Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016 | 2 a.m.
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Republican voters have some sorting out to do among their presidential candidates, and they need to ask themselves some tough, basic questions before participating in their party’s Nevada caucuses Tuesday.
It is exceedingly difficult to find a candidate in this slate of Republicans who would be good for Nevada and the nation. Conversely, it’s easy to find several who plainly are too foolish and unfit to serve as president.
The first step in the winnowing process should involve reflecting on the childish behavior we’ve seen during the televised debates, especially among the crude, narcissistic bully Donald Trump; the snickering, acerbic fearmonger Sen. Ted Cruz; and the GOP establishment’s untested beginner, the robotic Sen. Marco Rubio. The three have acted like schoolchildren gripped by temper tantrums, throwing sand at one another, yelling over one another and trading insults in full view of more than 10 million observers.
That is presidential?
So that gets to our first question: How confident can the nation be that any of these three men will act calmly and thoughtfully when tensions in the West Wing are high and lives, or countries, hang in the balance? The televised Republican debates — and there have been more this year than any other — are a time to clarify positions with civil engagement. But these debates have devolved into street brawls and redundant, rehearsed sound bites offering little to voters, framed by negativity and threats of obstructionism.
(Of equal concern to us: the rapturous adoration that their followers offer these three men without knowing how they actually would implement their visions. Folks, this is not an election for the freshman class student council in which the class clown’s wisecracks are reason to give him a try. Your responsibility as the electorate is to take the caucus seriously and demand realistic, detailed plans for how visions will translate to action.)
Can we trust any of these three men — each of whom we’ve seen getting riled up because his feelings were hurt — with the nuclear code, or sitting down to negotiate with Vladimir Putin as Russian tanks pour into a Baltic country? Can you imagine them in the Oval Office, trying to build a coalition of nations to address a global crisis, or find consensus for important legislation on Capitol Hill, or working with community leaders during a domestic emergency, when their pre-election behavior has been so painfully immature?
Our next question: What would the candidates do — actually do — if elected? They say they would dismantle Obamacare, for instance, but what do they offer in its place? Or are we to assume that millions of Americans will — poof — again be denied health insurance? What would fall next under the GOP wrecking ball?
Trump, a most amazing candidate for his emptiness and inconsistent ideology, acknowledges he knows little about what’s going on but will surround himself with smart people and get up to speed after he’s elected. Anyone feel like going under the knife for brain surgery and finding out that this will be the surgeon’s first time cutting into a skull, so please give him a few minutes to get oriented?
Yes, Trump wants to build his border wall on Day 1, have it paid for — somehow — by Mexico and tap local police departments to round up millions of people who entered the country illegally — an assignment that police have no desire for because it would disrupt their primary law enforcement efforts. Trump’s vision is as poorly conceived as Cruz’s proposal to indiscriminately carpet-bomb territory held by the Islamic nation, hope the sand glows and shrug off the loss of innocent lives as the cost of doing business. Or, further stretching his war-mongering strut, Cruz’s reaction when Iran recently held 10 off-course sailors overnight and showed a photo of them on their knees, their hands on their heads: If that were to happen under his watch, the trigger-happy Cruz said, “We’ll field the full force and fury of the United States of America.” Really? These sailors were released without incident the morning after they were taken ashore. Cruz needs to understand the role of the telephone in foreign diplomacy.
Rubio and Cruz both say they would unilaterally cancel the Iran deal, signed by the United States and other world powers, that ended economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for its promise, with assurances of transparency, to not pursue building a nuclear weapon for at least 10 years. For either man to tear up a deal years in the making would undercut American credibility among our allies, even as the agreement would stay in place because of its other signatories. How do we win by tearing up the deal?
Cruz would face unusual political baggage if elected: the disdain of his own party because of his caustic, disruptive nature on Capitol Hill. Cruz sees his role of establishment disruptor as a badge of distinction. But in reality, the rift between him and mainstream Republicans is so wide that building coalitions even within his own party would prove a struggle.
If Nevada has a litmus test for candidates, it would be their position on storing highly radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain. (If you thought the 2008 recession was bad for Nevada, just wait for the first radioactive accident a few miles from the Las Vegas Strip.) Cruz and Rubio support the use of Yucca Mountain; Trump says he’s a big fan of nuclear energy but hasn’t offered an opinion on Yucca Mountain, and his staff could not be reached for comment. Ohio Gov. John Kasich also supports the use of Yucca Mountain. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who dropped out of the race Saturday, has said it should be a local decision. It is unclear whether “local” means it would need the blessing of the state, or just the Nye County commission, which supports the use of Yucca Mountain as a nuclear dump.
Republicans at Tuesday’s caucuses can — and must — do better than select buffoons who offer bluster but no clear, workable blueprint for dealing with the challenges facing the country. This is the time for Nevada’s responsible Republicans to weed out those candidates.
Then, by a depressing process of elimination, if one feels compelled to vote for a Republican, Kasich is the best of a feeble field because he is more moderate, is better tempered, is interested in good government and offers a chance for democracy to function. But remember, he's not a friend to Nevada, nor does he hold our interests dear: If he wins, the likelihood of our state becoming the nation’s dumping ground for poisonous nuclear waste will grow exponentially.
