(08-13-2019 10:22 AM)200yrs2late Wrote:  

(08-13-2019 10:00 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  Trump keeps doing things that make me cringe, but then I look at the crop of democrats and think, "OMG, I could never, ever vote for any of these, nor would I really want to have any one of them as my president." Fortunately, I don't think Trump will need my vote in Texas, and if he does it's pretty much hopeless nationally. So I will probably vote Libertarian and pray to God that Trump wins.

I only see two issues with someone like you voting third party in TX.
1- If Trump only wins by a slim margin, or looses the popular vote again due to third party candidates; it gives libs fuel for continuing to "resist" Trump and to continue to argue for the elimination of the electoral college.
2- The closer the margin in victory in TX, the more dems will try to turn TX blue as they see it as more vulnerable.
just my two cents. I think protest votes, especially for a third party with quite literally no chance in winning, doesn't strengthen future third party candidate chances, nor is it viewed as a vote against the democrat candidate. Unfortunately the dem party is rapidly devolving into a rabid socialist mob and the only thing that will bring them back towards the center is a direct rebuke.

I agree that both of those are issues. But I've protest voted in every presidential election since 1980, and every one of those republicans was more appealing to me than Trump. If he caves on gun control, that just makes him even less appealing to me.

I did vote Ted Cruz in 2018 because he had run such a god-awful campaign, particularly in failing to call out Robert Francis O'Rourke for the lightweight that he is, that I worried he might be in trouble. But I did not vote for Abbott (he didn't need me) or Patrick (because I know him).