In Case Of Trump, Keep Calm And Turn Out For The Down-Ticket

[Geee]

The Federalist:

As the Republican Party careens toward civil war, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus got onstage to sing “Kumbaya” at the most recent debate in Miami. Claiming to speak not only for the Republican Party but also for “the conservatives, the Tea Party, our entire wonderful group of people,” Priebus promised that all would “come together and unify in Cleveland and get behind [our] nominee. That’s what we do as Republicans.”

 

Indeed, that’s exactly what the Republican Party has traditionally done. Year after year, the party has told grassroots conservatives we have to fall in line and support whatever milquetoast candidate the party nominates—the Doles, the McCains, the Romneys. Not to do so, they told us, would amount to heresy, treason, and what’s worse: a de facto vote for a Democrat.

 

But now Donald Trump is here, borne of the GOP’s fecklessness, and the party is fracturing. Even as Trump rides a wave of Independents and disaffected Democrats, lifetime Republicans and true believers in limited government are preparing to jump ship. The #NeverTrump movement is growing, bringing together a motley crew of defense hawks, social conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians—all vowing not to vote for Trump in November.

In fact, the only good thing about this election is that, as a libertarian-leaning conservative who often bucks the system and votes third party, I finally have some common ground with my more traditional Republican friends. Maybe that’s also why I’m finding it easier to chart my own course should Trump secure the nomination.