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Williams: Thune/GOP Endorsement of Trump Shameful

Appalled by Senator John Thune’s endorsement of Trumpism? You have an alternative. Here’s candidate of conscience Jay Williams:

Jay Williams
Jay Williams

By endorsing Trump, Thune has aligned himself with many Republican party establishment leaders who support Trump in spite of Trump’s multiple actions that should disqualify him for any job.

Donald Trump’s lack of character is not really in dispute. Even conservative talk show personalities have denounced Trump’s litany of lies, which include false statements about everything from his failed business concerns (Trump Vodka, Trump Steaks, Trump Magazine, Trump University) to the nation’s unemployment rate (Trump said it is 35% — it is actually 4.9%). Trump has insulted women, Muslims, Mexicans, POWs and nearly everyone of his Presidential primary opponents. Trump’s lone supporter among foreign leaders in Vladimir Putin. Trump calls climate change a hoax and is calling for expanded use of fossil fuels, which would potentially cause world wide climatic chaos….

Trump is a greedy, bigoted, women hating, narcissist. The once great Republican party of Lincoln has selected him to be their Presidential candidate — how sad [Jay Williams, press release, 2016.06.02].

Williams gets one fact wrong. Trump’s support among foreign leaders as doubled to include Kim Jong Un. Toot that horn, Senator Thune!

Update 09:09 CDT: Thune’s surrender to Trumpism connects nicely with an article sent by a friend from conservative Christian blog Mere Orthodoxy, which finds the Religious Right’s kneeling to Trump an unacceptable abdication of principle:

…the religious right’s overall project was basically sound and the men leading it were trustworthy. That’s what we told ourselves. So we defended many of the men who have now proven themselves to be so cowardly and lacking the very thing they said the secularists and liberals were missing—a moral compass.

In 2007 we even endorsed Huckabee in the presidential primary. All of that seems depressingly naive and short-sighted this side of Trump 2016. There may have been good leaders in the religious right—Falwell Sr. was probably one and Francis Schaeffer and C. Everett Koop certainly were—but the conduct of these aging leaders during this campaign season is shameful and fully merits the strongest condemnation from serious believers.

It is also a cautionary tale about seeking to acquire power and influence while lacking the sort of Christian practice necessary to sustain virtue in the teeth of success. We chased fame and prestige as it is defined by the world and we had it… for awhile. It’s just too bad it clearly cost us our souls. Now the party we pledged ourselves too and which clearly never saw us asanything more than useful idiots is ready to kick us to the curb. But rather than standing by our principles, the purported moral voices of the old religious right are cravenly throwing themselves after the scraps that a racist, womanizing, vulgar, and laughably insecure rich boy brushes off his table [Jake Meador, “If the American Church Is Dying It’s Because We Deserve It,” Mere Orthodoxy, 2016.05.26].

Are we liberals and secular humanists the only politicos left with consciences?

41 Comments

  1. MD 2016-06-02 10:17

    Just a note on Trump’s 35% unemployment rate. Trump was likely utilizing the workforce participation rate as his figure, which reveals 36.7% of the population 16 or older are not working, whereas the unemployment rate is 7.2% (Both according to the Census American Community Survey 2014).
    Workforce participation rate is challenging because it includes those that are not employed, those that are retired, homemakers, etc.
    Unemployment rate is challenging because there are many figures which “drop you off the statistic” like part-time employment, taking too long to get a new job, not searching, or giving up.
    Both numbers give a good idea of the workforce status of the US, so both politicians in this instance are engaging in banter.

    A useful example of the challenge of these numbers based on the 2014 American Community Survey 5 year estimates
    Minnehaha County – 4.7% Unemployment rate, 28.9% of the population over 16 not participating in the workforce/currently unemployed and not seeking employment.
    Brown County – 2.5% Unemployment Rate, 30.9% of the population over 16 not participating in the workforce/currently unemployed and not seeking employment.
    Oglala Lakota County – 27.1% Unemployment rate, 66.9% of the population over 16 not participating in the workforce/currently unemployed and not seeking employment.

    Of note, Brown County has a higher workforce non-participation rate, but has a higher participation among those 65 and older when compared to Minnehaha County.

  2. Steve Sibson 2016-06-02 10:46

    “Are we liberals and secular humanists the only politicos left with consciences?”

    No Cory, the problem is you guys define Christianity based on the false church. Once one becomes serious about following a Biblical Christian worldview, then enough discernment is used to understand what is false christianity. That includes the ELCA. You may want to warn your wife.

  3. Jenny 2016-06-02 10:59

    Sibby, this isn’t a religious blog.

  4. Jenny 2016-06-02 11:02

    Whenever I need some good loopy entertainment I read Sibby’s comments and get a smile! Happy Friday, Sibby!

  5. Hank 2016-06-02 11:28

    False Christianity, that is an amazing statement. It either is or it isn’t and for those ignorant enough to say their way is the only way, I can only wish them well.

  6. Steve Sibson 2016-06-02 11:31

    “for those ignorant enough to say their way is the only way, I can only wish them well.”

    John 14:6

    “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

    I wish you well. I am not worried about Jesus and His well being.

  7. Private Richard 2016-06-02 11:44

    Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others. Buddha

  8. owen 2016-06-02 12:45

    “You must unlearn what you have learned.”-Yoda

  9. Roger Cornelius 2016-06-02 12:49

    Oh Good Grief!

    Sibson has infested another damn good thread with his mindless sermonettes.

  10. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-06-02 13:14

    Yup, Roger. The point here is that John Thune has abdicated conscience and principle by supporting Donald Trump. Jay Williams is calling him on it, and no one has stepped in yet to tell us that Jay Williams is wrong. Jay Williams for Senate!

  11. MC 2016-06-02 13:44

    If Mr. Trump is so evil, then how does he continue to win primaries? How does none of the mud that gets thrown doesn’t stick? why is everyone flocking toward him? The answer is pretty simple. The people are sick and tired of the BS coming out of Washington, they are tired of the games, they are tired of the political correct speak.

    Mr. Trump is giving the people what people want to hear. it is called marketing, he is a master at it.

  12. Robin Friday 2016-06-02 14:36

    Stupidest thing SD voters ever did was vote out Tom Daschle and vote in John Thune.

  13. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-06-02 14:58

    And MC, as folks of your worldview should know better than I, in a fallen world, evil can draw an audience.

  14. Kal Lis 2016-06-02 15:21

    “If Mr. Trump is so evil, then how does he continue to win primaries?”

    MC answers his own question; “Mr. Trump is giving the people what people want to hear. . .”

    We Americans have gotten to the point that we are politically in the spot that the Bible warns about. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

  15. Steve Sibson 2016-06-02 15:36

    “Stupidest thing SD voters ever did was vote out Tom Daschle”

    Cory, were you not talking about having a conscience on this thread? Tom Daschle supported the White House sexual pervert. That drove me out of the Democratic Party.

  16. bearcreekbat 2016-06-02 15:58

    Hillary’s San Diego foreign policy speech this afternoon was one of the very best I have heard from any candidate, including Bernie’s speech in Rapid City. She is the real deal.

    And I encourage Bernie supporters to listen to Hillary’s speech before they decide to abandon her. It could change some minds.

  17. Jake Cummings 2016-06-02 16:14

    MD, just to clarify, retired individuals, homemakers, etc. would be included in the denominator of the labor force participation rate, but the numerator would only include individuals who are in the labor pool. Is that what you meant in your prior post?

    Not trying to change the subject, but economic dependency ratios might be one of the more informative demographic resources we could employ (description here: http://tinyurl.com/j7goklo), as it can be a harbinger of future strains on programs like Social Security.

  18. DR 2016-06-02 16:16

    Back in 2002 Sen Johnson ran a campaign that said you need to keep me in office so we can keep Tom Daschle as majority leader in the senate. Johnson won by 500+ votes they found in they middle of the night off in Shannon County. With that win, Daschle was supposed to be majority leader, right? Wrong! That night the republicans took back the senate and Tom became the minority leader. The campaign was a lie!
    If Sen Thune would have defeated Sen Johnson, you would more than likely still have Sen Daschle!
    So when people say “stupidest thing South Dakota ever did was get rid of Daschle” democrats can really look at themselves and say, if would have let Tim Johnson go, we would still have Sen Daschle! What a different South Dakota it would be b/c you would probably still have Rep SHS. Its funny how a world works!

  19. Roger Cornelius 2016-06-02 16:34

    bear,
    Hillary’s San Diego speech was fantastic, it was to the point without ranting and ravings we have come to expect from the remaining two candidates.

    As to why Trump has drawn so many to his flock, he answered that question a few weeks ago when he said that ‘I love uneducated voters’. There are times when Trump is right and doesn’t even know it.

  20. mike from iowa 2016-06-02 17:06

    Wasn’t 2002 the year Laura Ingraham of Fake Noise was actively campaigning against Daschle in SD?

  21. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-06-02 18:20

    DR, you’re working way too hard to razz Democrats. To say that folks who voted for Tim Johnson instead of John Thune in 2002 are responsible for Tom Daschle’s defeat, if not completely absurd (the folks responsible for Tom Daschle’s defeat are the folks who did not vote for him in 2004), at least requires a level of alternative-historical evidence that you will never obtain. To extrapolate to six terms for SHS is completely, baselessly speculative.

    But since you’re here, DR, how are you holding up with Donald Trump as your party’s leader? Can we get him to come to South Dakota and appear on stage with Thune, Noem, and our Legislative candidates? Please?

  22. mike from iowa 2016-06-02 18:29

    Great link on HRC,bear.

  23. Roger Cornelius 2016-06-02 19:26

    Cory,
    Speaking of Trump making a South Dakota appearance, Kevin Woster has been hinting on Facebook that Trump will be a the Buffalo Chip in August.

  24. Greg 2016-06-02 20:17

    An alternative to Thune, Williams is a weak candidate. He placed last in a field of four in his last two elections. I doubt he gets over 20% of the vote.

  25. Adam 2016-06-03 04:07

    Chance or no chance, I can’t help but like Jay Williams.

  26. Adam 2016-06-03 04:11

    Daschle was a White House pervert supporter – so I left the Democratic Party – LOL

  27. Adam 2016-06-03 04:39

    Sibby, if only you folks were as appalled by Republicans cheating on there wife’s exhibiting bisexual behavior, and even pedophile in the last ten years, like Sen. Larry Craig, Rep. Mark Foley, Rep. Bob Allen, former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, Sen. David Vitter (had female prostitutes unlike the former), and on and on… You might have a moral leg to stand on with this one Bill Clinton thing back in the 90s – but you guys turn a blind eye to all your perverted promiscuous homosexual exploding number of recent offenders.

  28. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-06-03 08:06

    Greg, practice makes perfect, right?

  29. Steve Sibson 2016-06-03 09:17

    “but you guys”

    Who are you associating me with?

  30. Greg 2016-06-03 09:18

    I really think Bill Clinton should be excused from his sexual conduct in the White House. You have to remember that Hillary was the First Lady so how could you really blame him for his actions.

  31. Steve Sibson 2016-06-03 09:25

    Greg, Billy seems to really fond of her now. Or is his real goal is to become First Man so he can chase more women?

  32. Greg 2016-06-03 10:14

    Steve Sibson, I think you right on with Billy. Hell I think I will vote for her just to see it unfold.

  33. owen 2016-06-03 10:18

    You voting for Trump Sibson?

  34. Jenny 2016-06-03 10:36

    Oh honestly, both Dems and ‘Pubs have been caught with their pants down.

  35. Steve Sibson 2016-06-03 11:50

    No I am not voting for Trump, he can’t be trusted. And I am not voting for Hillary. They are just puppets.

  36. Roger Cornelius 2016-06-03 12:27

    Sibson is voting for Sibson.
    He is the blessed ONE.

  37. Kurt Evans 2016-06-03 14:40

    Cory asks:

    Appalled by Senator John Thune’s endorsement of Trumpism?

    Yes I am.

    Jay Williams says:

    Trump has insulted women, Muslims, Mexicans, POWs and nearly everyone of his Presidential primary opponents.

    I’d have written “everyone” as two words and “Presidential” with a lowercase p, but it’s a good observation.

    The once great Republican party of Lincoln has selected him to be their Presidential candidate — how sad …

    I’d have written “party” with a capital P and “Presidential” with a lowercase p and given “how sad” its own sentence, but it’s a good observation.

    Jake Meador writes:

    In 2007 we even endorsed Huckabee in the presidential primary. All of that seems depressingly naive and short-sighted this side of Trump 2016.

    Webster lists shortsighted without the hyphen, but my own campaigning for Huckabee during the 2008 election cycle now embarrasses me too. I was much closer to Ron Paul on the issues but initially thought Huckabee had a better shot at winning the general election. Live and learn.

    … the conduct of these aging leaders during this campaign season is shameful and fully merits the strongest condemnation from serious believers.

    Pro-Trump “leaders”? To **** with them all!

    Oh, wait. Cancel that. Meador probably means condemnation of their conduct.

    But rather than standing by our principles, the purported moral voices of the old religious right are cravenly throwing themselves after the scraps that a racist, womanizing, vulgar, and laughably insecure rich boy brushes off his table …

    Boom. Now that’s a sentence.

    Cory asks:

    Are we liberals and secular humanists the only politicos left with consciences?

    No, but it’s a helpful rhetorical question.

  38. mike from iowa 2016-06-03 15:35

    Geez fellas, WJC was elected twice to take care of governmental affairs and here you mock him for having affairs.

    For all his faults,Clinton never once bombed the wrong nation to start an illegal,unconstitutional war. Dumbass dubya wondered if our children is learning. Clinton was “teaching” one children the facts of life.

  39. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-06-03 16:07

    I completely agree with Kurt on his assessment of Jay’s incorrect usage of “everyone” and his positive assessment of Meador’s writing.

  40. leslie 2016-06-04 04:25

    Jay Was A military Pilot. He’ll Have A Staff For Grammar. Had Bush Been He Wouldnt Start A War For His Dad. Oh He Was But Still Did. Dumb Lazy Rich Kid. Like Trump.

  41. leslie 2016-06-17 17:27

    Bush and republicans must explain why in 2003 iraq was subject to shock&awe and 60000 refugees, 10000 familys, children, elderly, and pregnant women are today fleeing falujah. Jay can honestly answer that but thune cant. nyt 2day

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