The Zeitgeist

Strange Bedfellows: This Florida Republican Agrees with Bernie and Hillary. Trump Must be Stopped So America and the GOP Can Be Saved.

Note: This article originally appeared on The Huffington Post and InauguralClock.com on March 14, 2016, the day prior to the Florida Primary.

It’s an odd day indeed when a lifelong Republican finds himself in agreement with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. It’s the very definition of “politics makes strange bedfellows.”

Over the weekend Hillary said “Donald Trump is not who we are” and Bernie Sanders asserted that “Donald Trump is a pathological liar.” I wholeheartedly agree with both statements.

Donald Trump has conjured a witches brew of ignorance, belligerence, insults, racism, misogyny and xenophobic jingoism along with quite a (forgive the pun) liberal sprinkling of bald-faced mendacity that is so outrageous that it boggles the mind and the senses.

The Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbles was famous for saying that “the bigger the lie, the more people will believe it.” In the case of Donald Trump, he lies almost all of the time. (when he’s not busy flip-flopping his positions on the issues) Big lies, little lies, sweet lies, mean lies, white lies.

Zombie voters have crept out of their usual stupefied beer-fueled crypts and are reveling in a candidate who appears as ignorant as they are on the issues and is actually proud and unapologetic about it. It’s as though every sweat hog and slacker from high school gathered together to violently expel the principal, faculty and all the honors students from campus and then still expected to graduate and get good jobs.

Intelligence, intellect, accomplishments, facts, manners and even polite speech are derided as pejorative characteristics of “The Establishment,” all those bright Poindexter types who’ve hijacked the country and conspired to keep the average Joe down for their own gain. It’s time for the revolution of the ignorant.

That Trump is a privileged Ivy League graduate born to wealth and privilege is irrelevant to this voter so long as Trump talks the talk of blaming anyone and everyone for the county’s failures – naming scapegoats both foreign and domestic and offering not one coherent, logical or practical solution to what may ail the nation.

All the polls in Florida have Trump beating Senator Marco Rubio by double digits. It just doesn’t matter to me. On Tuesday, this Florida Republican will cast his vote for Rubio to try and stop Trump. In reality, I lean towards Ohio Governor John Kasich but he doesn’t stand a chance in the Sunshine State so I’ll go with the native son. I’ll also be voting for Rubio because I have a conscience, I have to sleep at night, I have to live with myself.

It must be remembered that the Nazis were elected to power in Germany in 1933. All that’s necessary for evil to triumph in Florida is for good Republicans to split their vote between Rubio, Senator Ted Cruz and Kasich. I urge all Florida Republicans to put aside their personal preferences and coalesce around Rubio. If most Cruz and Kasich voters go for Rubio he can beat Trump and beating Trump is the duty of all Republicans who still cherish the values of Abraham Lincoln, of U.S. Grant, of Theodore Roosevelt, of Calvin Coolidge, of Dwight Eisenhower, of Ronald Reagan and of the Constitution. Don’t let Trump be inevitable. Get out and vote. Make your vote stand for something and stand for something right, noble and good.