Trump Could Win and We All Could Lose

Anyone who cares about the environment, the economy, business, responsible governance, civility or basic human decency is quite right to be terrified by the prospect of a Trump presidency.

Many people think that the combination of deep political divisions within the GOP and Trump’s own lunacy will make the Republican nominee unelectable. However, as Van Jones has cautioned, he could still win. The divisions will be smoothed over and the powerfully machinery of the GOP will add to the horrifying prospect that Trump could actually be elected President.

Trump is making inroads with the GOP and with individual conservatives, however he has not yet secured the endorsements of some prominent conservatives including Jeb Bush, former President George W. Bush, and John McCain.

In an NPR interview Mark Salter, former chief of staff to John McCain and a senior adviser in both of McCain’s presidential campaigns, said he will vote for Hillary Clinton.

As reported in the Washington Post, the conservative twittersphere has been awash with conservatives denouncing Trump.

Ben Howe, a contributing editor at the conservative Red State blog, said that will live up to his pledge to never support Trump. In a series of tweets he reiterated that he will not be voting for Trump.Referring to Trump as an “egomaniacal authoritarian” Howe also announced that he would vote for Hilary. Kyle Foley, a contributor to the conservative Hypeline news site said he would do the same.

Jay Caruso, another Red State contributing editor sent out a tweet quoting Alexander Hamilton:

“If we must have an enemy at the head of Government, let it be one whom we can oppose, and for whom we are not responsible, who will not involve our party in the disgrace of his foolish and bad measures.”

Conservative writer and radio host Erick Erickson wrote on the Fox News Channel website that he won’t vote for either party. Despite everything that Trump has done most polls put him within striking distance of the Democratic nominee. Trumps prospects should improve as he benefits from a raft of endorsements.

Republicans are coming to terms with the fact that it will have to live with the Donald as their nominee for President. They will circle the wagons and the GOP will put their national organization at Trump’s disposal.

This pivot is already well underway with former conservative opponents now portraying themselves as Trump allies. The Republican nominee has met with House Speaker Paul Ryan, and they seem to be slowly burying the hatchet. Both Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Governor Rick Perry have already unreservedly endorsed Trump.

As Trump tries to be presidential he will likely tone down his rhetoric or at least direct it towards his next political opponent, Democratic presidential nominee Hilary Clinton.

He will surely be far more polished than he presently appears. This may succeed in swaying some voters to offer their support. As of this point, independent fact checking has found that more than 9
out of every 10 things that come out of Trump’s mouth are a lie.

Trump has repeatedly demonstrated his ignorance on climate issues, in fact he is completely disconnected from reality on the subject. has said that he will massively expand the extraction of fossil fuels if he becomes president. In places like Canada and Australia we have seen how destructive political leaders influenced by fossil fuels can be.

If the world’s largest economy were to do a climate and energy policy u-turn it would almost certainly ensure that the planet would warm beyond the upper threshold limit of 2 degrees Celsius. A Trump presidency would be devastating for the US and for the planet.