The Advantage of Not Voting for Donald Trump

As the world seems to going pretty much to he** in a handbasket, an argument can be made that Republicans who did not vote for Donald Trump are the lucky ones.

When Democrats come up with more of their ideas to solve the problems of the world with more and more government, we can be glad we’re not Democrats.  Because we understand that the fact the Berlin Wall has been gone for almost 30 years, doesn’t make those kinds of ideas any more sensible now than they were then.

When President Trump comes up with another of his “really unusual” ideas, fires somebody on Twitter, or yet again says something that just isn’t true, we can honestly say that we didn’t vote for him – and not feel like we have to defend him because we supported him. 

And finally, when one of President Trump’s appointees does something good, like revoking a “Dear Colleague” guidance letter and proceeding to issue proper regulations in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, we can be happy that some people in government actually understand the idea of rule of law.

All in all, not the worst positon in these hyper-partisan times.  Except, obviously (actually, probably not all that obviously to some people), this was written tongue in check.  Actually, it is the Republicans who didn’t vote for Donald Trump who best understand how bad things could get.

Instead of all those victories that Donald Trump promised (so many that we would get tired of winning), we see things like the Wisconsin Supreme Court race earlier this week.  While this might seem like a “who cares” kind of thing, it isn’t.  Wisconsin was one of the places where the anti-President Obama/anti-big government Democrats movement took off.  First, with Scott Walker’s 2010 election and then with his big win in the 2012 recall election.¹

But now the tide seems to be turning in Wisconsin.  On Tuesday, a liberal candidate won an open supreme court race in Wisconsin for the first time in 20 years.  A state senate seat that was allegedly gerrymandered to guarantee a Republican victory was won by the Democratic candidate in January.

Nationally, the trend in House of Representatives races has been clear.  Maybe President Trump is doing okay with his base, but the middle, where elections are actually won, seems to feel differently.  Note to Trump supporters: It’s not just the media.  Enough people aren’t getting out and voting for Republicans.  A Democratic wave could be coming in 2018.

And Republicans who didn’t vote for Donald Trump are the ones who really understand what that means.  Two years with a Congress controlled by the Democrats will make the current situation in Washington seem calm.  If the Democrats win in 2020, see the second paragraph of this post.  Whatever gains supporters of limited government have made since 2011 (when the Republicans captured the House) and 2016, which haven’t been as much as some wanted – or thought we such get,² will be washed away – and a lot more.³

It’s not going to be good, and too many supporters of President Trump don’t even understand why.
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¹ A victory that Governor Walker won in spite of secret government investigations into and harassment of his campaigns.  (See, inter alia, here and here.)
² And which they somehow blamed on the Republicans even though the Republicans only controlled the House from 2011-2014 and Barack Obama was president until January 20, 2017.
³ Some may say that Donald Trump won in 2016, even though he wasn't supposed to.  Republicans can win in 2018, and President Trump can win again in 2020, even though they aren't supposed to.  The problem with that thinking is that not all Democratic candidates will be as bad as the Democratic presidential candidate in 2016.
UPDATE (4/5/2016 12:02 pm): Added footnote 3.