Forget Scandal: Vote on What’s Important

Here’s the danger of getting too deeply involved in the extraordinarily entertaining drama of the 2016 election: We lose sight of what’s actually being decided on November 8th.

At the end of the day, you have the right to vote according to whatever you feel is important. If you think Trump’s 2005 remarks to Billy Bush speak to his character in a way that you can’t abide, so be it.

But first, let it simmer. The tape is shocking, no doubt. But don’t let your emotions get the best of you. Voting for Trump does not mean condoning those comments. It doesn’t mean that the Republican Party now becomes the party that supports groping women. Politically, of course, it’s a disaster. But supporting Trump does not mean – has never meant – supporting everything that comes out of his mouth. Who could?

On that note, don’t fall into the trap that some Trump supporters have made their home. Don’t brush off, justify, or excuse behavior that you would have condemned only a day before. If you really don’t think Trump’s comments were a big deal, that’s one thing. But if you’re squirming to find some way to defend something that you know in your heart to be wrong, you’ll lose something far more important than any presidential election.

The good news is that you don’t have to accept those nasty remarks to cast your vote – enthusiastically or unenthusiastically – for Donald Trump.

We’re not voting for America’s spiritual advisor. Last we checked, Trump has not suggested doing away with sexual assault laws. He hasn’t proposed National Groping Day. His personal feelings about women, whatever you may think of them – whatever they may actually be – are not going to play a major role in your life for the next four years.

A liberal Supreme Court that takes all the teeth out of the Second Amendment – that will affect your life.

The expansion of Obamacare into a public option system – that will affect your life.

A reckless “war on carbon” – that will affect your life.

A complete federal embrace of illegal immigration – that will affect your life.

And on and on.

Some things, once done, cannot be undone. And President Hillary Clinton will have the opportunity to do a few of those things if she gets into the White House. Some of them will change the course of this country in dramatic and unsettling ways.

Don’t worry about voting for Trump.

Vote against those changes.