Editorial: Reject Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Vote John Kasich instead
Endorsement: When the two leading Republican presidential candidates don't meet basic qualifications for office, what do you do? Look to John Kasich, the inexplicably overlooked alternative.
In the long history of American presidential politics, the 2016 race for the White House is a meteor strike. We have never seen anything like it and may never see its like again.
Out of nowhere has come a fireball of popular support for a candidate who would destroy the status quo.
This surge of voter rage has cracked the foundation of the Republican Party with lines so long and deep it is hard to imagine how, when this is all over, the party will ever be the same.
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The Reagan coalition that led the Grand Old Party for more than 30 years is probably dead, and a great purging awaits at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July.
The Arizona Republic has long endorsed candidates for president, but this year we are more animated by the candidates we oppose than those we support.
So this will be no ordinary endorsement.
Where John Kasich (and we) stand on the issues:
What a president should be
This is a time to stand our ground and say no to a candidate who leads this race and is now projected to win. We don’t expect our editorial to make any difference in that trajectory, but we do think it worth putting on record what we, as Americans, should value in a president.
-- The president of the United States should be a model citizen, an exemplar of decency and high character.
-- The president should work to bridge the divides that separate the American people.
-- The president should possess a strong knowledge of the important issues of our day.
-- The president should express him or herself in ways that are refined and dignified, worthy of any audience of any age.
-- The president should understand our immigrant heritage and act with compassion when conceiving policy that shapes the lives of newcomers.
-- The president should make America a beacon to the world, promoting freedom and stability.
-- The president should possess the temperament and good judgment necessary to be trusted with the most powerful military on Earth.
These are not unreasonable expectations. We should require much of the person who would lead the free world.
And so it is truly disturbing to us that Republicans are on the verge of choosing a man who falls short on all counts.
Donald Trump fails every one of these criteria
Let us state this clearly: Donald Trump is not worthy of the presidency of the United States.
His conduct this primary season has been beneath the high office he seeks and beneath the process that would confer it.
He violates so many of the most common standards of decency that it is not difficult to make the case against him. But his greatest failing, and one that should give every voter pause, is his vindictive nature.
He is dangerous.
EDITORIAL:If you love America, denounce Trump now
Trump routinely encourages his followers to act with violence against protesters. When a Black man began protesting at his rally in Birmingham, Alabama, last November, Trump supporters began punching and kicking the man. Trump’s response was, “Get him the hell out of here, will you, please?”
Later Trump said “maybe he should have been roughed up.”
Since then, violence has become a mainstay at Trump rallies, with ample video proving that Trump supporters are all too happy to play his goon squad. Only Wednesday, he told CNN that “I think you’d have riots” if he is denied the nomination in Cleveland. Those are the words of tyranny.
Threatening retribution isn't cute: It's scary
Trump ominously tells political foes they should watch themselves. In February he told the prominent Ricketts family who own the Chicago Cubs that they “better be careful. They have a lot to hide.” This after family matriarch Marlene Ricketts donated $3 million to an anti-Trump super PAC.
Coming from a reality-TV star, such a threat is comical. Coming from a leading candidate for president it is coercion.
A Trump who behaves this way on the campaign trail can be expected to behave vindictively against his enemies once in the White House. To give a man like that the levers of authority over investigative agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service, the FBI, the SEC and the CIA is supremely reckless.
This year we have witnessed Trump’s violations against common decency: his vulgar language in campaign rallies, his allusions to his male anatomy, his crude treatment of Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly. But nothing was so base as his mocking of a disabled New York Times reporter, mimicking the man’s withered hands with glee before a large audience.
EDITORIAL:How Trump sees his followers
These are breeches of civilized behavior that should bar Trump from the White House.
His shallow knowledge of policy, his incomprehension when questioned in debate, would damage a candidate running on the issues. But Trump isn’t running on issues. He is running on anger. He is the destroying angel of a class of voters who want to level the Washington establishment.
When he does toy with policy, his prescriptions are sinister. Bar all Muslim immigrants — a religious test to enter the country. Kill the terrorists and their families — a violation of the Geneva Convention. Roll back press freedoms — put the lights out on government transparency. Build a fence and make the Mexicans pay for it — incite our neighbor and strategic partner.
There's an immigration disqualification, too
There is another policy that disqualifies Trump and his closest rival, Ted Cruz.
About a decade ago, Arizona lawmaker Russell Pearce proposed a madcap idea to bring back an Eisenhower-era program called “Operation Wetback,” or the mass deportation of all undocumented immigrants.
Even in immigrant-hostile Arizona, Pearce was widely criticized and lampooned for his bizarre idea.
Thus it is inexplicable that today what was once the idea of an East Valley fire-breather has become a national policy proposal in a presidential election.
Both Trump and Cruz are calling for mass deportation of America’s roughly 11.3 million undocumented immigrants. Cruz actually goes further than Trump and would bar all of those immigrants from re-entry once they’re ejected from the country.
If a president could persuade Congress to do that, and it is highly unlikely, you would see unrest in this country not seen since the Vietnam War. Such a policy would strike at the heart of millions of immigrant families, tearing parents from their children.
If you thought Senate Bill 1070, Arizona’s widely discredited immigration law, was destabilizing, wait until we get mass deportation. This would be SB 1070 squared.
Roughly 4.5 million children who are citizens have at least one parent who is an illegal immigrant, reports Dara Lind of Vox. Undocumented parents could be forcibly removed from their homes and the country under Trump and Cruz proposals.
The other things that disqualify Ted Cruz
There are other powerful reasons to reject a Cruz presidency. He is one of the most unlikable politicians in Washington, deeply distrusted and despised by fellow senators, some of whom can’t stand to be in the room with him.
He is a hectoring scold on social issues, who wants to pick the lock on your bedroom door.
On Capitol Hill, he’s the guy with the suitcase nuke, threatening to self-ignite to win a policy argument. In 2013 he led the government shutdown over Obamacare and flirted with it again last year on Planned Parenthood.
There is one candidate we can recommend to voters in the 2016 Republican Primary. He is almost endearing for his Midwest beige, a demeanor so completely ordinary he would melt into the crowd at a Shriners’ breakfast.
John Kasich is unlikely to be president. He has won only his home state of Ohio. Nevertheless, he is the one Republican still standing who consistently beats Hillary Clinton in head-to-head polling. And in an extraordinary year and brokered convention, all bets are off. After all the white-hot words of this sulfurous primary, the day may be coming when beige is beautiful.
But wait! John Kasich has the skills
If not yet a viable candidate, Kasich stands as the ideal for what a president should be. In all ways he is qualified to be the nation’s chief executive.
He has executive experience as governor of Ohio, where he enjoys high popularity ratings for an economy that fared better than most during the Great Recession and aftermath.
He knows the legislative process, having served nine terms in Congress and, for a time, as chairman of the powerful House Budget Committee.
John Kasich is the very picture of the serious man, with the demeanor and temperament to be trusted as commander in chief. He respects institutions and comports himself in a way that builds respect for institutions.
He studies the issues with a wonkish zeal and generally places himself at the reasonable center of most. He goes about his work with a positive energy and collaborative spirit.
While other candidates surrendered self-control and joined the food fight of this campaign, Kasich stood patiently in the wings avoiding it all, waiting for the camera to pan back to him.
“It’s been my intention to make you proud,” he said after winning Ohio. “I will not take the low road to the highest office in the land.”
Why boring is beautiful
On immigration he embraces humane reform and a pathway to legalization for the millions of undocumented, the only realistic immigration policy of the remaining candidates. “There is no practical way to go searching neighborhoods, grabbing people out of their homes,” he said.
Some of his social policy gives us pause. He has gone overboard working to cut funding to Planned Parenthood and requiring women to undergo an ultrasound before getting an abortion. However, he was unwilling to support a proposal that banned abortions as early as six weeks.
Raised a Roman Catholic and now an active member of the Anglican Church, he supports traditional marriage, but recognizes the reality of gay marriage and suggests, “The court has ruled and it’s time to move on.”
On foreign policy he would work with other countries to build a coalition to defeat ISIS and would enforce no-fly zones over Syria to protect civilians and refugees. He supports free trade and recognizes its proven record for prosperity.
In an election year dominated by threats and putdowns, the most understated candidate is the most competent. The Arizona Republic recommends that when Republicans cast their votes Tuesday, they reject the flash and fire of the GOP bad boys and vote beige.
Vote John Kasich.