Some Advice to the Republicans: Don’t Nominate for President

I may have left the Republican Party 6 weeks ago, but I have many friends who have yet to make the leap, and I have been watching their growing angst at the disaster that is the Trump campaign. Many of them are looking desperately for a way out, especially after Trump’s be.

The problem for them, of course, is that Trump did win about 44% of the Republican primary vote, just a bit less than John McCain won in 2008 (47%) – and if Ben Carson’s vote is added to Trump’s, the figure is actually slightly higher than McCain’s. True, a majority of Republican voters opted for someone else, but there were 16 someone else’s (a few of whom, Carson included, backed Trump upon leaving the race). None of them came within 15 points of Trump; indeed only one (Ted Cruz) managed to win even half of Trump’s vote total.

In short, no one among the Republican Party has any real claim to the nomination besides Trump. The alternatives are Trump or No One. That is the Republicans’ choice.

I humbly advise them to embrace that choice, and nominate no one for President or Vice President. I’ll admit, it’s a radical idea – you might even think it crazy – but it would solve numerous problems for center-right Americans.

First, it removes the possibility of a Trump Administration once and for all, since no presidential electors will be bound to him. The party can either withdraw the electors, or the convention could instruct them to vote for Gary Johnson. Either way, it keeps Trump out of the White House, except as a visitor.

Secondly, it does not force the delegates to violate the terms of their bound support. Pledged delegates are only bound to vote to nominate a candidate. As far as I know, nothing prevents them from deciding not to nominate anyone at all. A motion from the floor and a vote not to nominate anyone could do the trick (I think), although I’ll acknowledge endorsing a candidate may be out of bounds.

Third, it would enable voters uncomfortable with a Hillary Clinton Admnistration to get behind Gary Johnson. I know that sounds odd, given that Johnson’s best figure in polling is 12%, while Trumps worst is in the thirties, but unlike Trump, Johnson actually has governing experience without the massive dissatisfaction figures Trump has.

Now, I’ll freely admit there would be some unusual hurdles to this (the elector withdrawals, for example), and I also acknowledge my own interest in the matter: Johnson is my choice and, if there were party registration in Virginia, Libertarian would be my affiliation now. That said, many Republicans clearly recognize they cannnot go forward with Trump, and many Republicans (some the same, some not) clearly recognize they can’t go with anyone else.

So…don’t. Skip the presidential and vice-presidential nominations; focus on Congress; and let the Libertarian Johnson/Weld ticket be the alternative to Mrs. Clinton that so many Americans want. After all, more than a few of us are already choosing Johnson/Weld anyway.