IN THE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY …
On Tuesday, voters in Tennessee will cast a ballot in, among other races, the presidential preference primary.
The outcome for Republicans may be a foregone conclusion. Former President Donald Trump has won every 2024 state primary to date by significant margins, and he won a majority in the Volunteer State with 60.72% of the vote in 2016 and 60.66% in 2020.
He’s likely to win the state again Tuesday.
And yet.
For those of us who believe Trump is unfit to return to the White House, and would abhor four more years by the current occupant, there is every reason to vote for someone other than the former president in the Republican primary.
Nikki Haley is the former governor of South Carolina and former United Nations ambassador and would make an excellent president. Four of her former opponents, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, are also on the ballot. Although all four have dropped out of the race, any of the four would make a better president than Trump.
What’s more significant is that any of the five would have a better chance of winning the presidency in November than the former president. Indeed, in the latest poll listed on RealClearPolitics.com matching the two, Haley defeats Biden 58%-42% in a hypothetical race.
Republican presidential primary voters in Tennessee need to ask themselves if it is more important to return a conservative to the White House or potentially risk a second Joe Biden administration because they want to honor the cult of a man who already is his own cult hero.
In the Real Clear Politics average of polls, Trump leads Biden 47% to 44.9%, a 2.1% difference that would be within the margin of error in any legitimate poll. What that means is Biden could actually be leading Trump in national polling.
And the national media — without question not on Trump’s side — has not yet begun to fight. Once Trump secures enough votes for the Republican nomination, which could be this month, the media will bore in with a probe like never before. If you thought they’ve been unfair to him while he’s been out of office, imagine what they’ll do to keep him from getting it back.
But a biased national media is not Trump’s worst enemy. He is.
Most of his campaign pronouncements are not about the measured ways in which he would broker peace, restore confidence in the economy, increase the size of the military and shut down the Southern border. They are bluster — and sometimes scary bluster, as recently when he suggested he would leave non-fair share paying NATO members to the wiles of Russia.
And given his constant anger and his history of unethical behavior, it’s hard to take him seriously when he recently told religious broadcasters, “But no one will be touching the cross of Christ under the Trump administration, I swear to you.” It’s practically stomach turning.
We understand why many Republicans still stand by their man. He takes it to “the other guy” better than any Republican since Ronald Reagan, but Reagan did it with a wink and a smile. He’s not afraid of at least pointing out the nation’s problems, rather than couching his statements with the ooze of comfort. He’s unafraid of the national media and willing to point out their biases. He convinces the average man he’s on his side, though certainly he didn’t always follow through as president.
But in the almost nine years since Trump descended the golden escalator to announce his candidacy, he has transformed from the upstart campaigner to a cult figure. Whatever is good for Trump now is more important than whatever is good for the country. Whatever scores he needs to settle are more vital than putting our national house in order. Whatever vindication he needs for 2020 is more critical than putting much thought into solving the issues of the day.
Unfortunately, that puts his unpopularity in the same ZIP code as Biden’s (again, before the media have dug in). And you may have heard he has a little legal trouble in his future. Seems like such would be a little disconcerting on a candidate for the White House or a president.
All this to say that Tennesseans who know in their heart that Trump is not fit to be president again — and we think that’s a much larger number than say so to pollsters — should vote for someone else on Tuesday, whether it’s Haley, DeSantis or a more fringe candidate. We’re not naive enough to think it will change the outcome on Super Tuesday, but if more and more Americans do that in primaries across the country, it will send a message to the Republican National Committee that a growing number of party faithful are uncomfortable with Trump. And perhaps a change could be made.
We’ll leave you with what we wrote before the 2016 general election because we don’t believe it has changed: “We are shocked and saddened the man so many looking for change believed could help ‘make America great again’ continues to be demeaning in his rhetoric, largely unrepentant in his deeds and not genuinely conservative in his principles.”