With election season right around the corner, many lifelong Republicans I know are voting blue for the first or second time in their lives because they feel that Trump doesn’t represent them. But how can that be? Let’s go through some of the Grand Old Party (GOP)’s core party beliefs and see how their current nominee matches up.

Patriotism:
Every good Republican loves America! Heck, Trump’s entire campaign slogan revolves around the idea that America should be the premier world superpower. Despite this, he repeatedly criticizes our country when it goes against him, or even just whenever he feels like it, such as when he mocked John McCain, a deceased veteran and congressman, for getting captured and injured in service. Trump has also lashed out at too many government agencies to count and called liberals and moderates “human scum.” How can someone love their country while hating more than half of it and insulting those who defend it?

Small Government:
The Republican party has historically claimed to be on the libertarian end of the political compass, disliking such things as environmental regulation, taxation and whatever may be perceived as government overreach. You know, like attempting to outlaw personal body modifications, types of marriage or trying to forcibly shut down an entire border. Trump has even gone so far as to say that he would be a dictator on day one of a hypothetical 2024 presidency, using the same government agencies he currently rails against to take revenge on his political opponents. Trump’s idea of a ‘small federal government’ appears to have been based on the 1940s Kremlin.

Fiscal responsibility:
Along the same lines, many old-school Republicans will tell you that the government should limit its spending to certain relevant areas and that it is up to the population to manage their financial affairs responsibly so as to remove the need for welfare. Trump, on the other hand, proposes to spend massive amounts of taxpayer money on ineffective border security (see the immigration section) and pursuing political opponents. He also seems to have quite a lot of bankruptcy declarations for a successful businessman.

Immigration:
Ah yes, the southern border. Quite possibly THE hot-button issue since 2016. Trump has been running on this issue since the dawn of his political career. And his mind-bogglingly brilliant solution to this complicated socioeconomic matter is to … build a wall. Hundreds of miles long. Constantly staffed. An enormous, perpetual expense that would completely fail to address the issue. The majority of the immigrants, illegal and otherwise, that Republican voters are worried about aren’t just walking across the Rio Grande and into Texas. They’re sneaking through checkpoints, or going through the asylum process or even going through one of the other borders America has. Trump appears to think that a family who has trekked on foot from southern Chile would turn around and walk home at the sight of a mere wall. A true solution to this issue involves a complex, multifaceted revamping of the asylum process and auditing of businesses suspected to be employing illegal immigrants. Trump’s infantile approach proposes to throw billions of taxpayer dollars down the drain without even actually solving the problem. This is behavior Republicans constantly complain about Democrats exhibiting. And lest we forget, Trump spent several months around the beginning of the year lobbying Congress to avoid passing one of the strictest pieces of border legislation in decades.

Personal Accountability:
Does this one even need to be said? Trump never admits when he’s wrong. He blames his mistakes on others, attacks the justice system for holding him accountable for his dozens of felonies and STILL spreads doubt about the veracity of our elections based on the blatant lie that the 2020 election was stolen.

Police:
Republicans have lately been championing the Back the Blue movement. Funnily enough, however, Trump and his fans suddenly flipped the script the second the hammer of justice fell on them, with the whole gang blasting the entire justice system for investigating the crimes Trump is accused of. Additionally, many of the participants of the Jan. 6 riot assaulted or defied police officers in their attempt to unlawfully enter the halls of Congress.
I guess sometimes it’s true what they say — Back the Blue ‘til it happens to you. Disgusting.

Religion:
Astonishingly, many people seem to believe Trump is a good Christian, despite the fact that he regularly takes the name of the Lord in vain (Third Commandment), campaigns on the Sabbath (Fourth Commandment), commits adultery (Seventh Commandment), fails to pay the vendors that work with his company (Eighth Commandment) and lies (Ninth Commandment). He has indisputably broken half of the most sacred laws of Christianity. Face it, Kamala Harris is a better Christian than Trump has ever been.

Family Values:
‘Family Values’ is one of those glorious terms that is so wonderfully vague that literally anyone can claim to embody it. The Republican form appears to embrace the idea of a nuclear family where the parents act as examples of members of polite society to their children. Trump is on his third wife, has bragged about cheating on his wives multiple times, has been found criminally and civilly liable for crimes involving cheating on them and, if the fatherless behavior of his children is any indication, he hasn’t been much of an example for them. Anyone remember the time Paul Pelosi was attacked in his home by a nutjob, and Donald Trump Jr. posted a picture of some underwear and a hammer on social media, saying “Got my Paul Pelosi costume ready?” How about all of the FUCK JOE BIDEN flags people drive past schools and playgrounds with? If Trump embodies family values, why does he not keep his followers and children under control?

Foreign Policy:
The Republican party of the past envisioned America as the “Arsenal of Democracy”’ or better yet, “World Police.” Yet Donald Trump pulls out of international agreements and pals around with dictators. When Russia launched their war of aggression against Ukraine, bombarding civilians with cruise missiles, Trump called Putin a “genius,” and has since lobbied Congress against providing aid. This, combined with his childish conduct, has disgraced America in the eyes of the world. Jan. 6 was the kind of event you expect to see in some random developing country. Because Trump lied about losing the election, our country has been lowered to that level.

Many conservatives believe that Trump can’t do that much damage in the short term and that they can look past his “personal issues” to reap the economic benefits of a Republican president. If this is you, think again. Trump has spent the last eight years molding the party to his image. His daughter-in-law and one of his political associates are at the top of the Republican National Committee’s leadership, and his children are poised for political careers of their own. The only thing that can prevent their disgraceful conduct from becoming the legacy of the GOP is for them to lose every election until they put forth a decent candidate.

So if you’re a conservative, vote blue this year, because sometimes you have to lose a battle to win the war. Or, as Eric Greitens put it, “Get a RINO hunting permit. There’s no bagging limit, no tagging limit, and it doesn’t expire until we save our country.”