Who would Never Trump advocate trust with nuclear launch codes?
Jul 22, 2016, 8:20 AM | Updated: 3:39 pm
Donald Trump gave his acceptance speech Thursday night, after becoming Republican Party’s presidential nominee earlier this week. While his supporters let out a huge cheer at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, there were some who left the floor with their heads down.
It was here at the Republican National Convention that the Never Trump Movement crashed and burned, and was finally buried.
Where does that leave Republicans who fervently supported anybody but Trump?
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After the convention ended on Thursday, I ran into a fellow wearing a “Never Trump” button. He was speaking to a friend, but otherwise looked pretty lonely.
Justin Dillion seemed to be resigned to the fate of the Republican Party.
“I did everything I could to not get to this day,” the upset man told me. “I ran as a [John] Kasich delegate, hoping there would be a convention fight and we could keep the nomination away from [Trump]. When that failed, I joined the Free the Delegates movement. When that failed, I came here and tried to keep fighting as much as I could.
“Now, after that failed, I’m just going to try and sit here and look sad.”
I wondered what it was about Trump that annoys Dillion so much.
“There’s very little that doesn’t,” he told me. “The way he talks … the tone of what he says about Muslims, immigrants, women … virtually everyone.”
And it’s not just the tone that bothers Dillion. The substance of Trump’s speeches also irks him. He called Trump “thoughtless and dangerous.”
But I think Trump perceives that Americans want someone who is tough. But one-on-one he seems to be polite. How does that sway the perturbed Dillion?
“Not at all,” he said. “Because what you say publicly matters. He’s probably a nice person to the people he cares about. I think he cares about the people he’s with. But that’s not the measure of a man. The measure of a man is more than that.”
The measure of a man, Dillion explained to me, includes how you treat your enemies, as well as your friends, and people that are not like you.
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“On that score he fails in every way,” he continued.
But, for example, Trump said Caitlyn Jenner could use any bathroom Jenner wanted in Trump Tower.
“So that’s great; he said one nice thing,” Dillion said.
Dillion said politics is all about compromise. Fundamentally, he votes on economic issues, not on social issues, he said.
“Even though Republicans are far from perfect on the economic front, I think they’re better than the alternative,” he added.
So, he’s clearly against Trump. How will he vote?
“[Libertarian Party nominee] Gary Johnson,” he said.
Not Hillary Clinton?
“I don’t feel good about her,” he said. “I think she’s corrupt. I think she lies. I don’t think she would be a good president. That said, I trust her with the nuclear codes.”