Who's Left?

Bernie Sanders has had a good run.  The last few weeks he has picked up a few delegates, and his supporters are all excited about the next few states.  Even if he wins them, though, he will be way behind Hillary.  He should drop out.  He had his chance, and did surprisingly well but not good enough to win the nomination. 

Rubio is out; other Republicans will be out soon.  It's going to come down to Trump vs. Clinton.  Trump was a surprise to the Republicans, and he is threatening to take over the party.  They created him, of course.  Now most of them are afraid of the monster they unleased, though some are jumping on the bandwagon.  He represents the ignorant, bigoted wing of the GOP- in other words, most of it.  They say they're not that way, but they are. How do I know this?  Because so many Republicans will end up voting for him.  Why?  "Well, at least he's not Hillary."  I know she is a typical politician, but I don't understand why they hate her so much that they are willing to elect a bigot. 

"She lied!"  Well, she's a politician, that's part of the job description.  And Trump lies in every speech he makes, and most Reps aren't bothered by it.  So that's off the table. So, now tell me why you don't like her.  Tell me why you want a reality star, a sleazy scam artist, a habitual self-promoter.  Tell me why you think he is more qualified to be president.  I am very disappointed in any remaining supposedly-rational conservatives who would support him.

Some Sanders supporters say they will never vote for Clinton.  If they enable Trump to win by not voting, or by writing in a candidate who has no hope of winning, part of the blame for whatever Trump does will be theirs.  Similarly, if any Clinton supporters refuse to vote for Sanders in the fall if he somehow gets the nomination, they share the blame too.  Look, I am not a fan of Hillary.  There is plenty I disagree with her about.  However, if she wins the nomination I will vote for her.  If Bernie wins, I will vote for him.  Why?  Because either of them is better than Trump (or any of the Republicans this time around.)  You don't like her?  Fine.  Suck it up, and vote against Trump.  Listen, we don't always have perfect candidates.  Actually, we never do.  Run yourself if you think you can do a better job.  We have the candidates we have.  That's the real world.  Sometimes you go into a restaurant and have a surfeit of good choices.  It's hard to narrow things down.  In politics, it's usually the opposite: there are no good choices, just too many bad ones.  You have to choose the least bad option, not the super awesome one.   That's called reality.

I think the fact that so many Sanders supporters are saying they won't vote for Clinton is a subconscious acknowledgement that they think she will win the nomination...  I don't hear
Clinton supporters saying they refuse to vote for Sanders in the general election, possibly for the same reason.   I wish we had someone else running, but I will vote for anyone who has a chance to beat Trump.