2016, The Voting Against Election

In 2016, so many voters are going to the poll to vote against one candidate or another. Rather than who is more popular, it may come down to who is more disliked. Below are two local comments expressing that sentiment.

Flawed vehicle we are forced to own
That is for your average conservative an apt description of this year’s presidential race. Trump is not a conservative; he is not even a real Republican. He has no ideology as far as anyone can tell; he is, however, the candidate who became the nominee of the Republican Party. He is the only option conservatives have. We have to support him in order to arrest the country’s dramatic move to the left of the newly radicalized Democratic Party. Hillary has taken up the hammer and sickle from the term limited Obama and has vowed to preserve and extend the power of central authority. The pipe dream of a caretaker government, with open borders, free college education, single payer health care, a government controlled economy, and extensions of every sort of government assistance are being sold as a can do to a deluded nation that has apparently forgotten or was never taught that, historically, socialism provides us no record of long term success. To stop this march towards madness, bankruptcy, calamity, and destruction conservatives are forced to root for an inarticulate boob in the debates and pray this enigma of a man manages somehow to pull out a victory in November. To make matters worse, he is not only running against the Democratic Party but many of the nation’s moneyed interests (corporations, Wall Street, big labor) and last but not least, the media. Even with this massive assembly of power arrayed against him, he has managed to catch up to the power elite’s candidate/Hillary in the polls. It is nothing short of a miracle. None of this makes it any easier for those such as me who wonder who and what he is. His inability to articulate any cogent message is painful. His demeanor is an insult to comportment. He is unfortunately the champion that has been forced upon us. All we know is he is not Hillary, the candidate of absolute corruption that we detest and fear. We must support him because the alternative is just too terrible.
                                                  Scott Armstrong, Allentown

Considering the recent reports on her many and varied health issues, I thought she'd have to be carried off the stage, but she held up pretty well. It was I who nearly fell off my chair when I heard her strongly imply that there were "moral" differences between her and Mr. Trump that make her clearly the better candidate. Since when is morality a strong point in the Clinton household? A lawyer fired for being a sneak, a first lady who muscled her way into the health insurance issues with a plan developed by nitwits, a Secretary of State who failed even to understand her responsibility to maintain confidentiality and security,and then quit the job, and a husband who's been off the track for their entire marriage but apparently still has political capitol she can spend on herself. This is a perennial candidate, who's strongest trait is hubris, not morality. As potentially the first woman president, she's a well-poisoner at best and a toxic dump at least. With Trump, there is immaturity and arrogance and vindictiveness, but I do believe he will listen to the people and have hope that he will make a few needed changes to immigration, national security and trade and debt, and maybe even keep us out of war. Like Obama, Hillary is neither listening nor talking to me.
                                                Christine Sforza, Whitehall

ADDENDUM:  

Michael, just read the comments of your viewers urging voters for Trump. I think September was Trump's high water mark. His obvious incompetence for the White House is now penetrating subliminally to rational Republicans. Enough of them are going to either not vote for President, or will even vote for Hillary, making up for the drop off in the black vote, that Hillary couldn't mobilize. You think Ford & Bush 41 & Bush 43 have been wiped out of the collective Republican memory? So that the only Republican President in modern history was St. Ronnie? Guess again. Trump will be like those "forgotten" Egyptian Pharaohs that successors kept defacing by chiseling their names off of the monuments. Never.To. Be. Mentioned. Again. He & Ailes will start Trump TV; and, of course, in perfect irony, it will not take audience share away from NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, or MSNBC, but, will fragment a chunk away from Fox! There, folks will hear how Trump actually won the 2016 election, but, was robbed...it was rigged. And how climate change is a hoax, black families were more stable under slavery, the earth is flat, the moon landing was a hoax, evolution is just a theory, creationism real, Jesus is coming back soon, the Holocaust never happened, and smoking does not cause cancer. The commercials will be never ending and continue to fleece the viewers like Fox and talk radio does now ........selling gold, reverse mortgages, meteorite insurance, "male enhancement" potions/devices, survival seeds and Depends....... targeting white non college & senior citizens to purchase Life Alert systems, stool softeners, and cheap flooring. And now, they will get pitched Trump shirts/ties/dresses etc., all made in China & Mexico. Gotta move product, you know.
                                               Hillary Supporter, South Florida