America, for the sake of the republic, do not reward these people by putting Joe Biden in the White House. Giving these people the confidence of having gotten away with it is a bad precedent, and an invitation to consolidate their power further. That’s why this November I hope Americans vote to wipe that smug bullfrog grin off the face of America’s most powerful Gus Hall voter, as I intend to do. Arthur Bloom is editor of TAC online.
Back to top Andrew J. Bacevich The 2020 presidential election is being hyped as the most important ever. I suppose it might be if a contested outcome poses a threat to the constitutional order. It grieves me to say that such a possibility cannot be completely discounted. But if (as expected) Joe Biden wins and if (as all patriotic citizens must hope) a peaceful transfer of power occurs, then the 2024 presidential election rather than next month’s may well end up being the pivotal one. Biden is unlikely to be a transformational president. He’s too old and too much a creature of the establishment. The most we can hope for from a Biden presidency is that it will keep the ship of state from capsizing. Addressing the pandemic and restoring economic growth will absorb administration energies and attention. Progressives will demand more, of course, but once Biden is in the White House, they will find themselves obliged to bide their time. Meanwhile, the really interesting story will concern the post-Trump GOP. If it remains loyal to the ex-president, it will forfeit any possibility of returning to power in the foreseeable future. The party may simply disintegrate. My bet is that Republicans will turn away from Trump (as some are already doing) and seek new leaders committed to a new conception of conservatism. Should that occur, then 2024 could see a showdown between progressive Democrats with lots of pent-up energy and a new cohort of Republicans who have rediscovered conservative principles. That would be an election worth getting excited about. Andrew J. Bacevich is president of the Quincy Institute and TAC‘s writer-at-large.
Back to top Scott McConnell I’m voting for Donald Trump. I think he’s been a C + president, unprepared to effectively staff his executive branch, overly reliant on cronies and family, his most important campaign promises unfulfilled. He might have constructed a Trumpian congressional majority in 2017-2018 but failed to do so. Earlier this year I donated to Klobuchar and Yang, and was inclined to support any kind of centrist Democrat, on the theory that Trump had at least nudged the GOP in good directions (and away from the Bush-Cheney-McCain style of warmongering) and that a more disciplined and savvy nationalist-conservative GOP candidate might emerge during the next cycle. In a long voting history, I’ve voted for Democrats about half the time. But the summer of George Floyd changed that. The poisonous spawn of left-wing academia—critical race theory, a Marxist offshoot which defines America and essentially all Western societies as irredeemably evil, found suddenly a comfortable home in the Democratic Party and, seemingly, in all elite liberal institutions. Suddenly every platform—CNN, the Times, Democratic leaders, the Twitter mob, the big name universities, were screaming in unison: cops are racist killers, looters and arsonists are to be celebrated as peaceful protesters, every notable white male figure in American history deserves to be trashed—and if they happened to have a statue commemorating them, literally. I shudder to think what will happen when these mobs have the levers of the federal government behind them. Of course we all know that Joe Biden is not “woke.” But he is clearly on the edge of senility, and in Kamala Harris he chose, of all possibilities to succeed him, probably in the year or two, the most mob friendly possibility he could. It was Harris who solicited bail funds on social media for the looters and arsonists before the fires were extinguished in Minneapolis, it was Harris who in mid-June after billions of dollars of damage had been inflicted told an interviewer the “protests…are not going to let up and should not.” A mainstream Democrat like Nancy Pelosi could not find it within herself to condemn the ripping down of a Christopher Columbus statue in Baltimore: “People will do what they do,” she said. A younger Biden might have chosen otherwise. He could have picked Klobuchar; Elizabeth Warren has at least a track record of intellectually serious economics based liberalism. But whatever mysterious process guides Biden’s decisions at this stage of his life landed on a woman who bombed as a presidential candidate and represents little besides wokeism—she had actually charged Biden as a racist for opposing the wildly unpopular and educationally ineffective regime of forced busing during the ’70s. While this is not true of all Democrats, the party in the main now stands for an enforced lie, about race relations in America, about American history, about the legitimacy of the American experiment. Trump, for all his failings, does not. Scott McConnell is a founding editor of TAC.
Back to top Daniel McCarthy I’m voting for President Trump, the only president since the Berlin Wall fell who hasn’t started a war. Donald Trump has advanced the conservatism that The American Conservative was founded to advance—on trade, immigration, and foreign policy—and has been the most reliable president since Ronald Reagan (or ever) for bedrock conservative concerns about taxes, judges, and the right to life. Neocons who have rebranded as “NeverTrump” want wavering voters to put personality over policy. This is how they sold George W. Bush to the GOP, too, with genocidal consequences for the Christians of the Middle East. No one of conscience should listen to them. Joe Biden himself voted for the Iraq war. And President Obama, who campaigned as a critic of the war, nonetheless was convinced by the liberal interventionists with whom he surrounded himself to go to war in Libya, and nearly to do so in Syria. A Biden administration will be packed with the same liberals and led down the same path: if even the “antiwar” Obama wouldn’t resist them, the Biden who voted to invade Iraq surely will not. By contrast, Trump ignored John Bolton’s warmongering advice, and Trump’s recent foreign policy appointments have been of the sort of people TAC has always wanted to see in policy roles—indeed, some are TAC writers. Libertarian non-interventionists and independent minds on the antiwar left have every reason to support Trump over Biden, if actual policy counts for more than intellectual prestige. There are too many think-tank critics of U.S. foreign policy whose realism is only academic. Be brave, do the right thing, and re-elect the president who has delivered peace. Daniel McCarthy is editor of Modern Age and TAC editor-at-large.
Back to top Peter Van Buren Some 60 percent of Americans tell pollsters the nation needs a viable third party but then turn around and won’t vote for one because, in a self-fulfilling prophecy, voting third party somehow means the worst two party candidate ends up winning. Third party fails because we don’t trust it enough to give it the votes it needs to succeed. Democrats, from the Obamas on down, tell me I would be wrong to vote third party again, naive, a closet Putin supporter. The wrong guy will have the nuclear codes, so I will literally be responsible for Armageddon. Hard to build a movement around possible responsibility for ending life on earth. I guess I can stay home, the functional equivalent of hiding out in the monastery coloring in manuscripts while medieval society devolves around me. Hmm, sounds like another plague out there, better close the window. But if I vote Biden/Harris I am endorsing the rally call of the Democratic Party against change. But if I vote Trump I am telling the Democrats they failed, again, and they may realize they must become something of a third party in 2024 or they will functionally no longer exist, pretend opponents like those teams who played against the Harlem Globetrotters years ago. A Trump win could be a wake up call to the Democratic establishment that they have to deal with real desire for change, not ignore voters, or try to scare us into abandoning our conscience by again trading short term goals for long term progress. Dismissing such a vote as only sending a message dismisses the importance of the message. For those who support Biden for some perceived short term gain, please, vote that way. But don’t disparage others of us for believing we can do better. Too many have accepted, election after election, the long con. Give an even longer view a chance. Peter Van Buren is a TAC contributing editor and 24-year State Department veteran.
Back to top Emile Doak Democratic primary voters deserve our gratitude for making the choice this November so easy. The Biden/Harris (or is it Harris/Biden?) ticket is thoroughly awful. Its embrace of the full spectrum of woke culture war positions, abortion chief among them, is immediately disqualifying. But there’s so much more to despise! They’ve got the fervent backing of our Silicon Valley oligarchy, and these past few weeks have shown exactly how our tech overlords plan to wield their unprecedented power against political opponents. Delaware Joe’s cozy history with his home state’s credit card companies doesn’t exactly portend that he’ll be much of a crusader against unchecked corporate power once in the office he’s always coveted. Add in the parade of Iraq war architects lining up to endorse Biden/Harris, and you’ve got a perfect storm of the worst people in our politics supporting the Democratic ticket. No thanks. So what of the uncouth New York businessman on the other side of the ballot? I find hysteria over Trump’s behavior tiresome. Of course he’s a terrible role model for my children. We’ve known this for decades. He’s a rude vulgarian whose impulses are consistently handicapping his better political instincts. I won’t defend his behavior, or his many dubious first term personnel decisions. But it’s past time we get beyond the man himself and look at the bigger picture. In the five short years since announcing his candidacy, Donald Trump has shattered a multitude of stale, outdated, counterproductive GOP conventions. The right is finally having conversations about which foreign, economic, and immigration policies actually benefit the American people—not the global managerial class. A Trump second term would help ensure the right continues to move in this direction, instead of snapping back to the discredited pre-2016 consensus of Wall Street and Big War. Incidentally, the rootless ruling class that yearns to return to those days has invaded my home state of Virginia, effectively rendering my vote moot. But nevertheless, I will cast my ballot for Donald Trump, in a feeble attempt to remind those recent residents that we few relics of the old Old Dominion remain. Emile Doak is TAC‘s vice president of advancement and programs.
Back to top W. James Antle III Sitting in a corner sipping a beer from an appropriate social distance, I witnessed a familiar scene for a thousandth time. Three twenty-somethings were seated at a table, with a young man and woman interrogating a third friend, a fellow I gathered served in a branch of the armed forces, about his support for President Donald Trump. The interrogators rehashed a number of arguments that were already stale in 1972, with Saul Alinksy conspicuously replaced with “that’s not okay.” The Trump supporter largely refused to play along, sitting stoically and staring at his beer while his friends informed him of their righteousness, sounding as much as a bad parody of the 1980s Christian Right (except totally secularized) as stereotypical liberal college students. While far weightier issues are at stake, I suspect this election will be decided in part by voters who hope that Trump’s disappearance would mean the end of his exhausting political discourse versus those who fear this kind of inquisition will be a permanent feature of American life and that even fairly benign Democrats will offer no resistance to the coming Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Trump has actually exceeded my meager expectations. I anticipated that Rudy Giuliani would be secretary of state, running an unreconstructed neoconservative foreign policy, rather than on a search for Hunter Biden’s emails or hanging out with Borat. Despite Mike Pompeo’s best Giuliani impression, there has been no war with Iran. The Trump years have made Tucker Carlson more influential on the right than Bill Kristol, diminished (admittedly only after attempting to enhance) John Bolton’s standing among conservatives, and sent many a neocon back to their ancestral Democratic homes while getting partisan Republicans to talk about the imperative of ending “endless wars.” As important as this is, however, it is not as good as, you know, actually ending the wars. Pompeo, Tom Cotton, and Nikki Haley are better positioned to succeed Trump while the president has destroyed Jeff Sessions’s career. Perhaps Trump has finally realized that personnel is policy. Here is my dilemma: my friend Michael Brendan Dougherty correctly predicted Trump would wind up “making the causes of a pro-American trade policy and foreign policy more stupid, ugly, and repulsive to many who would benefit from them,” yet his defeat will likely be a severe setback for these causes as well given the forces it would empower in both parties. Older paleocons would undoubtedly point to the experience of Pat Buchanan as evidence that even a more sophisticated version of Trumpism would be savaged by the elites (including, as I pointed out in this space four years ago, Trump himself). But Trump also would have to govern much more effectively than he did in his first term for Trumpism to mount an enduring challenge to the Beltway blob, and he shows little interest in doing so. A pity Kanye West is not on the Virginia ballot. W. James Antle III is politics editor at the Washington Examiner.
Back to top Gracy Olmstead This year, I intend to write in the American Solidarity Party’s candidate, Brian Carroll, for president. While politics is indeed the art of compromise, the options offered by our two political parties are—for me, at least—impossible to choose between. Trump’s approach to immigration and the plight of refugees, foreign policy (especially—but not limited to—the war in Yemen), agricultural policy, and environmental policy have all been concerning to observe over the last four years. In many instances, human rights atrocities have been callously ignored. On issues regarding the ecological health of our nation, Trump’s administration has refused to make difficult but necessary decisions to safeguard our land, water, and food sources. Far from “draining the swamp,” Trump’s leadership resulted in billions of taxpayer dollars being funneled into the pockets of the nation’s largest, wealthiest farms. In many conservative circles, frustrations with Trump’s character are dismissed as petty complaints over “personality.” But personality and character are different things—and the latter must be taken seriously, even where we might offer leniency on the former. Trump is a serial philanderer and adulterer who bragged about groping women without their permission. He has bullied and demeaned his political enemies on Twitter with a constancy and vehemence that are inexcusable. As Ross Douthat put it, Trump is “a bigot and an aggressive liar, he winks at violence, and … [w]hat he’s given to cultural conservatives with the courts, he’s taken by making us seem like hypocrites and making embarrassments like Jerry Falwell Jr. the face of conservative Christendom.” Trump’s character points to a denigration of the dignity of human persons that does not, in my mind, fit with a truly consistent life ethic. Being pro-life is not just about protecting the unborn. It is about seeing human life as sacred: from birth to death, in every circumstance, across every ethnicity, age, and gender, in one’s political “enemies” as well as in one’s allies. Honoring the sanctity of life requires a treatment of human persons that reverences their inherent dignity. This demeanor is markedly absent from Trump’s character, and from his presidency. So why not vote for former vice president Joe Biden? There are things about Biden’s platform I appreciate, even while there are many I disagree with. But Biden’s (and the Democratic Party’s) deep entrenchment on abortion is the primary reason I cannot vote for him this year. As professor of Christian ethics Andrew Walker has suggested, we ought to ask ourselves: “Is our vote contributing to a systemic injustice by further entrenching its worldview? Are we empowering mechanisms that will dilute abortion’s grip on American politics or promote it?” Voting for a presidential incumbent who has refused to condemn white supremacy is something I cannot do. But I also cannot and will not vote with a Democratic Party that has sought to advance abortion at every stage of development, and completely ignores the plight of the unborn. I suggested in February that Simone Weil’s warnings in “On the Abolition of All Political Parties” should caution Americans on both left and right: “partisan spirit makes people blind,” Weil writes, “makes them deaf to justice, pushes even decent men cruelly to persecute innocent targets.” Weil’s words require us to consider the many instances in which our political parties have willingly embraced violence and injustice to serve their own profits and power (and have thus made us complicit in their work). This is why I will vote with the American Solidarity Party: a party that displays a consistent life ethic, a desire for prudence and subsidiarity in politics, and a steadfast opposition to our throwaway culture. My hope is that enough Americans will follow suit to send a clear message to our political leaders that we are not blind or deaf to justice, and will not stop seeking the good. Gracy Olmstead is a writer and journalist located outside Washington, D.C.
Back to top Paul Gottfried Let me start by admitting the obvious. On November 3 I am voting for the reelection of Donald Trump and for every Republican I see on my ballot. Although Trump is verbally impulsive and often sounds like an egomaniac, he has been a more than adequate chief executive. (In a delicate balancing act, Roger Kimball described Trump as “socially and aesthetically impossible” but then proceeded to praise his accomplishments in office.) Before the coronavirus beset us, Trump managed to improve our economy significantly by renegotiating trade deals, deregulating commerce, and lowering taxes. Although some of his beneficiaries may not appreciate his achievements, Trump did more to lower black and female unemployment than any other American president. He also worked tirelessly to control illegal immigration and tried to protect our police force against disempowerment by local and state governments occupied by the left. Trump’s other accomplishments were also real, whether it was decimating the ISIS caliphate or brokering a peace between the Israelis and two Arab Emirates. But these are not the major reasons I am voting for the incumbent. The most critical reason is that I loathe and fear the Democratic Party and its media allies. They have done everything possible to bring down a president who is not to their liking and to squelch effective opposition. Indeed, as a European historian, I am struck by the remarkable similarities between Trump’s enemies and how the Nazis and Communists seized power. The assistance given to the looting mobs this past summer by Democratic operatives, Biden’s unwillingness to admit that Antifa terrorism is more than an “idea,” and the claim that the Democrats will free us from the disorder they helped instigate in areas under their control, are all routine tactics used by those engaged in a coup d’état. The lockstep support given by the media to these activities and most recently, their suppression of information about the Biden family’s shameless financial dealings with China and in the Ukraine point toward what has become de facto censorship. Biden’s (really Kamala Harris’s) elevation to the presidency would render our already precarious freedoms even more fragile. Paul Gottfried is the editor-in-chief of Chronicles.
Back to top Leonora Cravotta On November 3, I will vote to reelect Donald J. Trump as the president of the United States. I have been a Trump supporter since the escalator ride in 2015. Trump was elected in 2016 because he presented himself as not only understanding the struggles of working-class people but also as providing these “forgotten men and women” with tangible solutions to their problems and optimism for the future. I refer to him as the unlikely messenger, the one many failed to immediately recognize. The left-leaning mainstream media focuses too much on Trump’s style and tactics. They profess disdain for his daily use of Twitter and his proclivity for blunt but memorable sound bites. The media along with the Democratic machine have used every arrow in their quiver (to quote Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi) to take him down from, Russiagate to blaming him for COVID-19, but nothing has succeeded. The opposition’s attempts to diminish President Trump have failed because he has succeeded for the American people in delivering results. He has significantly improved the economy, bringing unemployment down to a record 3-4%. And even after the economic ravishment of COVID, the rate stands at 7.9% (13% for the African American community). He has bolstered our national security, enhanced our foreign policy, implemented criminal justice reform, advocated for a “right to try” path for pharmaceuticals, championed school choice, and so much more. I remain loudly and proudly pro-Trump and cannot wait to cast my ballot to “keep America great.” Leonora Cravotta is TAC’s director of operations.
Back to top Jack Hunter I haven’t voted for a major party candidate for president since Republican Bob Dole in 1996, and that was only because I was 19 and my first choice in the GOP primary, Pat Buchanan, told me to. This is a tradition I intend to continue this election when I vote for Libertarian Jo Jorgensen for president. Republican Donald Trump has probably come closest to making me vote for a major party for president again. As a libertarian-conservative, I appreciate that this is the first president in decades who hasn’t started a war, has dramatically changed the conversation about foreign policy within the GOP, enacted deregulation and tax cuts, chose solid SCOTUS justices, passed major criminal justice reform legislation, and defies and derides the Deep State, something no other president is likely to do in my lifetime. I have said on this site that I would still vote for Trump if he made the bold move of pardoning whistleblower hero Edward Snowden. But some of the ugliness in our politics, how the right talks about immigrants and refugees now, the president constantly stoking division needlessly in the most childish of ways—these are things I cannot endorse. Beyond policy, there is the larger issue of Trumpism and what it means for the right and the country long term that I cannot support. I would support Trump over any Bush-Cheney alumni Republican, and a vote for Biden is comparable to restoring that old guard. There are reasons so many NeverTrump neoconservatives now stump for Joe. Add in the massive amount of debt Trump and his GOP has wracked up, and there are just too many disqualifiers. So the Libertarian will get my vote, one merely of conscience. In this chaotic environment, sometimes that is the best one can do. Jack Hunter is the politics editor at Rare.us and the former new media director for Sen. Rand Paul.
Back to top Howard Ahmanson A few days ago I sent in my ballot. I dislike Trump, but I couldn’t bring myself to vote for Biden. For president, I wrote in Brian Carroll and Amar Patel of the American Solidarity Party. This is not a party big enough to qualify for the ballot in California. They are an attempt to bring to America the Christian Democratic philosophy so popular in Europe. I cultivate an image of myself as “fiscally moderately liberal and socially conservative,” largely to twit the “fiscally conservative and socially liberal” philosophy so popular among the elites and educated classes (and no one else) and regularly presented as the cure to the Republican Party’s problems. Is this a “European” philosophy? Yes. But the philosophy of Donald Trump and Michael Anton is that of the European right, not the uniquely American “fusionist” philosophy of the Reagan era that we grew up knowing as “conservatism.” And the philosophy of Bernie Sanders and the like (and I’m not sure that Biden, in the end, will be able to stand against it) is also that of the European left. We are all “Europeans” now, it seems. Howard Ahmanson is a philanthropist living in Orange County, California, and a member of TAC‘s board of directors.
Back to top Donald Devine The election is a simple choice for this conservative. If Joe Biden wins and the Senate is controlled by Democrats, the Biden/Sanders manifesto and its political emanations promise to: 1) pack the Supreme Court by adding the necessary number of justices to impose woke culture as constitutional law, 2) increase the number of senators by four to assure its legislative control forever, 3) eliminate extended Senate debate on controversial items usually requiring super-majorities, and 4) break the bank on spending and debt to turn the U.S. permanently into a third world nation. Changing the basic structure of the government is a radical program and requires ignoring the niceties and casting a party-line vote—and then working to fix the rest. Donald Devine is senior scholar at The Fund for American Studies
Back to top Gene Callahan I’ve been traveling through the rural northeast frequently the last two months. One constant, everywhere I’ve gone: the struggling farms and trailer parks out in the country have Trump signs in the yard. The million dollar Victorians in town have Biden signs. This has nothing to do with race: Cooperstown, NY is over 96% white, and filled with Biden signs. Meanwhile, a Puerto Rican friend in Brooklyn was complaining to me that all of his relatives in the Catskill Mountains support Trump. Maybe the poor Trump supporters are stupid, and voting against their class interests. But, then, the wealthy Biden supporters must be voting against their class interests as well, right? Or maybe, in this case, we can apply some elementary Marxist analysis, and ask if the anti-Trump hysteria amongst the upper-middle class is the “ideological superstructure” that modestly conceals what would be an embarrassment if left naked: the upper-middle class benefits from moving manufacturing to China, as they get cheaper electronics and rising 401-Ks. They benefit from mass immigration since they can hire low-wage, easily exploitable nannies and gardeners, with no need for fussy withholding tax paperwork. And Trump is threatening those “perks.” Meanwhile, the lower-middle class loses their jobs to Chinese slave labor and illegal immigrants who work below minimum wage and without benefits. In other words, maybe the rural poor and the rural rich each understand their class interests just fine, and are choosing who to support accordingly. Gene Callahan is the author of Economics for Real People and Oakeshott on Rome and America.
Back to top Tony Woodlief In 33 years of eligibility I have never once voted for a politician, and I damn sure don’t intend to start now. I have, however, voted against a murderer’s row of charlatans, chickenhawks, and molesters in my years. I believe there is something deeply American about standing athwart history with two middle fingers raised. I recommend you vote early, but not so early that some weasel has time to hack the system, invalidate your record, and schedule your ballot for harvesting by one of Eric Holder’s “get-out-the-vote” crime syndicates. As you approach, you’ll be offered a variety of literature. Decline anything from candidates with a fighting chance. Instead, find that poor shivering soul clutching pamphlets extolling the American Federalism Party, the Veganism Now Party, or anything that sounds like its website is a MySpace page. Gently receive the tender loon’s offering and pretend to scrutinize it on your way into the polls. Enjoy how confusion ripples the placid faces of the major-party henchmen. As for your vote, I can’t tell you how to access that unique well of hatred that makes you you, but I’ll describe my method. Years ago my friend Bill, an Army officer and fellow grad student, hosted our department for a cookout. While everyone was happy to eat his food and drink his beer, most of our colleagues despised Bill’s beliefs. One of them—call her Jane—took Bill’s small children aside, taught them a left-wing chant, then led them, her eyes glittering with hateful glee, on a little protest march through the gathering. Ever since that day, I’ve found voting to be a snap. I simply identify the candidate most likely to embody Jane’s hopes for America, and I vote against that son of a bitch with everything I’ve got. Tony Woodlief is a writer who lives in North Carolina.
Back to top Gerald Russello When I participated in this symposium in 2016, I argued that given our choices, not voting was a perfectly reasonable decision. For 2020 I still think that is the case. I know many conservatives will disagree. Trump’s election did halt the smug elitism chomping to surge forth from Brooklyn and overwhelm the country, and it shook some of the unquestioned nostrums of the ruling class. He has had some clear successes: judges, no new wars, a good criminal reform bill. And it did allow a brief moment of reflection; remember all those mainstream reporters being sent to the “real” America? But it has not lasted. The left has doubled down in a way that is by turns unsurprising, concerning, and frightening. The net result has been an even stricter left wing orthodoxy. It was the Republicans who missed an opportunity—but they missed it years ago. The fruits are now clear. The media, entertainers, corporate commissars, human-resources consultants and assistant deans who run the country grew up in educational and cultural institutions conservatives largely abandoned. When given a chance—admittedly under a deeply flawed leader—there were not enough troops or ideas available. Most of the conservative establishment is still too tied into the libertarian/hyperpower fantasy to see that the foreign policy establishment and big business want nothing to do with them. There was too little outreach to minorities when it could have made a difference. Trump has been unable to control the deep state to the degree needed. The nation is undergoing a great awakening—many of those suburban progressives and woke warriors are embracing a religion, not a set of political positions. And only an equivalently strong belief system can provide an alternative. Because of that I fear there will be a lot of burnt-over country in the future no matter who wins the election. Gerald Russello is editor of the University Bookman.
Back to top George Liebmann Means are more important than ends in the politics of free countries. As a bookseller’s son I had no difficulty in the last election in deciding that I would not vote for Donald Trump. I supported Johnson. Trump identified concerns: opposing “liberal imperialism” and its attendant refugee flows abroad; realizing that America’s lack of a rebatable VAT tax rendered trade agreements disadvantageous; facing fear, manifest in the 1850s and 1920s of too-sudden immigration; and curbing Supreme Court usurpations. His deregulatory and tax initiatives produced economic benefits, including unappreciated relief for the poor through expansion of the standard deduction and tax credits. The Democrats offered Red-baiting without Reds, sexual license, delay of coronavirus relief measures, partisan impeachment, and over-exploitation of race. The New York Times has done as much to debase discourse as Mr. Trump. But there is no more benefit that can be derived from another Trump victory. He has been undone by Caesarism. From exaggerated inaugural crowds, exclusion of persons with valid passports, efforts to extract from the F.B.I. director the personal oath of Hitler’s generals, the Roger Stone pardon, concealment of tax returns, failure to adhere to debate rules, and impugning of the election’s outcome, it is clear that Suetonius’s Lives of the Twelve Caesars provides a better guide than the Federalist Papers to the course of a second Trump administration. Trump was right that some of the Charlottesville demonstrators, like George Orwell and President Macron of France, thought it wrong to destroy public monuments, and in seeking to regularize relations with Russia, one of Franklin Roosevelt’s “five policemen” of world order. Democratic extremists will be no more successful than FDR in “packing” the Supreme Court. There is growing “liberal” appreciation of the benefits of federalism in law enforcement, and opposition to the closing of schools and “defunding the police.” Biden may foster needed youth employment programs, reforestation and flood control, and tax changes to curb enormous fortunes. There is one overriding issue. We cannot have an unstable president whose thoughts have now turned to encouragement of armed paramilitary groups to reinforce his political position, telling them to “stand by.” Those two little words should doom the Trump presidency in the minds of all responsible Republicans. George Liebmann, a Baltimore lawyer, is the author of numerous works on politics and history, most recently America’s Political Inventors (Bloomsbury, 2019)
Back to top Terry Schilling There are a lot of policy reasons to vote for Donald Trump over Joe Biden, but there is a fundamental difference between them that runs far deeper than policy. Donald Trump believes America is good. Joe Biden is controlled by a group of people who believe America is evil and irredeemable, that America has oppression and tyranny in its very DNA, and that it must be fundamentally transformed. If you hate America, you’re definitely voting for Joe Biden. He’s your guy. This presents an easy binary choice. I love America. So I’m voting for Donald Trump. He’s the only candidate who will actually stand up for parents and empower them to raise their children against the evil forces in our broader culture. He’s the only candidate who will let us practice our religion publicly and freely. And he’s the only candidate who loves America and what she stands for—liberty, justice, and equal treatment under the law. He deserves our vote. Terry Schilling is the executive director at American Principles Project.