Although a political conservative and consistent Republican voter, I have not voted for Trump and, after watching the first Presidential Debate of 2020, have decided to not vote for Trump. Add my name to the "Never Trump" column, not as an ideological commitment, but simply as a fact. I will have never voted for him. This is why.
First, abortion. The Culture War will be won with character not politics. Overturning Roe does not end the bloodshed. Its repeal allows South Dakota and Mississippi to outlaw abortion, but allows, even encourages, California and New York to continue. The actual number of abortions may not decrease and the cost of victory would be endorsing a man who exemplifies the Sexual Revolution's degradation of women and marriage. Who can calculate the unintended consequences? And it's not obvious that these originalist, textualist justices will actually overturn Roe, with its decades of stare decisis. The true precedent for overturning abortion is the Early Church ending infanticide and the exposure of infants in the Roman Empire through its own moral lives and theological convictions. Ending abortion and repealing the Sexual Revolution requires a change of heart, which is not compatible with an ends-justify-the-means rationale.
Second, the Constitution. Trump shows a lack of conviction about his oath to "protect and defend the Constitution". Like Obama, stretching back to Woodrow Wilson, Trump shares the imperial view of the Presidency. He feels entitled to "get things done" by executive order if Congress doesn't "act". It's true that he hasn't done that much, for which I'm grateful, but he would if he could. And that paves the way for a future President who actually has ability. We need a President who humbly serves the country by executing his or her office as laid out in the Constitution.
Third, Black Lives Matter. All Americans should care about the hopelessness and violence in our inner cities. The progressives are fanning Marxist flames and peddling the false hope of revolution. They are not helping. But Trump's partial, sometimes indirect, endorsements of white nationalist groups is too frequent to be accidental. You can't be the law and order candidate and play with verbal matches next to that gasoline. We need a President who believes in liberty and justice for all, who champions equality under the law, and who "takes Care that Laws be faithfully executed" in our land.
Fourth, conscience. If I vote third party, or write-in, or decline to vote, I am not implicitly voting for Biden. I reject the binary choice. I may never have the decisive vote on any matter, but a lifetime of voting my conscience makes a difference. There is a time for transactional thinking, picking the lesser of two evils, but this is not it. Our democracy will survive Trump or Biden. It survived Obama and would have survived Hillary. Our ideals are stronger than either major candidate in 2020, so it's best to follow my conscience and be Never Trump.
