The Lesser of two Evils

While discussing the primary returns from Nevada and South Carolina today, my son asked me the question: "If the election came down to Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, who would you vote for?" 

Ick.  Possibly the worst outcome of our fractious primary system in the US presidential election would be that situation, and if it came to that, I might find myself in the 'Draft a 3rd party candidate' campaign, but naturally, my son saw that option coming, and limited me to these two candidates only.

Tough call, but I expect I might even find myself voting for Bernie Sanders in this case.  While I am a registered Republican, and generally quite conservative, I see 'less damage' in a Sanders presidency than if Donald Trump were elected.

While I don't agree with several of Mr. Sanders' views and positions, the enactment of his policies would require a Congress that would be willing to enact laws aligned to that position.  While the power of the Presidency is significant, real change requires consensus among the Legislature and the Executive branch.  I'm not convinced that the country is ready to swing dramatically in the "Democratic Socialist" direction that Mr. Sanders would prefer, so I would  expect that the Congress would be in opposition during the term of his potential presidency.

The same may be true of Donald Trump - the country at large is not really ready for his brand of conservatism, either (although he might start with a Republican Congress, if only for two years).  But a hypothetical President Trump represents a risk of embarrassing and weakening America.  In his candidacy, he has repeated spoken off the cuff, and said things that we would not find acceptable from a President, and many times he has had to come back after the fact to explain himself and try to soften the blow.  International diplomacy (a key role for the president!) doesn't give much allowance for 'second chances'.  While I may agree with many of his policies (not all), the other candidates have equal or better positions (but again, I'm hoping to escape this binary choice). 

The actual voting results for Trump have consistently been lower than the pre-vote polls indicate; I take this as a sign that he may excite people, but when it comes down to actually pulling a lever for a candidate, the electorate looks hard at the candidates, and makes a better decision.  Let's hope that in the end, my son's scenario is not a choice I'll have to make.