I Really Hope Hillary Clinton Is The Democratic Nominee

Today, in the Wall Street Journal, Douglas Schoen writes that reports of Hillary Clinton's status as the presumptive Democratic nominee may be greatly exaggerated. If Bernie Sanders wins or comes close in the California primary (and the polls suggest it's at least possible), the nomination would come down to whichever way the superdelegates lean. Given recent poll numbers showing Clinton with rising unfavorables and a close race against Trump, combined with the very real possibility that she may be indicted any day, the superdelegates may well decide that a Sanders candidacy provides a better chance at the White House.

This would be bad for all Americans. Here's why.

First of all, Donald Trump is already a poor candidate for the Republican Party. He has massively high unfavorable ratings. An entire contingent of his own party refuses to vote for him. He doesn't seem to believe his own schtick and flip-flops frequently. Most of those in his own party who actually support him do so with all the reluctant enthusiasm of a frazzled ride attendant at Disney World. Finally, many Republicans only support him to deny Hillary Clinton the nomination, or because they think he will pick better Supreme Court justices than she will.

Here's the thing, though: Clinton is just as weak. Due to her unfavorables and three different looming scandals (Benghazi, emails, AND the Clinton Foundation), she even seems beatable if Trump unifies the GOP and rights his own ship.

Sanders, however, is running up double-digit leads on Trump, and has the strong backing of the younger and more radical fringe of the Democratic party. Running him against Trump would likely guarantee a Democratic president for the next four years.

That's the first problem. The second revolves around what kind of president Sanders would be.

Unlike Clinton, Sanders is an avowed socialist, and has been one since before the Soviet Union fell. His memoir states that he supported the Sandinistas' proxy war against the Reagan-helmed United States and honeymooned in the USSR. He frequently rails against "the 1%" and "millionaires and billionaires" (even though he is one), and has vowed to raise taxes across the board to pay for new government programs. (See how Bernie's plan would affect you here! Spoiler alert: His plan would likely bankrupt the country for good.)

Sanders is a socialist, which is undeniably worse than whatever flavor of crony capitalist Clinton is. Though, frankly, choosing between crony capitalism and socialism is like choosing whether to drink Ipecac or bleach, respectively.

And now, we come to the final problem with a Sanders nomination. If the Democrats nominate Sanders, conservatives like me who find voting for Donald Trump unconscionable will be faced with an unthinkable choice. We would be forced to either vote for The Donald, a man completely unfit to be President, or cede the election – and the country – to socialism. At that point, any support for a more conservative third-party candidate would take votes from Trump, the candidate with the best chance to defeat socialism. That's the practical reality, however much we may hate it.

This horrible choice between supporting a lunatic and allowing a socialist to win would be on my mind, and on the mind of every true conservative, if Sanders wins. I truly believe that the Republic can survive four years of Clinton. It may be resilient enough to survive four years of Trump. I do not think it can survive four years of socialism.