I admit it—I was wrong

Posted January 2021

By Garon Jones

Staff Editor

I was wrong. A few short months ago, I published a hastily written column voicing my support for President Trump as a lesser of two evils candidate. In my Op-Ed, I made the argument that Trump was the best candidate for president over his opponent Joe Biden, despite my own personal flaws with both candidates.

I made the case that Trump had problems, both in character and in policy, but it was worth it to elect him as president only to stop the big government policies of Biden. But after much thought and deliberation, I have changed my opinion on the issue. The views I expressed in my previous column are not the ones I currently hold today. And now that some time has passed, I want to publish a column to update and convince my readers differently.

Some of you may say that I am unprincipled, that my views are weak because I was able to change them so suddenly. But people change, people grow, and people learn. That is exactly what I have done over the past few months. I hope you, my faithful reader, will examine the following with that in mind.

First, I would like to make clear that many of the sentiments I expressed in my previous column are still the same I hold today. I still believe that president Trump has many negative and many positive qualities when it comes to policy.

But I argued in my previous column that the number of negatives wasn’t enough to rule out the possibility of casting a vote for him in the 2020 election. Now I have come to realize that there are too many negatives and not enough positives to cast my vote for a candidate like Trump. My principles have not changed, but my criteria for electing a president has.

Although I don’t tie myself down anywhere politically, I would like to make clear my political beliefs are closest to that of a self described libertarian. For those who also do not know, a libertarian is not a conservative. Libertarians in terms of principle seek to prioritize individual liberty by recognizing the individual’s rights as being paramount. Libertarians, therefore, see the government as an inherent hindrance to liberty and seek to reduce the power of the state as much as possible. Conservatives, on the other hand, typically seek to use political authority to uphold traditional institutions. Conservatives, despite their rhetoric, support large government as well; tariffs, welfare programs, restrictive immigration, and a big budget military being just a few examples.

I bring this up because Trump is not a libertarian. And as a libertarian, Trump still does not align close enough with my beliefs on key issues.

Would I expect a candidate to align with every single one of my views completely? No, of course not. But there comes a point where a candidate has drifted far enough away from how you think on policy to the point where a vote for that candidate wouldn't be right or principled. And I think Trump has done that.

Myself, along with many others were so caught up in “destroying the left” or “stopping sleepy Joe Biden,” that we chose to pull the lever for Trump no matter what he did. If you’re on the left pollitically, I’m certain you get frustrated when the following cycle takes place: The president says something wrong or dumb, the right rush to defend him, and the president is fueled to say something wrong or dumb again.

And while frustrating, this cycle can only continue with a radical opposition Republicans are hellbent on destroying. Would the right have any reason to defend a character like Trump if the left weren’t so radical? I would say not a chance.

And I would also like to point out, hypocrisy isn’t unique to the right or the left. Hypocrisy is universal among human beings. We can all be hypocrites.

When Bill Clinton had his now famous affair with Monica Lewinsky, the right rushed to criticize Clinton and claimed the moral high ground. The left defended him. When Trump paid hush money to a porn star after he had an affair, the left turned to take the moral high ground, while the right rushed to support Trump anyway.

Now members of the right and left may call foul and say “But this was different! You’re comparing apples and oranges!” Or some such language. But the point here is clear: When it’s your side that does something reprehensible, you’re more likely to defend your side.

Tribalism that has taken over American politics. Politics in America is no longer about principle. It’s about the tribe. Defend your tribe, attack the other tribe. Simple as that. I will admit, the column I published back in October was a tribalist column. I defended my tribe, and attacked the other.

This is precisely why I feel I must clean things up. I still will keep my column published for you all to read for perspective, but this updated piece should show how my views have changed. Something else that has changed is that I’ve come to recognize voting a person into office requires higher standards than “the other guy is going to be worse.”

Would America get Joe Biden for four years? Yes. Would he implement terrible policies? Absolutely. But I would rather see four years of a Biden presidency, than a Trump presidency which would continue to destroy the conservative image for decades to come. Trump is not appetizing. Just like Richard Nixon, Trump does not make conservatism appetizing for most Americans. A figure like Trump, attaching himself so fiercely to the right wing, makes that a dangerous prospect for any future conservative running for office.

Now let’s discuss my column directly. I will not be dissecting every single piece, as that would take up far too much time, and is completely unnecessary. But I will be quoting some of the key points I made in October, and I will discuss and correct as I see necessary.

In the first couple paragraphs, I cite the importance of voting and point out that “100 million registered voters threw away one of their most important civic duties and privileges. They let the radicals on both sides of the political aisle pick the future for them. Something like that shouldn’t be happening. Voting is important. Too important to throw away just because both candidates aren’t enough.” Here, I state my opinion that no one should throw away their vote, of course also implying that people should go out and vote for Trump.

I still don’t believe that someone who can vote should stay home. But that doesn’t mean pick a candidate who still isn’t right to vote for. If you agree with Republican principles, vote for a Republican, if you agree with Libertarian principles, vote for a Libertarian. Don’t vote for a Republican because he or she has a higher chance of winning.

Some people like to claim that voting for a third party presidential candidate is still throwing away your vote. But had those 100 million people in 2016 showed up to vote third party, those same people would be whistling a different tune.

Claiming that because so few people do something right, that choosing to do something bad is still good, is like claiming you should litter because everyone else litters. Do what is right. Never do something that is popular only because it is popular. And if you don’t think voting third party is enough? Do more! Campaign for them; donate to their campaign; talk to your friends and convince them to vote; make speeches; host debates; write columns; go on social media. Being politically active only “doesn’t matter” when a person does the bare minimum.

Later in my column, I point out some of the positive things the Trump Administration has accomplished in their first term. “Most importantly, he cut taxes. For too long, the government under both parties has put the interests of Washington above the people, and these tax cuts are a step in the right direction” I note other things as well, including protecting gun rights and nominating textualist judges as reasons in favor of a second Trump term. But these are things almost ANY Republican president would accomplish anyway.

I take note that there are some things unique to Trump, for example, “He is the first president in my lifetime to stand up to the media and their clear bias. He is the first president in my lifetime to truly stand up to establishment Republicans.” It’s true Trump has brought media distrust further into the mainstream, and I applaud him for doing so. It’s important the American people see the mainstream media for what they are. But it’s also true he has pushed conservatives to other forms of biased media like Breitbart, Fox, and Daily Wire, even deepening the divide between what kind of media we consume as Americans.

And as far as standing up to establishment Republicans, he has certainly taken over the Republican Party, but in one of the worst possible ways. The Republican party has even further evolved into the party of welfare, big government, tariffs, protectionism, and bailouts.

I rightly point out in my previous column that the Trump Administration has been a disaster on key issues like trade, immigration, and spending. And I rightly point out that Trump’s rhetoric, lies, and incoherent agenda is a major problem for conservatism. But at the time, I believed these were miniscule problems compared to what was to come in a Biden Administration. But Trump has made these problems long term issues that aren’t just going to go away with the next Republican candidate.

Trump’s changing in the party platform will be the future of the Republican Party. The large percentage of his base supports his views on key issues, and I think it’s clear exactly where the country is heading. The left will become further and further radicalized, and the right will slowly shift along with them. The two party system is no longer about big government vs. small government, it’s about big government vs. bigger government. And the right is perfectly falling into that trap.

Because of Trump, and the Republican presidents before him, I don’t believe conservatism will ever return to even pretending that big government is even a problem.

To reiterate, it’s not just Trump’s policy that will change conservatism in the long run. It’s Trump himself. Trump is a widely unpopular and polarizing figure. Why would anyone want to associate themselves with a party that backed such a polarizing figure for years on end? Trump has made it more likely that voters will associate the Republican party with the nastiest parts of himself.

The scars of Trumpism will be a stain on Conservatism and everything associated with conservatism for decades to come, and I believe that is far more dangerous than anything a Biden Administration will do in just four years’ time.

When I wrote my column, I also devoted a portion to listing out why a Biden Administration will become so disastrous. And I stand by the fact that that is true. But I no longer believe it is a proper reason to vote for a candidate like Trump. I’m tired of playing the “lesser of two evils" game. The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend.

Finally, I would like to quote from the parting paragraph of my October column. In it, I wrote that “sometimes we must compromise when faced with tough choices in the moment to face real results in the future.” And I still believe that to be true.

But the compromise now must be a four year Biden Presidency. He will be the president now, and that will be the compromise libertarians and conservatives must face. We will fight back. We will advocate for principles that are true to what we believe in. And we don’t need President Trump to do it.