By Micah J. Fleck
We’ve heard the arguments that “a vote for (insert spoiler candidate here) is a vote for (disliked two-party candidate here)” numerous times. The idea is to discourage people from voting on principle by garnering fear of a boogyman-like caricature of whichever of the two main candidates in the running is seen as the “greater evil.” Once again in this race, despite getting the most coverage and polling support of any third candidate in decades, Gary Johnson is also being given this treatment by the party line-towers. “A vote for Johnson is a vote for Trump,” say the leftists; “A vote for Johnson is a vote for Hillary,” say the conservatives. Both positions operate on the assumption that a third party candidate can only “spoil” the election rather than win it.
But what if we examined the candidates on their own merits this time, rather than argued from ignorance and “lesser of the evils” rhetoric? What if we argued instead that Johnson isn’t the candidate one should be concerned about spoiling the election? What if we listed some very good reason why, for instance, a vote for Trump is a vote for Hillary?
Here are five reasons why think this statement rings true.
5. Trump Doesn’t Pose a Real Threat to Clinton
While it’s always fun to speculate about what a Trump presidency might be like to live under, it’s not a very realistic scenario to envision. Whether you are the conspiracy theorist type who believes this was all staged to help Hillary win, or even if you’re a more sensible, straightforward news analyst with only the verifiable facts to work with, the verdict is more or less the same: Trump will not win this presidency. He’s far too out-of-sync with the young people of this country (who will get out and vote to make this fact known), he’s far too inexperienced for more veteran voters with sense to truly consider him, and he’s far too controversial to get enough big name celebrity support for cultural embracement purposes. All in all, the Trump campaign proves two main points: the GOP is finally dead, and there is still enough ignorance, fear, and bigotry in this country to keep a sideshow like Trump afloat for an election cycle. There will not be enough to carry him all the way to the White House, however – polls are already showing a significant drop in his support now that the election is drawing closer and the fun and games are nearly over.
Taking all of this into account, the conclusion is simple: voting for the candidate who will absolutely lose to Clinton, when a third option indeed exists who not only takes votes from both candidates equally in polling, but could also very well make the main debate stage, is unwise if one is anti-Clinton.
4. Trump has a history with the Clintons
And until recently, was on record as a friend and supporter of theirs. Yes, it’s true – even Trump himself has been quoted as having said not only pro-Clinton things in the past, but also pro-Democrat things in general. This is the information that causes some conspiracy types to question Trump’s sincerity and wonder if in fact he isn’t a plant on behalf of the Clintons. And after all the information the FBI investigation and the WikiLeaks email leak have brought us in regards to Clinton’s tenaciousness in rigging the system, is it really so conspiratorial a notion anymore?
3. Trump is a Democrat.
As hinted at in the previous point, Donald Trump has been on record as a supporter and financial backer of Democrats for years. This was further reiterated by Megyn Kelly when during the first GOP 2016 presidential debate she unabashedly asked Trump at what point in time he had switched parties. Combine that with the fact that Trump has flip-flopped on virtually everything, and it’s not hard to see why people like Kelly would have doubts of his actual loyalty to Republican virtues. Which takes us to our next point…
2. Trump is a Flip-Flopper
Donald Trump cannot be trusted on anything he says during this campaign. He has gone back-and-forth far too often in his rhetoric and opinions on more than a few very important social and fiscal issues. It’s almost as if he has no real idea about how anything works and as a result can answer the same question any number of different ways depending on the day or the venue. How can someone with such an apparent lack of principles or consistency be considered any different (or any better) than Hillary Clinton? This ties into our final reason why a vote for Trump is a vote for Clinton…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mchag1zto2U
1. Trump and Clinton Are the Same Candidate in All the Ways That Matter
Same foreign policy. Same disregard for consistency and the rules. Same lying faces. Same empty fiscal promises. Same lack of interest in following the Constitution. Hillary Clinton has become infamous for being very self-interested and not meeting a war she didn’t like. Someone so hawkish as she shouldn’t be as popular with Democrats as she is. Likewise, Donald Trump has said recently that he would “bomb the shit” out of other countries, and that he doesn’t care about the casualties such action might bring. And I think it’s painfully obvious that the man is just as egotistical as his rival. Virtually the same candidate, except Trump is playing the role of the villain – consciously or not – that Hillary can play hero against. But do not be fooled, dear readers. These two are two heads of the same status quo, hawkish beast. A vote on principle is literally the only option that makes sense this year. It’s never been more true before.