Off-Topic: Must Watch Video: #Trump Attacks the Khan Family: A Closer Look

From “Late Night with Seth Meyers”

I thought the GOP had always tried to position itself as THE party for veterans. In light of Trump’s bizarre and shameful attacks on Captain Khan (and his grieving parents), I have to believe that long-time GOP loyalists are experiencing massive cognitive dissonance, as they deal with conflicting desires to honor our nation’s veterans and to support their party’s Presidential nominee. In fact, wasn’t it the GOP who coined the concept of the “values voter”? How can a “values voter” support a candidate who repeatedly makes statements in direct conflict with the values of the voter’s own party?
Imagine if the roles were somehow reversed and Hillary Clinton had attacked the grieving family of a man who was killed in combat. I think any honest person would admit that Republicans would be loudly and unanimously declaring that Clinton was unworthy of being the Commander-in-Chief. How then can they support Trump? I applaud Republicans like Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for their honesty in condemning Trump’s attacks on the Khans. But, again, how can they continue to support Trump? What would Trump have to do for them to stop supporting Trump?
To avoid any misunderstandings, none of this in any way justifies (or is intended to justify) Hillary’s shortcomings. It may be the case that neither of the two major parties have nominated a candidate worthy of becoming the next POTUS. I believe that American voters have two very bad choices in this election; maybe this election will finally trigger a much-needed and much-overdue national conversation about our antiquated and flawed process for selecting Presidents. For example, I believe that if we had Instant Runoff Voting (or some other single-winner voting system), the Republicans would have nominated a much better candidate than Trump; meanwhile, Americans in general would have felt safer voting for third-party candidates if they didn’t like either the Democratic or Republican nominees.
I’d love to read your thoughts; please leave a comment below.