95 Theses About Trump and the Election

95 Theses About Trump and the Election

Power Line - Thursday August 4, 2016

by Steven Hayward

(Steven Hayward)

We’ve got roughly 95 days to go until election day, so I’ve been wondering if I can come up with a perfectly Lutherian 95 Theses about the whole matter, suitable for posting the front doors of Trump Towers everywhere. (And they areeverywhere, it seems like. . .) Probably not, but I can at least start the list, and update and revise it as we go along. So here are the first eight.

1. If Republicans had nominated one of their conventional candidates, that nominee would be running 10 points ahead of Hillary.
2. If Democrats had nominated someone plausible other than Hillary, that nominee would be leading Trump by 15 points or more. (Hillary is up almost 10 in the current polls.)
3. Republicans nominated the only candidate who could possibly lose to Hillary Clinton.
4. Democrats nominated the only person who could possibly lose to Donald Trump.
5. Is there any way Captain Kirk could reprogram our electoral computer to avoid this political Kobayashi-Maru Scenario? (Classical reference. . .)
6. There is a non-trivial chance that either candidate will be successfully impeached—Trump for something crazy in office, Hillary for new revelations about the ongoing criminal corruption of the Clinton family.
7. Complete the syllogism: This means the real race might be between Pence and Kaine. If you agree there is a non-trivial probability of either nominee not serving out a full term, then you can vote for Trump as a vote of confidence in Pence. Sarah Palin was a good enough reason for me to cast my vote for McCain in 2008, so why not now?
8. Re: the many prominent Republicans rushing to disown Trump and embrace Hillary, such as Meg Whitman. I am not impressed. I had the occasion to have dinner with Whitman once, shortly after she had spent over $100 million of her own money running for governor of California, only to lose badly to the fossilized Jerry Brown. Lovely person, but she complained that she “couldn’t get her message out.” What would that have taken—$200 million? It never occurred to her that she had no message. Say what you will about Trump: at least he has a message. Whitman’s slogan for much of the campaign was, “Talk to Meg.” So I will: Meg—stick with making HP great again. Long suffering shareholders (like me) will appreciate you for it.
9. Keep your eye on the Weekly Standard coming out tomorrow. I’ll have an article with an out-of-the-box suggestion about what to do. I’ll be on the road all day tomorrow en route to a working vacation of sorts, and may not be able to post or update this item.

Eighty-six more theses to go. (Suggestions welcome in the comments section.)

  

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