Call me crazy, but I don’t get why people who say incredibly damning things about a candidate then turn around and support him. Not only support him but campaign to be his vice president. Here are some comments from Trump’s current VP contenders.
Marco Rubio. “He runs on this idea that he is fighting for the little guy. But he has spent his entire career, sticking it to the little guy…If you all have friends who are thinking about voting for Donald Trump, friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
J.D. Vance. “I’m a never Trump guy.” “I never liked him.” “My god, what an idiot.” He’s “noxious” and “reprehensible.”
Doug Burgum. “I would not do business with Trump.” “It’s important that you’re judged by the company you keep.”
So, how weird is it that Trump would narrow his VP picks down to these three guys? Not sure I would select someone as my running mate who has said so many derogatory things about me. And I certainly wouldn’t put aside all my principles to partner up with this guy.
Nikki Haley called Trump “unhinged “and “diminished.” She said making Trump the nominee, “is like suicide for our country.” She also said that “Trump showed that with that kind of disrespect for the military, he’s not qualified to be president of the United States, because I don’t trust him to protect them.” Haley has now endorsed Trump and last week turned over her delegates to him.
The list of those who have said damning things about Trump and then turned around and endorsed him is long. It includes Senator Mitch McConnell, Senator Lindsay Graham, former Attorney General William Barr, Governor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, and Representative Elise Stefanik, to name only a few.
The few Republicans who have stuck to their guns and refused to endorse the guy include Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey; former speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin; Asa Hutchinson, former governor of Arkansas; Mike Pence, former vice president; Liz Cheney, former representative of Wyoming; and Adam Kinzinger, former representative of Illinois.
You may say, hey it’s just politics. But I don’t think so. It’s just politics when you are generally on the same page as your opponents and are singing off the same song sheet when it comes to policies and priorities. It’s not just politics when you decide to join a cult with a guy you find utterly reprehensible, has no moral scruples, and is a convicted felon.
The philosopher Hannah Arendt once said, “Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil, but only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core.” Amen.
Maria Grant was principal-in-charge of the federal human capital practice of an international consulting firm. While on the Eastern Shore, she focuses on writing, reading, piano, kayaking, biking, gardening, and nature.
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