So far, there are a lot of holdouts in the Republican Party when it comes to the subject of supporting their presumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump. Even Speaker of House Paul Ryan, as of this writing, has not yet decided whether or not to get behind Trump. And many others, such as Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse and 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, have said they will definitely not support Trump. And there are hosts of conservative-leaning columnists, such as Bill Kristol and George Will, who won’t be backing Trump. In addition, millions of voters who are either registered as Republicans or regularly vote for the Republican candidate are set to withhold their support from Trump this fall.
However, I don’t understand this sentiment. For Republicans and those conservative-minded individuals who usually vote for them, supporting Trump could be a win-win situation. I’ll use myself as an example. I was a strong supporter of Ted Cruz. I voted for him in my state primary. Trump was not my second, third, or even fourth choice among the 17 candidates. And I was not happy with the way Trump treated Cruz during the primary season. However, I’m still going to support Trump in November because he will be the Republican nominee. I would much rather see him win than Hillary Clinton. I am a #NeverHillary voter more so than I am a #NeverTrump voter. Trump might the second worst person running for president now – but Clinton is the worst.
Besides, I don’t see that I have anything to lose by supporting Trump. But I have a lot to gain. If Trump wins, I will joyfully celebrate the fact that Clinton will not be our next president. If a conservative cannot be happy about that, I’m not sure that anything can make them happy. If, however, Trump loses, I can have fun with that too. I can remind myself and others that I didn’t have a dog in that fight. I can also point out the fact that Trump’s loss was vindication for Cruz. I can say it was proof that Cruz should have been the nominee instead. And keep in mind that, if Trump loses, he's going to be looking around for someone else to blame for the loss. I want to make sure it's not me. Finally, I would get the satisfaction of taunting Trump and his fans by calling him a loser. That’s the same word he has used against Romney and John McCain, the previous two GOP nominees, who also lost. Like they say, turnabout is fair play.
