That many conservatives have had it with Donald Trump is a surprise to exactly no one (unless your name is Sean Hannity).
Just yesterday, Republican Senator Susan Collins penned a public editorial declaring that she will not be voting for Donald Trump.
This kind of major party division is unique in my lifetime. Of course, as Newt Gingrich would tell us (Newty!), “unique” is just part of the merry Trump ride.
Into the fray comes Evan McMullin. Prior to yesterday, I, like most Americans, had never heard of him. But as he has stepped forward to challenge both Trump and Hillary Clinton for the presidency, I did some research.
Prior to yesterday, I, like most Americans, had never heard of Evan McMullin. But as he has stepped forward to challenge both Trump and Clinton for the presidency, I did some research. His resume is impressive.
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McMullin’s resume is impressive. He worked for ten years at the C.I.A., after graduating first from Brigham Young University and then earning an MBA from the Wharton School at UPenn. Hey! That’s Donald Trump’s alma mater as well. This should make it harder to for The Orange One to delegitimize McMullan’s educational “qualification.”
McMullin went on to work at (gird your loins, liberals) Goldman Sachs, before becoming a policy advisor to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. In 2015, McMullin began working as the chief policy director for the House Republican Conference. He has since resigned, presumably to focus on his presidential bid.
He’s also only forty years old.
To get a feel for McMullin, I watched his TEdx talk on preventing genocide. I strongly encourage you to do the same, for three reasons (please be forewarned, there are graphic and disturbing images):
- The atrocities committed by Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad should be front-page news. Our government should have done more, and should be doing more, to stop the barbaric murder of 250,000+ and counting.
- That Evan McMullin is interested enough in preventing genocide to make it a focus of his TED Talk tells you a great deal about his character.
- You will notice McMullin is not the most natural or charismatic speaker.
On that last point, my opinion at this phase of Election 2016: who cares?
Donald Trump credits his entire political success to his “interesting,” “provocative,” “charismatic energy.”
He’s a disgraceful man, and a national embarrassment (see: Collins’ above-linked editorial). And according to another set of experts who weighed in today, 50 Republican national security experts at that, Donald Trump is a danger to our national security.
Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, is not known for her brilliant oratory. But with the recent revelation of DNC collusion to shut out Bernie Sanders, the previous email scandal involving her prohibited private server, and the total incompetence in response to the dangers in Benghazi, Libya, resulting in the deaths of four Americans, all on her watch as Secretary of State… This is not a flaw-free candidate.
I’ll come now to a lesser-commented-upon difference between McMullin and his two other presidential nominees:
Age.
Hillary Clinton is currently 68 years old. Donald Trump is 70.
Politico ran an article back in February, looking at the neuroscience behind brain performance as humans get older. This quote is worth reading in full:
I’ll come now to a lesser-commented upon difference between McMullin and the other two presidential nominees: age. If neuroscience is to be believed, 70 is the un-magic age at which cognitive ability starts to rapidly decline.
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“As it happens, the field of neuroscience has studied closely the trajectory of cognitive aging, and there is a fair amount of agreement about how our cognitive abilities—memory, learning, attention, reasoning—decline as we get older. Research shows that the decline, if it were a ski slope, would appear fairly flat until the age of 50 or 60. For the next decade or two, it would look like a bunny hill. Then somewhere around age 70, the slope would drop off like a black diamond run. Then a cliff. All three of those leading candidates are approaching, at least statistically speaking, the downhill-race-course portion of that decline.”
Watching footage of Trump from the ‘80s and ‘90s, it seems his mental acuity has declined. Getting unscripted Clinton footage any time in the recent past is trickier (she went over 200 days without a press conference earlier this year).
Still, if neuroscience is to be believed, 70 is the un-magic age when cognitive ability starts to rapidly decline.
This is a profoundly important topic. Being president requires constant mental (and physical) stamina.
McMullin has the decided advantage there.
His website doesn’t currently host any specific policy positions, but I’ll be keeping a close watch to see what McMullin has to offer.
Given the record unfavorable numbers on both Clinton and Trump, odds are you’ll be interested in McMullin’s candidacy too.
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Join our #StopTrump task force today.
(Weekly conference calls with people who believe that Trump’s values goes against everything The Good Men Project stands for.)
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Source: 30dB.com – Evan McMullin
“Looks like Social knows him and between his background and chances of making dent in this election he is not doing well at only 43% positive. But 43% positive does put him 5% higher than Trump for the same period.” – Howard K. 30dB
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There’s some merit here. I’m watching Johnson too. I will absolutely NOT vote Clinton. Not because she a Democrat. But because she’s a liar, and she is a member of the UN initiative for global control. If you think Obama and Clinton aren’t part of this you are very mistaken. They will be, and are, a part of that elite and you don’t count. Which is why trump is so attacked. Yes he’s a mess in this. But truth be told this is about him being a fly in the ointment of plans much larger than you or I. This… Read more »
Little late to the party, but considering what we are faced with presently, I’m already looking toward the future.
Thanks for the info. I’ll be bookmarking and following him myself.
He sounds interesting….down the road! His mother, Lanie McMullin, works as Executive Director of tbe City of Everett Office of Economic Development in my town.