That is what my coworker said to me the day after Trump officially became the face of the Republican Party, and this is interesting beyond the #NeverTrump movement and can be very instructive if we let it be.
It goes like this: my coworker is quite active in the Republican Party. He’s run for office, he donates, he phonebanks, he knocks on doors. He knows all of the other Republicans in town (there aren’t many of them here) and he truly believes in what the party is supposed to stand for. I, of course, heartily disagree with him about what his party stands for being a good thing, but he knows I’m a liberal and I know he’s a conservative and we both really like each other regardless of that.
So I was interested in hearing his opinion on the topic of his primary, but I didn’t want to bring it up because while he never explicitly told me who he was supporting, I know him well enough to know that he wasn’t a Trump kind of guy, and I knew it would be a sore spot for him. I figured I’d wait a couple weeks before bringing up the topic, but he ended up bringing it up himself, and this is the conversation that followed:
Republican coworker: I can’t believe what the party just did. I just can’t believe it.
Me: Y’know, as a Democrat I should be quite happy with what your party just did because it makes it so easy for us-
RCW: Well, there’s that, too-
Me: But I am absolutely horrified that this is a thing that’s happening.
RCW: You and me both. And I won’t vote for him. I absolutely won’t. And I won’t vote for any downticket candidate who doesn’t strongly disavow him and everything about him.
Me: Yeah, I’ve heard and read a lot of Republicans who say the same thing, but I don’t take it for granted because come October, you’ll all be focused on the general election and most of you will come home, so I’m going to work my ass off to make sure he absolutely cannot win.
RCW: No, that won’t happen this year, it will not happen. I can’t speak for anyone else but speaking for myself, I will never, ever cast a vote for that man.
Me: [with a skeptical look] C’mon, you’re not going to let Hillary win this thing.
RCW: Yes, yes I will. Look, there are four types of voters. There’s the left- people like you, there’s the right- people like me, and then there are the moderate or independents who lean left, and then those who lean right. Who does he bring together? Not the left, or the moderates or independents, but a fraction of the right and a fraction of the lean right.
Me: But he also won, like, every demographic in your party, including moderates and conservatives, religious and not-so-religious, rich and poor. He kind of mopped the floor with all of them.
RCW: Yes, but the base, the people like me who aren’t into this Tea Party crap, who don’t believe in populism, have rejected him. Everything he’s proposed would take more than an act of Congress and no one is going to go along for the ride. So he wins with people who think Obama is a dictator and those people are a problem for our party, and we’ll just embolden them if he wins.
Me: Okay. So, a lot of people are saying that by accepting him as the nominee, the Republican Party just openly stated that they’re putting party before country. And you’re saying that you’re doing the same, just in the opposite direction, that the only way to save your party is to stop Trump?
RCW: I’m doing both. I want to save the party from what it’s become, but I also think he’d be terrible for the country, and that’s more important to me than the party.
Me: He would bring a lot of chaos, and a country in chaos is a really bad thing because it reverberates throughout the world. That’s why he terrifies me: the racism and xenophobia and every other disgusting thing about him is enough to make me hate him, but the chaos that would ensue if he was president would be more than what this country can handle.
RCW: Chaos- that’s a good point. [Laughs] Here I’m thinking about the disaster he’d be for our party but you’re right, he’d bring chaos to a global scale.
Me: Yeah, I feel bad for republicans like you. I mean, I obviously reject everything you stand for but I would like to see a more moderated and civilized Republican Party. So, just so you know, like I said, as Democrat I am kind of happy you did this, but as an American and citizen of the world, I’m humiliated, because I still don’t think that as Democrats we have this thing in the bag, and as a citizen that terrifies me.
RCW: As far as I’m concerned, you’ve already won this election. We blew our best chance at taking back the White House, but I think it will make our party stronger.
Me: Really? How so?
RCW: Because we’re a divided party right now, but when Hillary wins the election we’re going to unify again, and we’ll get the two groups of people- the conservatives and lean republican indies- to turn out again, and probably a lot of the lean Democrat voters, and we’ll make her a one term president. I’m willing to give her four years in the White House if it means we get a good chunk of voters back. But I’m not willing to let Trump define our party.
Me: Huh. That’s actually not a bad idea. Your party is usually the “win at all costs” crowd no matter what, but playing the long game with this election isn’t a terrible idea. But I still don’t believe you’ll stay home in November.
RCW: [Laughs] You just watch.
At this point I started getting ready to leave, and as I was leaving I told him, “hey, if it makes you feel any better, I wasn’t in love with any of my candidates, either.”
“It doesn’t make me feel any better, but let’s talk again in 2020 and see who feels better then.”