Supporting Donald Trump is a bitter pill for many conservatives and libertarians to swallow.
But, to the two of us, a Republican and a recently declared independent, it is ultimately the only defensible decision if our votes are to make any difference on November 8.
No one should consider staying home on Election Day.
Voting third party, while attractive on the psychological level and, perhaps, superficially gratifying on a moral level, is a self-indulgent luxury we cannot afford in 2016.
Either Donald Trump or the Clintons will be the next President of the United States. The certainties that come with electing the Clintons overshadow both the known flaws and the uncertainties of a President Trump.
One of us left the Republican Party in 2015, not in protest over Donald Trump’s lack of a credible track record on issues conservatives care about, but over the Republican establishment’s betrayal of the party’s principles, platform and unwillingness to oppose Obama’s unconstitutional power grabs.
The other was a pledged Ted Cruz delegate to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, who supported the floor walkout over RNC hijinks on convention procedures and rules, and has since expressed serious doubts over Donald Trump’s temperament, history and policy flip-flops.
We still have many of those doubts about both Trump’s fitness and the Republican Party’s commitment to carry out Trump’s promises, especially on border control, Islamic terrorism, and Supreme Court appointments.
Nevertheless, while those doubts and concerns remain, they pale into insignificance when compared to the absolute certainty of the fate that awaits constitutional liberty under the “progressive” rule of Hillary Clinton.
Take the Supreme Court vacancies as an example of the real-world choice we face in November.
Are we 100 percent confident that Donald Trump will appoint true constitutionalist judges to fill court vacancies? No. But we are 100% certain that Hillary Clinton will appoint progressive judges who will undermine the 2nd Amendment and other essential freedoms.
Are we 100 percent certain that Donald Trump will build a border fence, enforce our immigration laws and say no to another general amnesty? No, we can’t be 100 percent certain of that.
But we know that Hillary Clinton will continue and probably even expand Obama’s outrageous dismantling of immigration law enforcement.She says so.
We could list a dozen other important issues where Trump may disappoint us by not following through on his promises, and a few other issues where his policies remain murky at best. But on those issues most important to constitutional conservatives, Donald Trump is significantly more likely to follow a conservative path than Hillary Clinton.
The new “progressive” Democrats have even stopped pretending to respect the Constitution. To them, it’s just an old piece of paper made obsolete by history and multiculturalism.
The Democrat Party of Truman and JFK is dead, replaced by an openly socialist party committed to massive income redistribution and “global citizenship.”
Trump has tapped into the concerns and frustrations of those alienated Republicans and “Blue Dog Democrats” whose parties are now unrecognizable to them.
He has surrounded himself with and listens to other strong voices who, whether they pass the constitutional conservative purity test or not, fully support his never-wavering mantra of America First.
He has imperfectly, but significantly, adapted his behaviors and his rhetoric to his new role as potential future president.
These actions and more, plus the support of a fast-growing number of true movement conservatives, border patrol agents, police fraternities, Tea Party Patriots, military heroes, wildly changing and favorable polling, and the voices that have been pushing us all along–all have made the case for Donald Trump.
And the thought (nightmare) of President Hillary and First (whatever) Bill Clinton seals the deal.
The Republican Party is at a crossroads, and many of the Old Guard and the insiders of the Washington establishment (what Ted Cruz rightfully refers to as the “cartel”), are openly supporting Hillary Clinton.
Why? Because she does not threaten the status quo. Donald Trump does. Well, we say, good riddance, and we pray that Trump really does mean to turn DC on its head! We know that Hillary will not.
For months now since the Cleveland convention, both of us have been saying about Donald Trump that we will probably hold our nose and vote for him despite our misgivings.
Because of Trump’s contradictory past, many conservatives will be doing that on November 8.
If that is the best you can do, so be it. But, we have concluded that with so much at stake, a reluctant vote is not enough.
With Donald Trump we at least have a shot at preserving our Constitution. That leads us to stand up and say: Donald Trump, we see that your glass is only half full.
But, to a nation dying on the desert of Political Correctness, that is salvation enough. We would rather spend the next four years fighting a potentially dying Party and an America First President, though both are not well-grounded in our principles, than figuring out how to survive a third Obama term run by the feeble, dishonest, Alinskyite heads of the now-exposed (for those who care to see) Clinton dynasty.
There is a very small space between #NeverHillary and #NeverTrump. It’s called the voting booth. The debates are coming and Election Day is approaching fast. Let’s fire it up. Let’s give our nation a fighting chance.
Let’s win with Trump.
Randy Corporon is a Colorado attorney, former radio talk show host, Tea Party leader, Cruz delegate to the Cleveland convention, and an outspoken critic of the Republican nominee.Tom Tancredo is a former Republican congressman and presidential candidate from Colorado.