If I had a gun to my head (probably held by a right-wing, gun-loving extremist who doubled the number of guns in his/her possession right after Sandy Hook) and I was forced to make a choice between Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio, I would choose Trump. Despite everything The Donald has shown us so far (all his hateful positions), and everything that he hasn’t (any coherent foreign or domestic policy), I would choose him without hesitation or second thought and not only because I’ve already given the question a lot of thought.
Marco Rubio
I would never, ever vote for Marco Rubio. His youthful appearance and articulate speech hide extreme right-wing beliefs such as his anti-choice position on abortion even in cases of rape and incest. Then there’s the fact that Rubio wants us to buy that he’s the best choice to unite the country (which is easy to believe considering his other two main opponents). On ABC’s “This Week,” he declared:
“…our next president has to be someone that can bring this country together, some level of unity. Not unanimity, we’re not going to agree on every issue, but someone that will seek to unite Americans, not pit us against each other.”
But, let us not forget that Rubio was one of the first politicians to identify with and be adopted by the Tea Party, the most disruptive and divisive political movement in recent history. It is also clear that a big part of Rubio’s strategy is to criticize President Obama. By my count, he’s the Republican candidate that has criticized him the most. A uniter he is not.
Ted Cruz
Take what I said about never, ever voting for Marco Rubio and multiply that a million times and you will understand my feelings about Ted Cruz.
Like his fellow Cuban-American, Cruz is also a product of the Tea Party. In fact, the largest Tea Party group in America, The Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund, endorsed Cruz for President at the end of January. But unlike Rubio, who seems to be a true conservative, Cruz is above all a Cruzist. He wants to be president and he will do, has done, whatever it takes to achieve it, including antagonizing members of his own party, to such a degree that the entire GOP does not want him for President. However, worse than the hurt feelings of his colleagues was his 2013 government shutdown over Obamacare which, luckily for him, his supporters have forgotten.
Donald Trump
Now, The Donald, has more in common with Cruz than with Rubio in that he is in it for himself. He is above all a Trumpist. But, unlike Rubio and Cruz, he is no right-winger, perhaps not even much of a conservative.
His many Trumpeted opinions show him to be a racist, and a sexist, amongst a host of other undesirable traits. But, how refreshing that we know that he is all those things. Contrast that with Tea Partiers and establishment Republicans who use coded language and hide behind concepts like religious freedom to propagate their intolerance, their racism, and their fear-mongering.
Donald Trump is the least of three evils (if I may borrow a favorite word from the sanctimonious right). Add to that how much I’m enjoying watching him truthfully call Ted Cruz a liar. Besides, his Trumpeting is also exposing the “phoniness and corruption” of our democracy, as Frank Rich explains in his article The Importance Of Donald Trump.
Now, of course, in a general election, there is no way that I would ever vote for Donald Trump. The reasons are endless. But, to be honest, even if Jeb Bush, the most qualified of the Republican candidates, would have stayed in the race to eventually win his party’s nomination, he would not have gotten my vote. As I’ve repeatedly mentioned, the GOP has lost my vote for eternity, after their behavior of the last seven years.
In November, I will be voting for the one person who is the most qualified to be our next president. The fact that she’s a woman is the cherry on top.
