For years, I’ve viewed DailyKos as a mostly righteous home of thinking progressives. I know that Salon, Slate, Alternet, and others are always going to view everything as left vs wrong, but I’m going to appeal to this site to rally progressives towards the conservative cause of stopping Donald Trump.
As hard as it may be to believe, most true conservatives do not support Donald Trump or his rhetoric. The important thing to note in that statement is that it’s conservatives (as compared to Republicans) who do not support him as much as most seem to believe. Yes, there are those with limited understanding who espouse some conservative values and bow down to the NYC version of a rich hillbilly pretending to be a knowledgeable politician, but those of us who study the world of politics and believe in conservative values generally do not see him as a viable candidate, let alone a proper nominee.
He definitely cannot be allowed to be President of the United States and unfortunately for all of us that seems to be at least a possibility at this point. You can say what you will about his ability to win the general election against Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, but take it from someone who has been following the attacks against him that nothing seems to stick to this guy. He’s like the Hulk from the original Eric Bana movie. The more bullets and rockets you send at him, the stronger his support becomes.
I’m not asking for help just because I don’t like the guy. I’m asking for help from a progressive website because he is a danger to all of us, conservative and progressive. Some on the left are salivating over the prospects of the GOP nominating him. At first, I believed that the proper progressive path to victory was for the left in general and many members of the mainstream media in particular to secretly push for Trump to be the nominee because they could accumulate ammunition for use in the general election. This seems to be at least partially the ongoing strategy but it won’t work. He’s demonstrating what many conservatives (and I hope at least a some progressives) are learning in this election cycle: uninformed voters outnumber informed voters. This is why Trump might win the nomination. This is why he could also win the general election.
For context, most thinking conservatives believe in border security and even E-Verify, but we aren’t in support of a deportation squad. Most thinking conservatives believe in religious liberty which means that putting surveillance on mosques, churches, or any non-criminal citizen is a blatant betrayal of the Constitution. Most thinking conservatives believe that the media is corrupt, but we don’t go around insulting them for no reason nor do we make fun of their disabilities.
Donald Trump represents an unfortunately large number of Republicans, but to think that he would never appeal to independents or moderate Democrats is naive. If you’re one of the progressives who thinks that he’s your best chance of retaining the White House, you’re wrong. He needs to be stopped before the nomination is solidified.
A proper fight would be our best man or woman versus your best woman or man. Trump represents a wild card scenario that could yield a landslide victory for either side depending on how things shake out at the time. If you want to roll your dice based upon having a weak candidate, I can understand the play. If you think that you have the best platform and that you’ll nominate a strong candidate, you should be rooting against Trump.
This isn’t just a call for help. It’s an apology regarding those who claim to be conservatives and support him. It’s also a rebuke against anyone who would classify him with us. Most thinking conservatives believe Trump is a very dangerous potential President of the United States.