**** Elections thread *****

[Deanglow]

It should be noted that the violence at Trump rallies is not historically new. It tends to happen when one segment of authoritarianism disagrees with another segment of authoritarianism on who should get special treatment. The unfortunate thing is that the fighting between the two groups make them look like they're antipodal when really they're not.

Trump knows what he's doing and the tactics of his opponents are no different than his own tactics. As hard as it is to pin Trump down on his true beliefs, I really do think that he believes in fascism and corporatism to the greatest degree. Everything he has ever done in politics has been about using state power to further the agenda of a group regardless of the constitutional liberties it deletes. It's not hyperbole to say that if his rhetoric on policy was fully implemented, there would be no civil liberties anymore. He is an outrageously dangerous man. Many others like him who came before him looked like he does now when they were first rising up, and few called them the danger they really were.

Great post. How much does it hurt that the guy you like, the genius who's policies are objectively correct, is going to vote for this man to be president? Seriously, does it make you rethink your Cruz support at all or do you think it's just something he has to say?

[wufwugy]

Great post. How much does it hurt that the guy you like, the genius who's policies are objectively correct, is going to vote for this man to be president? Seriously, does it make you rethink your Cruz support at all or do you think it's just something he has to say?

It doesn't. Drawing lines in the sand based on who votes for whom and who supports what ideas is dangerous business. This social purity helps nothing. I used to be somebody who judged others based on their politics; it was all sorts of wrong and I've since learned from it. For all I know, Spoon intends to vote for Trump this Tuesday, but that doesn't change how I think of Spoon. I don't think Spoon is a bad guy and I think he doesn't think Trump is a bad guy. I think he thinks Trump is a good guy (or as he would say, the right kind of bad guy). Imposing my thoughts on Trump onto my thoughts of those who support him would be an awful thing for me to do.

In addition I don't presuppose to know what Cruz is thinking about Trump. It could be that he thinks Trump would be less bad than Clinton for the mere reason that his party is GOP and he would have surrounding him greater amounts of GOP influence than Clinton would. This is the standard reason why the right-wing has a "vote for the conservative in the primaries then hold your nose and vote for whomever in the general" mantra. I see its merit, but I disagree with it, at least in this instance.

There's a great deal of nuance here too. For example, if Trump were to win the nomination and ask Cruz to be his VP and Cruz accepted, part of me would be upset that he accepted it but part of me would be happy. I don't know if it would be better to reject Trump outright or to influence him from the inside.

Cruz's statement that he will support the Republican nominee is probably the correct one. I like Rubio's the best (he intends to support the nominee but it's getting harder every day to support Trump). I'm personally with Rick Perry and Ben Sasse in that I would rather reject Trump outright, but if I'm running for the nomination against Trump, I would probably say the same thing Cruz has. There are a million reasons why it benefits Cruz (and conservatism) for him to say it at this point.