Utah relishes the national attention that competition between Donald Trump and Evan McMullin are bringing to the state, but do they understand the importance of their vote in preserving conservative principles? This Tuesday, Utahns have the unique opportunity to voice conservatives’ concern about Trump and his politics without helping Hillary Clinton.
McMullin is the only third-party candidate in the country with a real chance of winning a state’s electoral votes. Clinton’s road to the White House does not pass through Utah: Her strategy is to win without us. If McMullin carries Utah, it can only be interpreted as an unequivocal rejection of Trump and his politics. Utah’s stand against Trump is critically important to defending conservative principles after the election.
Many worry a Trump presidency would threaten the future of the Republican Party. If Trump wins, Republicans will have to make good on his promises of “protectionism, spending increases allied to tax cuts, hostility to foreigners and a retreat from decades of foreign policy,” writes The Economist.
The party would stray from conservative principles of limited government, instead morphing into the image of a nasty, egotistical billionaire. Trump prides himself on being a winner. If conservatives help elect him, however, they will never win again.
It matters not, however, whether Trump wins or loses on Tuesday. After the election, a war will be waged for the soul of the Republican Party. Most Republicans hope Trump will go away quietly if he loses. But recent reporting in Bloomberg Businessweek by Joshua Green and Sasha Issenberg show Trump has quietly been building a political machine to change the Republican Party.
Trump’s campaign is rushing to “cultivate a universe of millions of fervent Trump supporters,” the article says. “By Election Day, the campaign expects to have captured 12-14 million email addresses and contact information.”
Many have speculated that losing the election will cause Trump to build a media empire focused on these new disenfranchised Republican voters who are more populist, “angry, active and fiercely loyal to Trump.”
I don’t doubt the billionaire businessman is laying out such plans. However, it is more concerning that, even if he loses, Trump is planning to control the Republican Party.
“Trump is a builder,” said Stephen Bannon, CEO of the Trump campaign, in the Businessweek article. “And what he’s built is the underlying apparatus for a political movement that’s going to propel us to victory on Nov. 8 and dominate Republican politics after that.”
Trump will have exclusive use of this political machine after the election because he used his own campaign funds to build it. “We knew how valuable this would be from the outset,” said Brad Parscale, the Trump campaign’s digital director. “We own the future of the Republican Party.”
The alarm bells should be screeching in conservative minds right about now. The possibility of Trump marshaling his forces in the party after the election is an apocalyptic future for conservative principles, but he can be stopped.
Don’t forget: Trump won the GOP nomination with a plurality of the popular vote, not a majority. Before the Indiana primary, after which Trump became the presumptive nominee, Trump received about 36 percent of Republican support. Most Republicans voted against him.
It will not be easy for conservative Republicans to expel this cancer from the party when they themselves succumbed to it. They will need an uninfected leader.
Utah’s vote for McMullin will place Utahns at the foremost position in opposing Trump. It will be Utah’s responsibility to defend conservative principles from Trump and his cohorts in the party.
Not selling out to Trump in the end will give Utah credibility to lead conservative forces in rescuing the Republican Party. Our rallying cry to other conservatives will not be diminished by a hypocritical vote for Trump, but our voice will be amplified by our refusal to capitulate.
Utahns must have a broader perspective about their role in this election and the importance of their leadership in the ensuing Republican civil war.
Joshua Lee is a resident of Pleasant Grove, Utah. He is currently studying politics and journalism at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Mich. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
