I figured to take the flip side. What politician/government official, alive today, is so bad that you’d rather vote for Trump than them? I am narrowing it a bit otherwise the answers would be too broad (e.g. Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Manson, Florida Man, etc). But, it is the Pit so you can nominate whoever you want if you feel the need.
I’ll start:
Mitch McConnell
I think he is actually evil and smart enough to get evil policies done. Trump is awful. So awful. But he is a buffoon. McConnell is dangerous.
Samuel Alito
Same as McConnell. Evil and smart enough to get his evil plan enacted. Seriously, fuck that guy.
I won’t try to get into naming specific politicians, but I agree that one of Trump’s virtues is that he’s so ineffably stupid that it limits the damage he can do because he basically can’t really do anything. Unfortunately it takes no skill whatsoever to endorse a Federalist Society nomination for a Supreme Court justice. Changing the makeup of the Supreme Court to a lunatic far-right majority is probably the most lasting harm Trump has already done to the nation.
McConnell is terrible and yes, dangerous. But he’s not a threat to our future as a democracy. (except for his support of Trump). There would be more short term right wing accomplishments, but he wouldn’t be as dangerous as Trump. He does, in some ways, give a shit about the country. Trump doesn’t.
Tough choice. They do seem birds of a feather. Hard to distinguish. Trump does have the “virtue” of being a lot older so probably can’t stick around as long.
Well, unless you change the rules so that you can only vote for X or Trump. If I weren’t allowed to vote third party, I’d vote for Trump over Biden. Thank God I have better choices.
Clarification, please: Are we talking about someone running against Trump in the November elections, or someone running against Trump in the Republican Primary?
You really do not have better choices. While there may be third party candidates you prefer to those two, voting for them is useless as the US system is now. Third party candidates have a basically zero chance of winning the presidency and a protest vote simply does not register with the dems or reps. Not at all. Not even a little bit.
Other Americans won’t pay attention or care either. How well do you remember Ralph Nader? Ross Perot? How many Americans know who they are or that they even ran? They didn’t change anything except tilted who got elected those years. Maybe you can tell the person next to you at the local pub how you gave a finger to the system. I doubt they will care either unless you are buying them drinks.
As it stands, a vote for anyone other than Biden is effectively a vote for Trump. A no-show or third party vote helps republicans. There is a reason it is republicans who work so diligently at disenfranchising voters. It helps them more and they well know it.
Stephen Miller would be worse than Trump as he is much smarter and at least 4 decades younger. He’d serve out a full term, whereas Trump on an unfettered White House diet might not make 80.