Column: Principle & Country, or the Down Escalator?

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By Bill Finger
Sentinel Columnist

The 2016 Presidential campaign has been unlike any I have previously witnessed. Sure there was 1964, when Barry Goldwater suggested that the use of nuclear weapons in Vietnam was a viable option. In 1968 Americans of principle and human dignity cringed at George Wallace’s campaign based on hatred and pro-segregationist policies. There was 2000, a presidential election decided by the Supreme Court and “hanging chads.” 

Although my political party affiliation is Democrat, my attention this campaign season has been focused mostly on the Republicans—trainwrecks and circus sideshow-like performances are hard to ignore. This is all owed to Donald Trump—depending upon one’s perspective, either the reincarnation of P.T. Barnum or George Wallace redux.   

Trump’s campaign is one that appeals to the worst in people. Nothing and no one is spared the demeaning attacks and rambling third-grade bullying rants of the Republican frontrunner; whether it be “low energy” Jeb, “little” Marco, “lyin’” Ted, “choker” Mitt, Carly Fiorina, John McCain, Mexicans, Muslims, the religion of Islam or even Pope Francis. And now Trump has even gone after his opponent’s wife. 

I have been surprised at the way Republicans have responded to Trump’s bullying, misogynistic and xenophobic attacks, race and ethnic baiting, and general disrespect for anyone who disagrees with him. Clear and simple, Trump’s behavior cannot and must not be excused. I don’t agree with Marco Rubio’s politics, but I do agree with his comment about Trump’s behavior and rhetoric—“words have consequences”—and this is particularly true when you are running to be President of the United States. 

Trump, and general Republican conversation about his campaign, have made me wonder where principles and values reside. Are Republican Party leaders willing to stand up and unequivocally denounce a potential Trump candidacy, or does party loyalty trump (excuse the pun) principled values and true respect for our country? 

Some Republican leaders have already answered my question. “I will not support a nominee so lacking in the judgment, temperament and character” to be President, said Virginia Congressman Scott Rigell, who added for good measure, “My love for our country eclipses my loyalty to our party.” Similarly, Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger said, “I put my country above my party.” Former Oklahoma Congressman J.C. Watts said he would write in a candidate before voting for Trump. Nebraska first-term Senator Ben Sasse, in saying he would not vote for Trump, also made his stance abundantly clear: “I’m an American first, conservative second, and Republican only a distant third.” 

Two of the more emphatic rejections of a Trump candidacy came from highly successful Republican women, former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman and Hewlett-Packard CEO and former California Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. Governor Whitman is on record as saying she will not support Trump. She rejects the “hate mongering and racism” employed by him, and the divisiveness he encourages, which, she says, could do “damage … to this country, to its reputation and to the people of this country.” Meg Whitman, the former national finance co-chair of the Christie for President Campaign, responded to Chris Christie’s embarrassing endorsement of Trump by saying, “For some of us, principle and country still matter.” 

There are other national Republican figures that have both denounced Trump and announced that even if he is the party nominee they will not vote for him. Still, many national Republican Party leaders and many otherwise reasonable thinking Republican rank and file members have not been willing to totally disavow Trump’s campaign and publicly state they will not vote for him if he is the Republican nominee.

Shockingly, even John McCain has said if Trump is the Republican nominee he will support him. Senator McCain, no one is asking you to vote for Hillary Clinton, but please stand up and show the courage, patriotism and heroism you exhibited as a naval officer who endured years as a prisoner of war. I don’t mean to single out McCain as there are plenty of other Republican leaders who have also said they would support the party nominee no matter who he may be, e.g. Donald Trump. Among this group are Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Orrin Hatch, and Kevin McCarthy, to name but a few. 

In expressing his willingness to support and vote for Trump, McCain said, “For me to walk away from the party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan would be, I think, an abrogation of my responsibilities to the voters.” Looking through the lens of this Republican presidential primary campaign, I wonder if this really still is the party of Lincoln, or even Reagan.

This brings me to Trump’s press conference last June in Trump Tower announcing his candidacy for President. While classic Donald Trump, it was more than pure theatrics. Trump’s choreographed grand entrance foreshadowed the type of campaign he would run and what he could do to this country if elected President—he literally entered riding the Down Escalator. 

So my question is, will Republicans Party leaders stand up and renounce Donald Trump and his candidacy, or will they too choose Trump’s Down Escalator?

Bill Finger, a former five-term member of the Board of Estimate and Taxation and a current member of the Greenwich United Way’s board of directors, is a real estate developer and investor.

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