For weeks I’ve tried to write an article that expresses a clear view of this presidential election. Yet the landscape has been shifting so constantly—driven both by the conventions and Donald Trump’s hourly hijacking of the news cycle and my Twitter feed—that it has been impossible to stop taking notes and start writing.
It has become clear that there will never be a right time to stop accumulating evidence for why the choice of president has never been simpler to make.
Donald Trump is unqualified, unprepared and unfit to serve as president.
Hillary Clinton, while imperfect, is a hard-working public servant who has the knowledge, experience and temperament necessary to be president.
DONALD TRUMP
Trump shouldered his way through a crowded Republican primary field by identifying America’s deepest fears and angers, and exploiting them with false promises, inflated threats and an almost pathological bluntness. As I wrote in December, Trump is a snake oil salesman, saying whatever he thinks will resonate at any given moment with his immediate audience. Facts and values seem to matter little to him, which has made it impossible to hold him responsible for his words or actions.
There is no place for Trump’s negative vision, factual bankruptcy, uneven temperament and authoritarian leadership style, not just today, but ever in America. He has hijacked one of the two primary parties in America and left many on both sides of the aisle yearning for a staggering array of historical Republicans, roughly identified by dint of their not being Donald Trump.
At times he has touched on issues that matter to a significant portion of Americans. Yet, instead of proposing realistic solutions to fix them, he has turned to the dark side of the political force to play upon those fears and poison the waters of American political debate. When he has proposed plans, they have largely been found to be wildly expensive or untenable.
Trump’s camp is filled with family members, ethically challenged consultants, thuggish veterans, conspiracy theorists and Vladimir Putin. He has been shunned, condemned or kept at arms length by nearly every notable Republican in America.
The most important thing for Americans to do this election is not reward Trump or his supporters by bestowing upon him any more power or legitimacy than he already has.
Which brings us to the flip side of the equation. Is this election all about #NeverTrump? A negative campaign to stop a negative man?
HILLARY CLINTON
No. While this may not be 2008, when anything seemed possible, there is still room for optimism in America. And thus we arrive at Hillary Clinton. Or, as Trump called her last week: “the devil.”
Clinton is a flawed candidate, as we have learned after watching her for over quarter-century. Liberals are uncomfortable with her hawkishness, while moderates worry about her alignment with the Democratic Party’s highly progressive convention platform. Yet her weaknesses—which have largely been enumerated in the course of the world’s most famous email scandal—have been overshadowed as Trump has risen to the top riding and stoking a tsunami of lies, half-truths and insinuations unparalleled in major party politics. We have fixated on her most notable missteps or imagined missteps (Benghazi) because unlike Trump, she doesn’t commit a litany of unpardonable offenses and gaffes on an hourly basis.
I feel comfortable supporting her, and asking others across the ideological spectrum to do so too, because I believe that she does care about being a good leader, about making informed decisions, and about sustaining an America that already has in place all the elements necessary for greatness. She is a policy wonk and a skilled political and bureaucratic executive who has spent decades preparing for the responsibility of the presidency. Unlike Trump, she has a track record that shows that she works well with others on both sides of the aisle, consults with experts and makes decisions based on the best available information and her own judgment. In case of emergency, she has the experience to guide the ship of state.
Clinton understands too, unlike Trump, that the presidency is about far more than one person. That’s why she has built a strong, national organization and united Democratic leaders across the country, overcoming the wholly unexpected Bernie Sanders insurgency. As a member of the Truman National Security Project, I have had the opportunity to meet a number of progressive national security leaders and experts who have already served under Clinton in the Senate, in the State Department and on the campaign trail. I have unshakeable confidence in the people who are likely to fill the ranks of Clinton’s administration.
HOW WILL YOU VOTE?
There is no inspirational or aspirational choice in 2016. The third party candidates will once again be relegated to protest votes no matter how hard one tries to envision Gary Johnson or Jill Stein as a white knight.
Yet there is still a clear choice, between a flawed but hardworking, stable and experienced candidate, and a temperamental man child who seeks power, respect and influence for his own personal benefit, yet has no vision, plan or clue to offer America in return.
Ultimately, it may not be quite “yes we can,” but on November 8, 2016, the choice is clear: Donald Trump is unfit to serve. Hillary Clinton is the best choice to be the next President of the United States of America.