Recently I explained why I would not be choosing the lesser of two evils and voting for Donald Trump. Due to the fact that we do not have national elections for president but instead have fifty state elections for president and Trump will carry Tennessee and Tennessee is a winner-take-all state, I can safely vote for a third party or skip voting for President and despite what people say, the effect of doings so is not a vote for Hillary. I have the luxury of not voting for the lesser of two evils.
I don't believe Donald Trump is really a conservative and gave examples of why I believe that. I said that if someone put a gun to my head, however, and I had to choose between Trump and Hillary and those were the only two choices then, I would chose Trump. My primary reason for choosing Trump as the lesser evil is that I think he would make better Supreme Court appointments.
Recent events however have made me start to rethink my gun-to-the-head, lesser-of-two-evil choice. Maybe, Hillary is actually the lesser evil. One of the most important duties of the president is to protect our country. In my view, collective security though NATO is one of the things protecting our nation. Since the demise of the old Soviet empire and the rise of Putin, it appears he has been trying to reestablish the old Soviet empire as a Russian empire. I believe a strong NATO is essential to the security of our nation.
During the RNC, I was pleased to see Trump criticize the Obama-Hillary foreign policy including the rise of ISIS and Iran's path to becoming a nuclear power. I was pleased to hear Trump say he would rebuild our depleted military. I was disappointed, however, that he did not warn of the danger of China annexing the South China Sea by building island military outpost throughout the region and I was especially disappointed that he did not mention Russian aggression in eastern Europe. While I am concerned about ISIS, I think Russian adventurism may be a greater threat to our security. I would have liked to have heard him say that America would strengthen and stand with our NATO allies. Instead, in previous comments he had indicated a lack of commitment to NATO.
Trump had not only indicated he may not honor our NATO commitments but has had words of praise for Russian strongman Valdimir Putin. Now, it appears that Russia has hacked DNC emails and released them in what appears to be an attempt to damage Hillary Clinton's candidacy and help Trump. If more evidence emerges that Putin prefers the election of Trump to that of Hillary Clinton, then I must conclude that Putin thinks Trump would do less to frustrate Russian plans for counquest than would Hillary. If that is true, if Hillary Clinton is a greater threat to Russian ambitions than Donald Trump, then Hillary may be the lesser of two evils.
Below are news reports that make me rethink who is really the lesser of two evils.
Remember when the Republican Party was a reliable foe of Russia's autocratic leaders? It actually wasn't that long ago. When President Barack Obama forged the New Start treaty with Moscow in 2010, Republican leaders opposed the treaty in part because Russia under Vladimir Putin could not be trusted with an arms control agreement.
Now Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president in 2016, is suggesting he may not honor U.S. commitments to NATO, which exists to counter Russian aggression. In an interview with The New York Times, he said he would come to the aid of Baltic states if they were attacked by Russia only if "they have fulfilled their obligations to us."
This is not a unique position. The view that America should not necessarily honor its mutual defense agreements in NATO is popular among many foreign policy academics, particularly those in the "realist" school. Many progressives too, like the editors of The Nation magazine, have mused that America's push to expand NATO is the root cause of Putin's aggression in Ukraine.
‘DNC Hacker’ Unmasked: He Really Works for Russia, Researchers Say
The hacker who claimed to compromise the DNC swore he was Romanian. But new research shows he worked directly for the Vladimir Putin government in Moscow.
The hacker who claimed to compromise the DNC swore he was Romanian. But new research shows he worked directly for the Vladimir Putin government in Moscow. The hacker who claims to have stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee and provided them to WikiLeaks is actually an agent of the Russian government and part of an orchestrated attempt to influence U.S. media coverage surrounding the presidential election, a security research group concluded on Tuesday.
Thatfinding matches the political motive that U.S. officials told The Daily Beast they have seen in Russia’s hacking of the DNC. The FBI said on Monday that it was investigating the breach, which a growing number within the Obama administration believe was designed to embarrass Democrats, exacerbate tensions between Hillary Clinton and her former rival Bernie Sanders—as well as his voters—and ultimately to give a boost to Republican nominee Donald Trump. - The Daily Beast
CREDIT FOR the internecine furor that disrupted the Democratic Party on the eve of its convention should go to Vladimir Putin. As The Post has reported, cybersecurity experts say Russian intelligence operatives were likely responsible for the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computer network, as well as for leaking to the Moscow-friendly WikiLeaks website some 20,000 emails. - Washington Post
Putin repeats praise of Trump: He's a 'bright' person ...
Russian President Vladimir Putin again complimented Donald Trump on Friday, calling him a “bright” person.
Putin, who was speaking at the Russian Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, said he would work with any of the presidential candidates, but specifically lauded Trump for his comments on improving relations between Russia and the United States, according to the Associated Press.
Trump has welcomed Putin's comments in the past, calling the Russian strongman's praise "a great honor" in December.
"It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond," Trump said. "I have always felt that Russia and the United States should be able to work well with each other towards defeating terrorism and restoring world peace, not to mention trade and all of the other benefits derived from mutual respect."
Asked what he thought of the high number of Russian journalists who have been murdered during Putin's tenure, Trump responded, “He’s running his country, and at least he’s a leader, you know unlike what we have in this country." PoliticoI look forward to hearing a foreign policy debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. As much as I detest Hillary Clinton and agree with those who chant, "lock her up," I want to know who is most likely to keep America safe. I want to know who will stand with NATO. I want to know who will keep North Korea from becoming a viable nuclear threat, who will at least attempt to keep China from annexing the South China Sea, who will vow to keep shipping lanes open, who will strengthen NATO and stand up to Russian aggression. Hillary Clinton may actually be the lesser of two evils.
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anyone who votes for Crooked Liar Hillary is nuts, period.
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