Drumpf?

[Crossless2.0]

I'll be voting in Florida this year. It took me a while to get to this place, but I'll be voting for Clinton. At this point the only thing that matters is making sure Trump does not get the launch codes to the world's largest and deadliest nuclear arsenal. Nothing else matters; not the need for a viable third party, not Clinton's alleged crimes, not the fact that the Democrats are as much a part of the deluded ruling elite as any, not global warming, infrastructure decay, or the Supreme Court...none of it matters compared to the risk of having a delusional, narcissist, madman with his finger on that button. The nation, and the world, will survive four or eight years of Clinton. It will not be a picnic, she is likely to be as poor an excuse for a President and anyone in my life time. (That would be 11.)

My belief is that Trump in the White House nearly guarantees the fall of the US. Bad enough. But there are a hundred ways that such a fall could result in a nuclear exchange, and that is the end of our civilization.  The only rational choice is to vote for Clinton and hope for the best.

I ordinarily vote 3rd Party when a 3rd Party candidate is available, but if I were voting in FL, I would also vote for Clinton. FL is a swing state and Trump must not win. I've never bought into the 'we must keep the other side from winning at all costs' argument before, but Trump warrants an exception.

I'm toying with the idea of voting Libertarian in the presidential race, not out of any particular affinity for the Libertarian platform (my sympathies really only extend as far as their opposition to ridiculous 'make-work' government programs like the drug war and their opposition to senseless and self-defeating meddling in foreign countries) but out of my decades-long withering contempt for what the GOP became after they successfully pursued their Southern Strategy. If I can help in some small way to raise the Libertarians' profile and bring them to the table on a national stage some day, it can only damage the party I'm sworn to hurt at every turn.

Of course, my ultimate stance in this election is to keep Trump out of office at all costs, and that might result in me voting for Hillary if the state polls merit it. I'm not really anti-Hillary anyway, but it's unlikely that my voting for her will do a damn thing one way or the other -- not in this reactionary shithole of a state. If I can possibly hurt my political enemies by casting a third party vote, I'll do it with glee.

That said, when Clinton wins, she and the Congressional Democrats had better take seriously the progressive reforms they've agreed to put into the platform. I don't expect miracles, especially if the GOP retains control of the House and possibly the Senate, but there had better be a real effort made to pursue these goals. Otherwise, the Democrats may find themselves in much the same boat as the Republicans were when the Tea Party was ascendant. And look where that got them. For my part, if the Democrats' "reaching out" to Bernie and his supporters proves to be just a cynical ploy to shut them up and get their votes, I will not shed a single tear if the party is eventually torn apart by increasing populist anger.