Hey Republicans! "Refusing to support Donald Trump does not leave you without a candidate"

Libertarian vice-presidential candidate Bill Weld, a former two-term GOP governor of Massachusetts, has something to say to you.

Reason.com

Will the bleeding stop for GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump? I thought he handily won last night's debate on most grounds, but that 2005 audio tape on which he outlines a groping strategy for picking up women has proven to be the last straw for an ever-growing list of Republicans.

At Red State, Bill Weld, the Libertarian Party vice-presidential candidate and a former two-term Republican governor of Massachusetts, makes a pitch for members of his old party who are grossed out and disgusted both with Trump and a party that has failed to advance a limited-government agenda even when it controlled every branch of the federal government. He writes:

Of the three tickets that will be on the ballot in all 50 states, and which have the potential to win this election, only Gary Johnson and I will be able to mend partisan fences.

Despite all the side-show distractions, the issues voters care about are jobs and the economy. We have pledged to submit a balanced budget to Congress within 100 days of taking office, and our records prove we will support tax and regulatory reforms that will put Americans back to work.

We're not going to avoid making the hard choices. Everything, including military spending and entitlement spending, will be on the table so that we as a nation can begin to live within our means….

We need Honest Gary Johnson—a man who is utterly without guile—standing up for the everyday interests and needs of American citizens.

Here's the question that Americans need to ask themselves: If you needed someone to take care of your household while you went on a vacation, to whom would you trust that responsibility: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton or Gary Johnson?

To ask the question is to answer it. Refusing to support Donald Trump does not leave you without a candidate.

Read the whole thing here.

In the wake of the Trump tape's release, Johnson told Albuquerque's KOAT that "he's received an overwhelming amount of support from dozens of GOP officials since the video was released."

"It's such a massive amount that the campaign can't even begin to deal with it at the moment," Johnson said. "They're wanting to know how they can lend their support, and what's the best way they can communicate their support because they're done."

More here.

Stay tuned to Reason for more on this. I'll be talking with Johnson later today and we'll post the interview here at Reason.com, on Soundcloud, and iTunes. Let's see if he'll name some of the Republicans who want to take a chance on him after the past few days' events.

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Comments

[SIV]

STFU aND VOTE TRUMP

[Citizen X]

Sorry, buddy, but contrary to what you may have been told Donald Trump has NOT expressed any inclination toward legalizing marriage between a man and his gamecock. You and Big Red are just gonna have to keep on keeping it on the down low.

[Crusty Juggler]

Big Red troble like Gasy jAsy.

[Citizen X]

Big Red is a useful especially idiot.

[Hugh Akston]

Yeah but Trump hasn't expressed any inclination against legalizing humanoid/galliformes marriage. And if there's one thing Trumplings excel at, it's projecting their political ideals on a guy who has never clearly endorsed or denounced anything resembling them.

[Citizen X]

So you're saying there's hope for SIV and his love that dare not speak its name?

[Hugh Akston]

There's always hope for SIV and his pecker. The problem is that a Trump presidency is a Singularity event. There's no way to predict what he'll do while in office, who he'll nominate to the Supreme Court, or how many White House towels he'll take with him when he flees midway through his term to a country with no extradition. Maybe he'll make chicken-fucking legal, maybe he'll make it mandatory. Who knows? But 106% of Trump supporters on an internet poll are confident that he has the right plan to fix the chicken-fucking problem in America, even if they or he don't know what it is.

[LynchPin1477]

I'll say this much -- that's the most coherent argument you've made in a while.

[Zeb]

So, is SIV spoofing himself now?

[Citizen X]

There is no way even for him to know anymore.

[MarkLastname]

He's so meta

[Juice]

You can still vote Republican by voting Libertarian.

[Brochettaward]

But what is a libertarian left with?

[Citizen X]

I may write in Michael Hihn, depending on how much i can drink between getting off work and the polls closing.

[Playa Manhattan.]

You're a pack of wild dogs.

[Citizen X]

BULLY!

[bacon-magic]

Reported and filed. *giggles then shits pants

[bacon-magic]

Reported and filed. Sorry, not used to bolding shit to get my point across.

[Ted S.]

Why wait until getting off work to start drinking?

[Citizen X]

The polling place is staggering distance from my house, and i ain't tryna get a DUI.

[Ted S.]

Don't you have orphan child labor to carry you to the polling station on a sedan chair?

[Brett L]

Mine's in a Catholic church and they frown on children carrying anyone but effigies and relics. Even in the Bingo Hall or whatever they call the non-ceremonial part. I should know that. They'd take away my Confirmation, if I'd bothered to attend catechism one second longer than I had to.

[R C Dean]

A splitting headache, a bad taste in your mouth, and a sick sense that something bad just happened that you can't quite recall?

[Juice]

Not voting I guess. It works for me.

[Zeb]

Write in Almanian.

Or if being able to refuse cake making service to gay people and abortion are the most important things to you, you could vote for Darrel Castle.

I'm probably not voting, but I think people are being awfully picky about Johnson. He's got a lot of problems from a libertarian purity perspective, but he's running for president, not God Emperor. Congress just isn't going to start repealing civil rights laws or doing away with the income tax and implementing "fair tax", no matter who is president.

Of course, he isn't going to win, so it really doesn't matter. Might as well make the perfect the enemy of the good.

[robc]

I voted for Bob Barr. Despite his many, many failings, Johnson is still an improvement.

[Zeb]

Me too.

I've been diappointed with a lot from Johnson, but he's still way better than anything we are going to get from Rs or Ds unless Rand Paul or someone like that starts getting a lot more national attention. And he's not exactly the perfect libertarian either.

[R C Dean]

A vote for anyone but Hillary is a vote for Trump, right? At least, according to the Hillary campaign.

So voting for Johnson is still voting for Trump, I guess.

I'm trapped. The only way to not vote for Trump is to vote for Hillary. Isn't that the way it goes?

[Citizen X]

Funny how that works out, ain't it?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Psst, a vote for Hillary is a vote for trump.

Think about it.

[Calidissident]

I've heard many say the opposite as well.

I recall in 2012 it was a common refrain here that voting for Johnson was a vote for Obama.

[Bill Dalasio]

Well, true. But, remember, according to the Trumpelos, a vote for anyone but Trump is a vote for Hillary. So, voting for Johnson is still voting for Hillary, as well. And, of course, it's also a vote for Johnson.

So, unlike all those other losers, by voting for Gary Johnson, you get three votes where they only get one.

[R C Dean]

OMG. If I vote for Johnson, that means I'm voting for Trump AND Hillary.

That's even worse. I may have to vote for Jill Stein.

[Crusty Juggler]

"Hi, I'm Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate Bill Weld, a two-time governor and a not-so-silver fox, and I promise that if elected neither Gary Johnson nor I will grab your daughter's pussy, your wife's pussy, your mom's pussy, or even Nancy O'Dell's freshly waxed beav."

[Brochettaward]

As long as I have a face, Nancy O'Dell will always have a place to sit. As long as she consents first, of course.

[LynchPin1477]

We need Honest Gary Johnson?a man who is utterly without guile

I just caught up on last week's Fifth Column, and man, ain't this the truth. Where are all the people who loved Sanders because he was "genuine"? Johnson is far more honest, but that doesn't seem to be what people actually want.

[Crusty Juggler]

Where are all the people who loved Sanders because he was "genuine"?

Whining on Twitter about wanting free college and no more debt.

[geo1113]

My brother and I had a conversation last night. One topic was how much of a phony Bernie Sanders is.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

And?!!

[Zeb]

He's a big phony.

[MarkLastname]

A great big phony!

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

Just to clarify: is this meant as a compliment?

[Citizen X]

It is and it isn't, brah. It is and it isn't.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

I went into that ep thinking, "This is the most I'll have heard from Gary Johnson, maybe he'll convince me to go to the polls."

His persistent aw-shucks demeanor was not inspiring.

[LynchPin1477]

I'm not entirely sure myself.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Johnson is far more honest, but that doesn't seem to be what people actually want.

And he honestly doesn't know the stuff that Bernie honestly knew!

[The Fusionist]

"Honest Gary Johnson?a man who is utterly without guile"

Without guile? Where have I seen that phrase before?

So if Johnson is Nathaniel/Bartholomew, then to whom is Weld comparing himself?

[Ted S.]

Notgeil.

[The Fusionist]

Thank you for that, I guess.

[The Late P Brooks]

Libertarian vice-presidential candidate Bill Weld

I would have accepted "Libertarian PARTY" candidate. But lay off the risible claim that Bill Weld is a libertarian.

Would Johnson-Weld be preferable to either legit ticket? Yes. I believe they would.

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

Bless him for giving it a shot. I think it's probably the best strategy the Johnson campaign could pursue right now. Still, at the risk of coming off as a Negative Nellie, it could just be that there are a number of people who are more afraid of Johnson winning and actually pursuing budget cuts than of Trump embarrassing the party or Clinton winning. Because the dirty little secret is that Clinton's positions, especially where they pertain to spending, aren't that different than what the majority of Republicans have been pursuing for the past twenty years.

Oh, and of course there's the group of people who believe that voting for Johnson is pointless because he won't win. Which is the kind of circular reasoning you get sometimes from people with advanced cases of Stockholm syndrome.

[LynchPin1477]

The biggest issue Washington Republicans probably have with Johnson isn't spending, it's a call for less military intervention. He doesn't wave the flag enough. Even then, if he had an R next to his name, most Republicans would fall in line behind him. It's about team loyalty.

[Bob K]

Abortion I would say is either 1A or 2 on that list depending on the Repub. My boss hates Trump but will probably be voting for him because of Johnson's view on abortion. Not saying Johnson should or shouldn't change his stance on abortion but for a lot of Republican voters that is the end all be all.

[kilroy]

So assuming at least some percentage of Trump supporters bails due to his snatch grabbing comments, at what percentage does Johnson/Weld become viable? 25%, 30%? Or do the polls need to show Johnson outright winning at 50%+ before it's no longer a wasted vote or a vote for an opponent?

[PurityDiluting]

5% gets the LP a participation trophy and $10 million for next time

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

Well, first, I'd say that voting for Johnson in a loss to Clinton is no more a wasted vote than voting for Trump should he lose to Clinton. That is to say that Johnson/Weld are viable now if you're willing to separate from the flock and vote for them.

Then, I'd say that the dynamic of the two-party presidential election, especially this time around, means that just as there are people voting for Trump because they don't want Clinton to win, there are people voting for Clinton because they're afraid of Trump. Clinton has more dedicated supporters than Trump, I think, but polling seems to be showing that when Johnson gains in popularity he's pulling equally from both (more from Clinton in some polls, IIRC) so there's a reasonable chance that Johnson/Weld at 30% is perfectly viable in a tight three-way race, provided that 30% results in more electoral votes than the other two.

[toolkien]

The reality is the vast majority if the establishment Republicans, those in office or part of the machine, would rather suck from Hillary's tuna hole than support anything libertarian. There may be exceptions, and an exceptional number due to the situation at hand. But the vast majority are statists and they are to the left of where JFK was 55 years ago. Libertarianism scares them, and the treatment they handed out to us from 2003-2010 should clearly show any cozying up to libertarians requires more accommodation OF them than BY them. I got so sick of the "we'll let bygones be bygones and all you have to do is apologize and get into line" a few years back when they realized that maybe kicking the libertarians out of the broader fold circa 2003 wasn't the smartest thing to have done. Like it was OUR fault that they've been on an endless slide toward FDR the last 30 years or so.

[toolkien]

cont-

THEY are the ones who are now without a country. Their party is damaged deeply. They are the ones who blew off the libertarians a decade and a half ago. They are the ones who ignored the message embedded in the Tea Party movement (not my cup per se, but that fact that the middle class was radicalized should have counted for SOMETHING. Nope). They're the ones who sat back and waited for one of their Stepford Doofuses to be anointed. And they have NO notion of compromise or change. They'd rather be absorbed into the Dems full-on than even allow a scintilla of individualism creep into their party. They're Democrats who are Pro-life and mostly against gun control. Other than that? It's a much shorter road to give up on guns than it is to settle on deeper individualism as a Party stance.

[The Fusionist]

"They're Democrats who are Pro-life and mostly against gun control."

No, they're not pro-life, nor are they pro-2nd Amendment. If there were prolife, they'd have not only codified the Hyde Amendment but strengthened it so as to get Planned Parenthood off the federal teat.

If they were pro-2nd Amendment they wouldn't be trying to abolish jury trial and the reasonable doubt standard to take away citizens' gun rights.

Their prolife, pro-2nd Amendment rhetoric is as useless as their budget-hawk rhetoric. If you can see through the latter, why can't you see through the former?

Whereas if you look at the actual budget hawks in the party - not to be confused with the establishment - you'll notice that they tend to be prolife and pro-2nd Amendment.

[toolkien]

I was trying to be kind. Whatever support the Republicans give to the 2nd amendment is to placate the manufacturers and delude people to buy guns. Actually having freedom to use them, or carry them, they give up on as they've done everything else. But THEY think they contrast nicely on such issues, and that was the upshot of the article - trying to convince them about where to place their vote. To them, libertarians are still those weird dudes at the College Republican State Conventions. The ones who don't have a problem with those icky drugs and stuff. No, they're running to what's left of the establishment (the Dems having been under attack on their side as well). We're seeing the fusing of the establishment Dems and Repubs. The Repubs are like the Goths allowed into the Empire to shield them from the Huns. So, other than a few % of Republicans who have thrown behind the Libertarians/Johnson, the rest are quietly going to vote Hillary. And they think they'll weather this storm. They don't realize, as I've said a thousand times already, Trump is simply a mile marker on the road to hell.

[Ted S.]

You've gotta be cruel to be kind.

[Trshmnstr smells of Lo Mein]

would rather suck from Hillary's tuna hole than support anything libertarian

*erupts with bloody vomit and bile*

[R C Dean]

I'm with ya, toolkien.

Let's not forget, the Repubs actually torpedoed actual Republican candidates who were Tea Partiers.

I can recall a couple of discussions with Repub wallas in Texas (Texas!) where they made it perfectly clear the preferred Democrats to win races against Tea Party Republicans.

The Republican establishment is just that - part of the establishment, above all else. They like things just fine the way they are, and are adamantly opposed to any change that might reduce their status, power, and ability to launder those into cash.

[toolkien]

A childhood friend, and college roommate is the Speaker of the Assembly for my State. Republicans control. He's arguably the second most powerful Pol in my state. He HATES the Tea Party. It's bad for "business". But he REALLY thinks he got into politics to "help". The road paved etc etc.

[OldMexican sine qua non]

The reality is the vast majority if the establishment Republicans, those in office or part of the machine, would rather suck from Hillary's tuna hole than support anything libertarian.

This is very much the truth, considering how bad they treated Rand, accusing him of being an "isolationist" only because he dared - dared, I tell you! - question the wars. Considering that, at least at first glance, El Trumpo's foreign policy is somewhat non-intervention-ish, thus drawing the derision from the Neo-con establishment, then it is not unlikely that some in the Neo-con hideout are secretly rooting for HillRod.

Not that this excuses El Trumpo's all around awfulness and his stupidity but at least you're right in the sense that the hawks want to see a hawk in the White House that is willing to bomb the right wedding parties.

[american socialist]

WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP... RED TEAM WE'VE GOT A FOX-TROT, TANGO, CHARLIE, LIMA, X-RAY ALERT ON CHANNEL 6...1... NINER... 4. Principled libertarian who isn't a total asshole ALERT STATUS DEF-CON 1. ACTIVATE.

[KDN]

FTCLX Alert? Congratulations, Google is confused. Or are you really just a clever spam bot for Franklin Templeton?

That must be it. It's the only way your persistent nonsense fits. Ohh, I'll play your game, you rogue.

[Sir Digby Chicken Caesar]

Templeton?

I mean, yeah, it fits.

[OldMexican sine qua non]

Re: American Stultified,

Principled libertarian who isn't a total asshole

I won't vote for a principled libertarian who isn't an asshole.

[Thomas O.]

Better than all the Foxtrot Yankee Tango Whiskey politicians.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

I refuse to vote for anyone who doesn't know what a Leppo is.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

They got that colony in Hawaii, right?

[toolkien]

The one run by Elmer Fudd?

[SusanM]

Yeah. Everyone knows they're just bigger Legos

[R C Dean]

Wasn't he one of the Marx brothers?

[BoTardESQue]

"I got 99 problems, but a leppo ain't one."- Gay Jay-Z

[Hyperion]

The Republican party core for the last 20 years has been a mix of neocon war mongering and SoCon social issues. Both of those things have fallen out of favor with the public in general, while the Democrats free shit platform is more popular than ever. That sort of makes it tough for a Republican in a general election. That and the media is now nothing more than Democrat puppets, they don't even try to hide it.

[Fred Zuccini]

Despite my better judgement and because I despise Hillary so much, I supported Trump for awhile, until he stopped even trying to win by doing and saying stupid shit. I'm not talking about stupid shit he said eleven years ago, but stupid shit he's said in the last month. That being said, the best thing Bill Weld can do to get my vote for Johnson is to just quit.

[OldMexican sine qua non]

"Vote for us because we won't grope someone's genitals."

That's good enough a political pitch for me, considering the competition.

[R C Dean]

Sorry, bub. Unless you're going to close the TSA, voting for you is voting for the party that favors non-consensual genital grops.

[The Fusionist]

CUSTOMER: "Do you massage the genitals?"

MASSEUSE: "Of course, sir, we don't practice ethnic or religious discrimination!"

[The Fusionist]

"We're not going to avoid making the hard choices."

"In fact, we're the only party which nominated candidates who starred in movies with titles like Hard Choices."

[The Grinch]

This is pure fantasy. Most of the GOP officials will run to Clinton because she's bomb happy. As far as the average voter, it will not do a thing. These officials actually so reviled it could conceivably bring independents over to Trump.

The likes of Graham and McCain coming over to the Libertarian party just isn't going to happen and thank God for that.

[Louis McFadden]

Hey way to go on making sure that Hillary becomes President...you must be real proud of yourself and probably expect an award from her in a few months too.

Always thought readers and contributors of Reason were brighter than this...but then again, people will do anything for a price these days

[lukashik]

While coming to education, the technology has brought many advantages to students and as well as teachers. showbox For example, students can do their homework or assignment with ease and can complete it faster by using the Internet.