Republicans in 2016 are like high schoolers on a Saturday morning: they don’t want to wake up. I am a die-hard Republican and a combat veteran. I served because I believed in the mission we were fighting in Iraq and felt I should put my money where my mouth was. Prior to that, I served in the Bush White House for a few years. This election season, I have been a free agent, never supporting a candidate. That said, the past several months I have been trying to sound the alarm for my party and country. I have failed so far.
It is now certain that Donald Trump will suffer a major defeat in 21 days. Hillary Clinton has this in the bag. Trump will lose by the largest margin since Walter Mondale’s defeat in 1984. When we talk about major losers in a presidential race, we think of Mondale, McGovern (1972), and Goldwater (1964). This November we’ll add Trump to that list. There is no doubt about it.
Try telling that to a Trump supporter. I’ve been trying. Many are hypnotized by what they see at rallies, hear from like-minded people they talk to, and also what they read, listen to, or watch in conservative or fringe media outlets. They ignore facts – the respectable non-partisan polls, the major bipartisan outcry against things Trump says and does, and the broadly respected conservative leaders who oppose Trump. They’re in for a major surprise in November.
Trying to sound the alarm here is similar to what happened in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. As The Atlantic wrote in 2015, the city’s vulnerabilities were well-documented and understood years before the hurricane. The city’s main newspaper, The Times-Picayune, dedicated several days of coverage to it in 2002. People felt city officials were “tempting fate” by failing to address weaknesses in the levees protecting New Orleans and worried it was “only a matter of time before south Louisiana takes a direct hit from a major hurricane.” No one in New Orleans listened and disaster struck.
We know you don’t like Hillary Clinton. Many of us have spent the past 20 years disagreeing with her. Many veterans like me had access to extremely sensitive information and find her email situation deplorable. We disagree with just about all of her policy positions. The Benghazi situation is troublesome (I lost a former teammate there). We worry what will happen with the Supreme Court when she wins. But regardless of our personal political views, she’s going to win and will be the 45th president. Political disagreements aside, most Americans see Hillary as an extremely capable person who can handle being president, something they don’t say about Trump. Many conservatives said this 12 months ago in primary season, but nobody listened.
The hour is getting late and Republicans need to start thinking about how we can win in 2020. The basic truth is that Republicans who support Trump this year are going to be guilty of his sins by association. For years to come, the press and the Democratic Party are going to be giddy at the prospect of competing against candidates who were Trump supporters or are backed by them.
We are already starting to see the label: “You supported Donald Trump, perhaps the worst candidate in modern history. What does that say about your judgment? What does that say about your ability to appeal to women and minorities? What does that say about your character?”
Go ahead and blame the press or the other side, but this is going to happen. Labels like this will be hard to overcome. It is going to be a huge train wreck and will prevent a number of worthy Republican candidates from winning elections, perhaps for years. It could lead to Democratic majorities across the board and even more sweeping changes to the Supreme Court, the 2nd amendment, and American leadership across the globe. Without a credible opposition party, Democrats will have a field day.
There’s a way to prevent this from happening, but only if Republicans accept reality and renounce Trump before the election. It’s going to be a lot easier to accomplish our mission in the long run if people can say: “I woke up and realized Trump was a bad candidate and pulled the plug. I wasn’t willing to go down with the ship.”
Being able to say this will give you credibility beyond 2016. Riding the ship to the bottom will not. Your dream world is not the reality everyone else is seeing. The hour is getting late and it’s time to wake up.
Photo by Gage Skidmore 
Jay
October 19, 2016 at 8:18 pm
False statement – “Political disagreements aside, most Americans see Hillary as an extremely capable person who can handle being president.”
The rest of this is just a bunch of a made up BS.
melkschefft
October 20, 2016 at 12:40 am
You appear to be a very scared and sad individual. This is a platitude of psycho-babble to sway voters by attempting to brainwash them with doom –– “come to our side and not waste your vote.” Well, folks are not as naive as you think. No one wastes their vote when they vote the way THEY want. Your lack of confidence in Clinton winning has shined a neon light on your fear, rage and lack of control. You will ultimately be discounted by anyone reading this.