Never Hillary, Not Trump: What’s a Conscientious Gun Voter to Do?

I was going to start off by bitching about our flawed two-party system and how it continues to give us, how shall I put it, less than ideal candidates.  I mean, look at who we ended up with this year: a corrupt, womanizing gangster — and Donald Trump.

LOL.  You get the joke, right?  Hillary has been rumored to fool around with women and, of course, she’s as crooked as the day is long.  I’m not going to recap all her scandals, but just the most recent regarding her tenure as Secretary of State.

This isn’t even up for debate. These are just the facts. Clinton has done all of the following: mishandled classified material, purposely deleted classified material, deleted more classified material while under subpoena, lied  repeatedly about deleting classified material.  That type of criminal behavior would damn me, you or anyone else under the sun.  One man was jailed for  a heck of a lot less.     

Donald Trump, the next president of the U.S.? (Photo: AP/ Charles Krupa)

Anyways, I’ve always hated the Clintons.  I mean, how can one tolerate slimy, career politicians with more baggage than a jumbo jet?  So, for me, at least, the “never Hillary” mantra was something I’ve embraced for a long, long time, starting with her bid back in 2008 (On a side note, if you want to stump a Hillary fan, just ask them to name one tangible thing she’s done during her political career to benefit the country).

Since the DNC rigged the system so that a Hillary ticket was inevitable, in the face of a true and legitimate grassroots campaign for Bernie Sanders, it basically left me with one option, the Republican nominee (which is where I end up anyhow, cuz of the Dems entrenched and pervasive disdain for the 2A).  Who would the GOP select?

Well, to my surprise, billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump won the nomination.  Why was I surprised?  Because, over the years, he has held almost every position on every issue one can think of.  As it relates to the Second Amendment, he was for a ban on black rifles when he wrote his book, “The America We Deserve,” in 2000 but now he’s evidently against it.  Sure, politicians “evolve” on positions but Trump takes it to a whole new level.

Yet, as a friend recently told me, the problem with Trump is not his newly discovered conservative principles, his documented history of backing gun control legislation, nor his lack of specificity when debating the issues — but the simple fact that Trump is an a-hole.  Yes, Trump is a self-absorbed a-hole.  Need proof, well consider just a few of his recent statements:

• “Ariana Huffington is unattractive, both inside and out. I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man – he made a good decision.”
• “You know, it really doesn’t matter what the media write as long as you’ve got a young, and beautiful, piece of ass.”
• “If I were running ‘The View’, I’d fire Rosie O’Donnell. I mean, I’d look at her right in that fat, ugly face of hers, I’d say ‘Rosie, you’re fired.’”
• “All of the women on The Apprentice flirted with me – consciously or unconsciously. That’s to be expected.”
• “The beauty of me is that I’m very rich.”
• “I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.”
• “I have never seen a thin person drinking Diet Coke.”
• “Look at those hands, are they small hands? And, [Marco Rubio] referred to my hands: ‘If they’re small, something else must be small.’ I guarantee you there’s no problem. I guarantee.”
• “He’s not a war hero.  He [Sen. John McCain] was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
• “You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything…Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”

And consider this video:

Trump comes off as a petulant, vengeful, egotistical a-hole.  I’m sorry Trump fanatics, but he does. And there is overwhelming evidence to support this evaluation.  The question is are you honest enough to acknowledge the truth about Trump?  That if he was saying those things about your mother or sister or father or brother, you wouldn’t find it so funny or charming or poignant (Plus, can you ever imagine Reagan saying those things?).

The other question, of course, is how will Trump lead the free world?  Will he continue to be petty and crude and childish?  Sure, that works on Twitter and a GOP debate stage, but how does that type of behavior work on a global level?  Trump seems to have a lot of friends, but a lot of enemies as well.  What happens if a foreign diplomat slights Trump?  Does he then proceed to denounce that individual in a Rosie-O’Donnell-type tirade?

I wouldn’t put it past him to do such a thing.  How would this type of behavior affect our relationships with foreign powers?  Seriously, for those of you fully aboard the Trump train, I’d really love to know your answer to that question.

The way I see it there is a non-trivial chance that Trump could be, to use one of his favorite words, a “disaster” as president.  Worse than Hillary?  No. Hillary Clinton equals certain death — for our Second Amendment, our Constitution, and our way of life.  But Trump could be bad — really, really bad.  And that’s what I want to go on the record and say.  

So, how will I vote today?

I will be holding my nose and voting for the a-hole in the hope that he proves me wrong, that if elected president he will do right by the American people.  The hard fact is that Trump is not a great option, he is the only option.  So, here goes nothing…

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Who are you voting for?  And why?  What are your thoughts on Trump and Hillary?  Who do you think wins it?