Why I’m writing in McMullin

The simplest explanation is this: I find Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton abhorrent. I don’t want to associate myself with either of them, and I want to register a protest against Trump, specifically, in a conservative direction. I would vote Libertarian (the party in which I am registered), except that the Libertarian nominees oppose religious liberty.

I vote in Maryland, which Hillary Clinton will certainly win. That makes it easy to cast a protest vote and avoid lesser-of-two evil calculations. If I voted in a swing state, I would still cast a protest vote, however, because I can’t tell which of these authoritarian, untrustworthy, opaque, crony capitalist, liberal, New York millionaires is the greater evil.

I understand there are a hundred of conservative, moderate and libertarian counter-arguments to this position. So, while I don’t think I will convince many people — and that’s not even my aim here — I think it fair to lay out my thinking in detail. This article will piece together many of the arguments I’ve made over the past 9 months, to draw the map to my conclusion.

I am not a lesser-of-two-evils voter

One’s approach to voting in a national/statewide election is always, on some level, an exercise in expression, grounded in philosophy. No statewide election has even been determined by a single vote.

I think of my vote as an expression of approval — not total agreement, but approval. There are some basic thresholds a candidate has to cross for me to say, “I want this human to be in office.” Larry Hogan, my governor, was such a candidate.

I expounded on this at length in this column: “You don’t have to choose the lesser of two evils.”

Trump doesn’t come close to my thresholds of conservatism, constitutionalism and libertarianism

Not Pro-Life: Donald Trump, I believe, is not pro-life. In that way, he fails to meet my most basic standard for a politician.

The most basic role of the government is to protect the vulnerable from violence. Trump has described himself as “very pro-choice.” He has stood for legalized partial-birth abortion in the past, and only came around this year while seeking the GOP nomination. Even in this election cycle, his abortion view is “it depends when.”

“It depends when” is basically a summary of Roe v. Wade, which Trump has repeatedly shown he does not understand.

I could go on, but I’ll just link to my column on Trump and abortion, and make this additional point: Trump, in his personal life, has proven he has no respect for the sacrament of marriage, and that he holds libertine, even predatory, sexual views. Libertine, predatory views about sex, and loose regard for marriage undermine the pro-life position.

No regard for constitutional limits on executive power, and federal power: Donald Trump’s central principle is the central principle of the Left: people with power should use all the power they have to advance what they believe to be the good.

He consistently expresses admiration for strongmen like Vladimir Putin and Saddam Hussein. His harshest criticism of a statesman isn’t that he was corrupt, lawless or evil, but that he was “weak.”

Trump has advocated war crimes, and retribution against those who refuse to carry them out. His policy prescriptions imply an unlimited view of the presidency’s powers. He’s said he wants to crack down on the freedom of the press.

He consistently shows that he has zero appreciation of the Constitution.

No coherent foreign-policy vision: I give Trump points for opposing the Iraq War and the Libya invasion, but not many points.

Study his record last decade, and it becomes clear: he has no consistent anti-war position. When wars start to go wrong, he yells that they were bad ideas. Meanwhile, he maintains a constantly bellicose stance, and says he’ll attack any country that doesn’t show Trump proper respect.

He’s fine with racism: He came onto the political stage through birtherism. He tied up all Mexican immigrants with racism. He refused to disavow a KKK leader.

His personal life is abhorrent: He brags about sexually assaulting women, he seemingly mocks disabled reporters, he bragged about cheating on his wife and trying to use his wealth and celebrity to have sex with married women.

I want nothing to do with this man.

For the two reasons above, I won’t put my stamp of approval on him.

Again, (1) I see voting (especially in a non-swing state) as an expression of approval. And (2) I don’t approve of Donald Trump. So, voting in Maryland, a protest vote seems best to me.

I’m not even convinced he’s the lesser of two evils.

This is much more involved argument. It’s mostly a theoretical argument because I’m a Maryland voter. In short:

I think his thin skin, his ignorance, and his ego could lead to disastrous war.

I think his election could inflict graver long-term damage on the conservative cause and the GOP than he has already inflicted.

I don’t trust him on judges or abortion.

I can make this argument at more length if needed.

So how to cast a protest vote?

I am a registered Libertarian, but I can’t vote Johnson-Weld. I think the biggest threat to libertarianism these days is that they get consumed by identity politics — that they define themselves as socially liberal, instead of socially tolerant.

I’ve written about that distinction at length, here and here.

Johnson told me that concept of religious liberty as a category, is “a black hole.” His ticket is running more against conservatives than for liberty, I’ve argued.

I can’t vote for an LP ticket that is primarily anti-conservative, because I want the LP to be about liberty, instead.

So as long as I’m voting in Maryland, and casting protest votes, I’ve considered voting for far-out non-candidates. Maybe Rand Paul? Maybe Jeb Hensarling? Why not Mike Lee.

Then I reviewed election law in Maryland, and that helped sharpen my thoughts.

If I were to write in Washington Examiner editor Phil Klein for president, in Maryland, it would get thrown into a nameless bucket of anonymous write-in candidates. But some people file paperwork to be certified write-ins. A write-in for them counts as a vote for that person.

Evan McMullin is one such certified write-in in Maryland. So if I write-in Evan McMullin in Maryland, it will count as a conservative protest vote against unconservative Trump and anti-conservative Johnson-Weld.

Timothy P. Carney, The Washington Examiner’s senior political columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]. His column appears Tuesday and Thursday nights on washingtonexaminer.com.