Baptist News Global
Sections
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Curated
  • Storytelling
    • Faith & Justice >
      • Charleston: Metanoia with Bill Stanfield
      • Charlotte: QC Family Tree with Greg and Helms Jarrell
      • Little Rock: Judge Wendell Griffen
      • North Carolina: Conetoe
    • Welcoming the Stranger >
      • Lost Boys of Sudan: St. John’s Baptist Charlotte
      • Awakening to Immigrant Justice: Myers Park Baptist Church
      • Hospitality on the corner: Gaston Christian Center
    • Signature Ministries >
      • Jake Hall: Gospel Gothic, Music and Radio
    • Singing Our Faith >
      • Hymns for a Lifetime: Ken Wilson and Knollwood Baptist Church
      • Norfolk Street Choir
    • Resilient Rural America >
      • Alabama: Perry County
      • Texas: Hidalgo County
      • Arkansas Delta
      • Southeast Kentucky
  • More
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donate
    • Planned Giving
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Advertising
    • Ministry Jobs and More
    • Transitions
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions and Permissions
Donate Subscribe
Search Search this site

Holding my nose and voting against my beliefs

OpinionMiguel De La Torre  |  September 15, 2016

Miguel De La TorreOn January 20, 2017, either Donald J. Trump or Hillary R. Clinton will take the oath and become the 45th president of the United States. Although I can provide thousands of reason why Trump is dangerous to the Latinx community, as well as to the country as a whole (unlike Romney or McCain before who were not national security risks), if I’m honest, I agree more with Trump’s ideology than Clinton’s.

True, by all accounts, Clinton is well-equipped and possesses the experience and maturity to lead this country. The label “crooked Hillary” has been successfully employed to discredit her abilities – similar to how the “swiftboating” campaign turned Kerry’s heroism, a war hero and purple heart recipient, into some type of draft dodger to deflect from Bush’s own activities with the Texas National Guard. Benghazi, Clinton Foundation, and email-handling have been hurled at her in an effort to paint Clinton as dishonest, which is ironic when compared to Trump’s actual documented difficulties (Trump University, refusing to pay vendors, refusing to rent to people of color).

Before exploring what should be the focus of our concern with Clinton, allow me to quickly dismiss these non-issues. First, Benghazi: after the longest and costliest partisan-driven investigation in the history of the Congress, with the Republican goal to find something by which to smear Clinton, the release of the 800-page final report by the House Select Committee found no evidence of wrongdoing or culpability by Clinton in relationship to the 2012 attack in Libya leading to the death of four Americans.

Second, the Clinton Foundation: the innuendoes cast make it sound as if the charity organization is an ingenious scam to personally enrich the Clintons. Never mind that CharityWatch, an assertive independent charity watchdog gave the Clinton Foundation an A rating, documenting how 88% of its funds go directly to programing that has saved lives. Sure, Clinton should create, if elected, clear procedures to avoid the appearance of impropriety; but thus far, no evidence exists of fraud. And finally, what Sander’s elegantly called, “her damn emails:” again, after an FBI investigation, the director of the bureau, James B. Comey, recommended no criminal charges be filed against her for how she handled classified information. Yes, she was “extremely careless,” but carelessness does not equate with dishonesty. Accuse her of having an overblown sense of privilege and I’ll agree with you, but character assassination concerning dishonesty deflects from more damning concerns.

First, a Clinton administration (in spite of being the liberal bogeywoman) will, I believe, create a neoconservative realignment as neocons return to the Democratic Party. Neoconservativism is a muscular Cold War liberalism which advocates a U.S.-driven world in its fight against communism in the past — terrorism now — through idealistic U.S.-leaning nation-building abroad. Someone has to be a superpower, so it might as well be us! This Cold War ideology started within the Democratic Party during the Truman Administration, defected to the Republican Party during McGovern leftist agenda in his presidential bid and Carter’s human right-centric foreign policy, and found its Golden Age in the Reagan Administration and in that of his ideological son W. Bush.

But as the Republican standard-bearer argues for an “unabashedly noninterventionist approach to world affairs,” Clinton — and the Democrats who have picked up the language of exceptionalism — seem more committed to neoconservative principles. Some neocons have already been supporting Clinton. For example, Robert Kagan is “comfortable with [Clinton] on foreign policy. If she pursues a policy which we think she will pursue it’s something that might have been called neocon, but clearly her supporters are not going to call it that; they are going to call it something else.” Max Boot, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations argued that Trump would “destroy American foreign policy and the international system.” And former neocon of the W. Bush Administration, Eliot Cohen, sees Clinton as “the lesser evil, by a large margin.” This is not a new realignment. When Clinton was nominated as Secretary of State by the Obama Administration, the neocon Weekly Standard referred to her as the “Great Right Hope.” This budding love affair is also more than just lip service as demonstrated by the fundraising efforts for Clinton’s campaign by neocons.

And second, Trump — although a product of neoliberalism — is more against the structures which maintain this system than is Clinton, who was forced to take a more cynical leftist turn due to her primary challenger. Neoliberals seek a global economy of liberalized trade, open markets, low taxes for the rich, and free trade by cutting social spending, advocating privatization, calling for deregulation, dismantling the public good concept, and deferring to the rule of market. Money is freed, not people. Trade deals like NAFTA or TTP are neoliberal structures responsible for the continued growing gap between the economic elite and the majority of the world’s wretched relegated to ever-expanding poverty. Regardless of all the “socialist” rhetoric hurled at Clinton and the Democratic Party for their anti-greedy-bankers progressive agenda, she has been more of an ally to Wall Street than Trump, an ally rewarded with significant campaign contributions. It should be telling that the Koch brothers admit to supporting her. And while I agree with Brexit and Trump’s anti-NAFTA and TTP positions; I am deeply frightened by his reasoning. My reason is based on a commitment to the poor. His platform is highly xenophobic, based on racist and anti-ethnic demagoguery and a phony populism to create a dangerous economic nationalism which fails to protect workers but instead enriches his class. The alternative is Clinton who may be a social liberal but remains economically a neoliberal who will represent politics and economics as usual. So what is a liberationist social Democrat to do?

As I said, on inauguration day, either Trump or Clinton will place their hand on the Bible and take the oath. Not Darrell Castle; not Jill Stein; not Gary Johnson. Economic and/or white privilege allows some to cast away votes as a sign of moral superiority in response to an indignation over the only flawed candidates. And while I wish I could avoid voting this year, I will vote for Clinton even though she is a neoliberal who will make a home for neoconservatives. I cannot vote for Trump because I simply am not a coconut. For the Latinx community (and other marginalized communities residing on the death-dealing edge), the prospect of a Trump administration will mean policies contributing to more dead brown bodies on our borders, from five deaths every four days to God knows what. Trump’s ethnically discriminatory comments comparing Latinx to “criminals, drug dealers, and rapists,” or that a U.S. born judge cannot be objective because he is of Mexican decent, should be troubling not just for Latinxs, but also every American of good will who stands against anti-Latinx discrimination and stereotyping. What a poor state of political affairs when voting is limited to who would cause less deaths.

So on election day, I will hold my nose and vote against my interests for Clinton because more of the same is greatly better than the violence (which we have already seen), death and chaos (and I’m not being hyperbolic) Trump represents.


OPINION: Views expressed in Baptist News Global columns and commentaries are solely those of the authors.
Tags:Donald Trumpelection 2016Hillary ClintonMiguel de la TorreLatinxNeoconservativismRobert KaganMax BootEliot Cohenneoliberalism
More by
Miguel De La Torre
  • Get BNG headlines in your inbox

  • BNG dinner will bring together Anthea Butler and Beth Allison Barr for a conversation on race and gender

    Two of the most prominent voices speaking to the American church about race and gender will appear together at the Baptist News Global dinner during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s General Assembly in Dallas this June. Get your tickets now!

  • Featured

    • White supremacy and firearm idolatry: America’s Baal

      Opinion

    • SBC establishes hotline to receive reports of sexual abuse in churches

      News

    • After the Guidepost report: Dwelling with evil while living into hope

      Opinion

    • SBC presidential candidate says Executive Committee’s waiver of attorney-client privilege was ‘not wise’

      News


    Curated

    • Buffalo and Uvalde both appear to have involved the AR-15, the rifle revered by the Christian right

      Buffalo and Uvalde both appear to have involved the AR-15, the rifle revered by the Christian right

      May 27, 2022
    • Ukrainians Count The Days As They Pray

      Ukrainians Count The Days As They Pray

      May 27, 2022
    • Texans plan interfaith protest at Friday’s NRA convention in Houston

      Texans plan interfaith protest at Friday’s NRA convention in Houston

      May 27, 2022
    • Buffalo’s Black Christians Grieve the ‘Evil Among Us’

      Buffalo’s Black Christians Grieve the ‘Evil Among Us’

      May 27, 2022
    Read Next:

    Mass murder and the soundtrack of our lives

    OpinionJustin Cox

    More Articles

    • All
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Curated
    • Former SBC President Johnny Hunt admits improper conduct but denies abuse claims

      NewsDavid Bumgardner

    • America, blood is on your hands

      OpinionJamar A. Boyd II

    • Guns, the elders and the children

      OpinionSusan K. Smith

    • They were attending a conference on Scripture and violence when the Uvalde massacre happened

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • On another classroom full of murdered children

      OpinionDavid Gushee, Senior Columnist

    • Now is the time when we need to hear white evangelical leaders refute white supremacy

      OpinionJoel Bowman Sr.

    • Does the SBC have enough sackcloth?

      OpinionTerry Austin

    • SBC Executive Committee releases previously secret list of convicted and credibly accused church sexual abusers

      NewsDavid Bumgardner

    • Calvinist Baptist pastor says Guidepost recommendations in sexual abuse report are ‘harmful’ and threaten ‘the sufficiency of Scripture’

      NewsDavid Bumgardner

    • Title 42 is expelling the good people, not the bad people, border advocate explains

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • What happens when the good news of therapy and the good news of Scripture conflict?

      OpinionRebecca Hewitt-Newson

    • Sick of war, church leaders in South Sudan recommit to finding peace

      NewsAnthony Akaeze

    • White supremacy and firearm idolatry: America’s Baal

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • The European option: Why we need a third way on abortion

      AnalysisAlan Bean

    • After the Guidepost report: Dwelling with evil while living into hope

      OpinionKathy Manis Findley

    • SBC establishes hotline to receive reports of sexual abuse in churches

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Becoming UNSTOPPABLE Christians

      Paid Promoted Content

    • SBC presidential candidate says Executive Committee’s waiver of attorney-client privilege was ‘not wise’

      NewsDavid Bumgardner

    • Rights, responsibilities and the two-fold commandment of love: A reflection on gun violence in America

      OpinionGreg Garrett, Senior Columnist

    • Mass murder and the soundtrack of our lives

      OpinionJustin Cox

    • Letter to the Editor: Where are the repentant SBC leaders?

      OpinionLetters to the Editor

    • What I learned listening to others who have left the faith

      AnalysisRick Pidcock

    • United Methodist model could help Southern Baptists recover from sexual abuse scandal

      AnalysisCynthia Astle

    • Who is Augie Boto, the central figure in the SBC sexual abuse cover up?

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • This is more than just sin

      OpinionMeredith Stone

    • Former SBC President Johnny Hunt admits improper conduct but denies abuse claims

      NewsDavid Bumgardner

    • They were attending a conference on Scripture and violence when the Uvalde massacre happened

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • SBC Executive Committee releases previously secret list of convicted and credibly accused church sexual abusers

      NewsDavid Bumgardner

    • Calvinist Baptist pastor says Guidepost recommendations in sexual abuse report are ‘harmful’ and threaten ‘the sufficiency of Scripture’

      NewsDavid Bumgardner

    • Title 42 is expelling the good people, not the bad people, border advocate explains

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Sick of war, church leaders in South Sudan recommit to finding peace

      NewsAnthony Akaeze

    • SBC establishes hotline to receive reports of sexual abuse in churches

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • SBC presidential candidate says Executive Committee’s waiver of attorney-client privilege was ‘not wise’

      NewsDavid Bumgardner

    • Who is Augie Boto, the central figure in the SBC sexual abuse cover up?

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • SBC plans to release list of known sexual abusers in churches, refutes its own former general counsel

      NewsDavid Bumgardner, Jeff Brumley, Mark Wingfield and Maina Mwaura

    • On three-month anniversary of Russian invasion, Ukrainian Baptists and neighbors keep helping everyone they can

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • While SBC weeps over sexual abuse allegations, the TheoBros take on Beth Allison Barr one more time

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • SBC’s former law firm sharply disagrees with Sexual Abuse Task Force report

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Hearing from victims’ families changed the death penalty debate in Connecticut

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • What’s next for recommendations and reforms in SBC sexual abuse study?

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Guidepost report documents pattern of ignoring, denying and deflecting on sexual abuse claims in SBC

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Author considers how to mourn what’s lost when the faithful leave church

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • As joblessness rocks South Africa, fake pastor diplomas are in demand

      NewsRay Mwareya and Nyasha Bhobo

    • Why breaking up is so hard to do for United Methodists: Connectionalism

      NewsCynthia Astle

    • Oklahoma legislators say life begins at ‘fertilization’

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Baptists in Ukraine continue their humanitarian work amid devastation

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Louisville police training quoted Bible verse to say officers are God’s agents of wrath

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Transitions for the week of 5-20-22

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • ‘It’s still the economy, stupid’

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • America, blood is on your hands

      OpinionJamar A. Boyd II

    • Guns, the elders and the children

      OpinionSusan K. Smith

    • On another classroom full of murdered children

      OpinionDavid Gushee, Senior Columnist

    • Now is the time when we need to hear white evangelical leaders refute white supremacy

      OpinionJoel Bowman Sr.

    • Does the SBC have enough sackcloth?

      OpinionTerry Austin

    • What happens when the good news of therapy and the good news of Scripture conflict?

      OpinionRebecca Hewitt-Newson

    • White supremacy and firearm idolatry: America’s Baal

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • After the Guidepost report: Dwelling with evil while living into hope

      OpinionKathy Manis Findley

    • Rights, responsibilities and the two-fold commandment of love: A reflection on gun violence in America

      OpinionGreg Garrett, Senior Columnist

    • Mass murder and the soundtrack of our lives

      OpinionJustin Cox

    • Letter to the Editor: Where are the repentant SBC leaders?

      OpinionLetters to the Editor

    • This is more than just sin

      OpinionMeredith Stone

    • Remember the women: The Southern Baptist cover up of sexual abuse

      OpinionPam Durso

    • Don’t overlook the depth of the disease in the SBC

      OpinionPaula Garrett

    • Tear down the SBC Executive Committee and replace it

      OpinionLayne Wallace

    • It’s time to stop giving Christianity a pass on white supremacy and violence

      OpinionRobert P. Jones

    • SBC report shows how five words turn abuse victim from ‘survivor’ to ‘whore’

      OpinionMarv Knox

    • Former foster youth need to know they are not abandoned

      OpinionAlbert L. Reyes

    • What I learned about Polish hospitality toward Ukrainians: There but for the grace of God

      OpinionPatrick Wilson

    • Stop using Jesus to disguise your predatory patriarchy

      OpinionJessica Abell and Stephany Rose Spaulding

    • Sadly, I agree that a complementarian seminary shouldn’t offer women degrees in pastoral theology

      OpinionAnna Sieges

    • Intolerable cruelty is killing us

      OpinionKris Aaron

    • Another racist mass shooting and our failure to tend Jesus’ sheep

      OpinionEmily Holladay

    • Learning about change from Henry Ford

      OpinionBob Newell

    • Hymn stories: ‘Christ is alive! Let Christians sing’

      OpinionBeverly A. Howard

    • Buffalo and Uvalde both appear to have involved the AR-15, the rifle revered by the Christian right

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Ukrainians Count The Days As They Pray

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Texans plan interfaith protest at Friday’s NRA convention in Houston

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Buffalo’s Black Christians Grieve the ‘Evil Among Us’

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Senate GOP blocks domestic terrorism bill, gun policy debate

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Supreme Court declines to hear 2 different attempts to stop longtime Ann Arbor synagogue protesters

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Dispute over mosque becomes religious flashpoint in India

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Texas shooting live updates: Officials reveal more details about how the Uvalde school shooting unfolded

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • ‘He’s Just A Salesman’: Former Morningside Band Director Talks Bakker’s Ministry Tactics

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • After 2,000 UK Church Buildings Close, New Church Plants Get Creative

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Many Jewish World War II Soldiers Had Christian Burials. That’s Changing.

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Questions Archbishop’s Decision Regarding Communion Ban

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Burka Enforcement and Burka Bans: Where Extremist Policies Meet

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Climate Change Indicators Reach Record Levels

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • The Catholic Church’s views on exorcism have changed – a religious studies scholar explains why

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Indiana pastor admits ‘adultery’; woman says she was a teen

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Church of Scotland Approves Same-Sex Marriage

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBob Allen and Jeff Brumley

    • Banned from Communion in San Francisco, Pelosi receives Eucharist in Washington

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Senior Israeli lawmaker warns of “religious war” over Jerusalem moves

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Minnesota GOP apologizes for Soros puppetmaster video

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • If the media are reluctant to properly label the GOP’s racist, Christian nationalist ideologies, we’ll have trouble hanging on to democracy

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Pope voices hope church in China can operate in freedom

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Telehealth abortion demand is soaring. But access may come down to where you live

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • With AIPAC funding primary campaigns, young Jewish progressives move further left

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Welsh First Minister ‘regrets’ that Franklin Graham is coming to Wales

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    Conversations that Matter.

    © 2022 Baptist News Global. All rights reserved.

    Want to share a story? We hope you will! Read our republishing, terms of use and privacy policies here.

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • RSS