Some time back, in this blog, I wrote that if Jeb Bush is the Republican nominee, I will stay home on election day rather than vote for him. I said that I'm tired of holding my nose and voting for someone (e.g., John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012) whom I view merely as the lesser of two evils.
Am I being inconsistent in making fun of William Kristol (and his ilk) for saying the same about Donald Trump? I don't think so. Kristol is doing far more than announce (as I did) that he will stay home on election day if Trump is the nominee. In column after column, he runs Trump down (by calling him names, &c). I would never have run Bush down, for clearly I prefer him to Hillary Clinton as president. This alone is a relevant difference between Kristol and me.
But Kristol goes much further than this. He continues to call for a third-party candidate to challenge Trump in November. In other words, he is actively undermining the candidacy of the (presumptive) Republican nominee! Did I ever say that I would do any such thing? Did I say that if Bush is the nominee, I will undermine his candidacy? Of course not. All I said, to repeat, is that if Jeb Bush is the nominee, I will stay home. I'm tired of being a dupe of the elites.
