{"id":31334,"date":"2016-02-29T13:52:41","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T20:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=31334"},"modified":"2016-02-29T13:52:41","modified_gmt":"2016-02-29T20:52:41","slug":"the-future-isnt-yet-written-in-stone-but-were-coming-perilously-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/02\/the-future-isnt-yet-written-in-stone-but-were-coming-perilously-close.html","title":{"rendered":"The future isn’t yet written in stone, but we’re coming perilously close."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The odds against victory were hopeless, the opposing force vastly outnumbered them, but they still didn\u2019t surrender.
(Wikimedia Commons; click to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not in a panic regarding Donald Trump. \u00a0\u201cHorrified despair\u201d would be a more accurate description.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Barring a miracle tomorrow, Mr. Trump is very likely to be in a commanding position to become the Republican nominee for the presidency by tomorrow night.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A more horrifying nominee I have never seen in my lifetime, from either party.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But I believe in miracles, and I haven\u2019t yet (quite) given up hope.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here are some additional materials regarding the coarse, ignorant, vainglorious, and unprincipled man who would be our Leader, who has already done immeasurable damage<\/a> to the level of political discourse in America, and whose entire claim to fame \u2014 that he\u2019s a hugely successful businessman and negotiator \u2014 may well be a fraud<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In which Donald Trump calls for egregious violations of the Geneva Conventions\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Regarding which, you must understand that I support the Geneva Conventions not out of sentimentality, nor weakness, nor political correctness, but because I regard their principles as morally sound and as, overall,\u00a0protecting our own troops and providing incentives for others to abide by them. \u00a0Gross violations of them would also, quite understandably, further inflame the Islamic world against us \u2014 and, for that matter, most of the civilized world as a whole. \u00a0I don\u2019t want my country to be linked with the kind of military behavior that we typically associate with the Nazis.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump sometimes speaks of expanding the Republican Party. \u00a0But if he opens the tent door to allow certain types in, if he becomes the GOP\u2019s public face and voice, I myself will have no choice but to leave the party. \u00a0Here<\/a>, for instance, is Mr. Trump having a difficult time rejecting the support of white supremacists and members of the Ku Klux Klan. \u00a0(I\u2019ve already mentioned his love fest with Vladimir Putin<\/a> and his apparent comfort with Benito Mussolini<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump is an authoritarian nationalist, plainly, but he\u2019s no conservative<\/a>. \u00a0(His wife, too, has donated a lot of money<\/a> to Hillary Clinton.) \u00a0Here<\/a> he is, for example, endorsing the central concept of Obamacare. \u00a0And his attitude toward the First Amendment and the free expression of opinions is frighteningly cavalier<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We can take some comfort in the fact that Donald Trump will almost certainly not win the general election. \u00a0Already, he\u2019s a Democratic \u201copposition researcher\u2019s\u201d dream.<\/a>\u00a0 But he can certainly do major damage to the Republican Party (and not only by wrecking its electoral prospects in 2016), and he can certainly set the cause of American conservatism back for many years.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing Will Redeem the Ruined Reputations of Trump\u2019s Republican Collaborators\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Please take a stand today. \u00a0As publicly as you can. \u00a0Friends don\u2019t let friends vote for Donald Trump. \u00a0The future of the Republican Party, of American conservatism, and, to a disquieting degree, of the United States depends on whether or not Mr. Trump can be stopped.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure that he can.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ve always admired heroic defenses of lost causes, like Thermopylae, and the slave revolt of Spartacus, and the Alamo, and, for that matter, Benghazi. \u00a0It\u2019s a matter of principle and personal honor to stand against Trumpism.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

My conscience will be clear, because I\u2019ll be voting conservative.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 I\u2019m not in a panic regarding Donald Trump. \u00a0\u201cHorrified despair\u201d would be a more accurate description. \u00a0 Barring a miracle tomorrow, Mr. Trump is very likely to be in a commanding position to become the Republican nominee for the presidency by tomorrow night. \u00a0 A more horrifying nominee I have never seen in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe future isn't yet written in stone, but we're coming perilously close.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    I'm not in a panic regarding Donald Trump. \u00a0"Horrified despair" would be a more accurate description.   Barring a miracle tomorrow, Mr.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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