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Obligatory Post Opposing Donald Trump.

Never Trump [1]

After reading Scott Aaronson’s “Daddy, why didn’t you blog about Trump?” [2] post and Terence Tao’s “It ought to be common knowledge that Donald Trump is not fit for the presidency of the United States of America” [3] — relax, Tao is not indulging in liberal tribalism but rather is using a technical definition of “common knowledge” in a very interesting way — I realized that anyone who agrees should make a similar post.

So here’s mine:

The United States should not elect a narcissistic con-man to the Presidency.

Donald Trump has already done a measure of harm to our country; if elected President he would do much, much greater harm. This country is important to me. If you’ve ever lived in a place that doesn’t have freedom of speech, freedom of association, and a widely-shared commitment to the rule of law, you’ll understand that that patriotic sentiment is wholly unironic. We’re not perfect, but we’ve got a lot that’s worth preserving, and we should try to keep it (and if possible improve it). Donald Trump understands nothing of this; he understands nothing to be more important than his own overweening self. His Presidency would be a disaster for the United States and for the world.

Thanks to a very poorly thought-out voting system [4], the best way to prevent Donald Trump from becoming President is to vote for Hillary Clinton in November. That’s what I plan to do, and I hope you will do so too, if you’re a citizen of the United States, even if you aren’t a Hillary fan. Remember, you’re not voting for a candidate, you’re voting for an outcome. If the outcome you want is for Donald Trump not to be President, then vote accordingly.

Here’s something you can retweet [5] or redent [6], if you want a convenient way to signal that you’re on board.

Update 2016-09-25: Sadly, my original last paragraph (below) was overly optimistic. I’ll leave it here, because a blog post with a date stamp ought to be honest, but obviously he not only became the nominee but now has a reasonable chance of winning the general election. That is the most depressing thing I’ve written all day :-(.

I think there’s actually a chance Donald Trump won’t be the Republican nominee [7], because his candidacy is cratering rapidly in the polls, and he’s psychologically incapable of persisting in a situation where he can’t think of himself as a winner. If he withdraws before the convention, then great. But if he’s on the ballot in November, please do whatever you have to do to prevent him from becoming President.