What’s an anti-Donald Trump Republican to do?

Donald Trump’s Super Tuesday victories in the GOP primaries leave him in commanding position to be the party’s presidential nominee.

One problem: Many Republicans say they won’t back Trump for president - but they’re not going to vote for the Democratic front-runner, Hillary Clinton, either. That leaves two options: Sit out the election or mount a third-party challenge.

Which should it be? Joel Mathis and Ben Boychuk, the RedBlueAmerica columnists, discuss the issue.

JOEL MATHIS

Republicans who can’t accept the idea of voting for Donald Trump have three options - none of them very palatable, probably.

They can sit out this election, which would probably hand the presidency to Hillary Clinton. They can vote for a third party, which would probably hand the presidency to Hillary Clinton. Or they can vote for Hillary Clinton. Yes, that would help Hillary Clinton, too.

So maybe the real question here is: Can we get dissident Republicans to live with the idea of a Clinton presidency - even if just for four years - rather than return to the party, hold their nose and vote for a candidate (Donald Trump) they clearly think is harmful to the country?

Let’s examine the possibilities.

If you’re a Republican, you might sit out this election banking on an ability to reunite and restore the party in 2020. That means, though, you don’t think Trump would irrevocably destroy the Republican brand in the meantime.

If you opt for a third party, you might think Trump has already destroyed the GOP brand, and that it’s time to start building new right-of-center institutions to fill the void. Both ideas require long-term thinking and a willingness to abide with Clinton.

Here’s a liberal’s argument to non-Trumpian conservatives why they should do so: Despite all the GOP’s attempts to take down the Clintons over the last 25 years, the truth is that Hillary Clinton and her husband hail from the moderate wing of the party. They defend abortion, yes, but they’ve time and time again co-opted or signed onto conservative ideas ranging from welfare reform to Middle Eastern wars. She’s even a darling of Wall Street!

Don’t misunderstand: She’s clearly a Democrat. Clearly left-of-center. But she might also be the closest thing the Democratic Party has to an actual Republican. How bad could her presidency really get?

Trump is a destructive force. Clinton, at least, would preserve a government that non-Trumpian Republicans could hope to fight for again. Believe it or not: It’s time for principled Republicans to embrace Clinton.

BEN BOYCHUK

Ronald Reagan, a New Deal Democrat until he switched parties in 1962, famously said, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The party left me.” It’s a quip that newspaper columnists, disillusioned activists and disaffected politicians love to haul out at times of partisan upheaval.

This is one of those times.

Incredible as it seems, Donald Trump appears to be headed for the Republican presidential nomination. Trump the serial adulterer, the business fraudster and the fan of Vladimir Putin. Trump the GOP front-runner who couldn’t quite bring himself to denounce David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan on national television.

Are you kidding?

Here’s the most amazing part: Trump’s basic critique is correct. The old party establishments are politically and intellectually bankrupt. They need to be swept away.

Time and again, Republican elected officials made promises they either couldn’t keep or had no intention of ever keeping, whether on the national debt or health care or illegal immigration. Middle class voters feel insecure and no longer trust the Republicans to deliver. They’re right to be angry.

At the same time, conservatives have lamented for 25 years the mediocrity of presidential candidates. Every four years we hoped for the second coming of Reagan. What we got instead were the likes of Bob Dole, John McCain and Mitt Romney.

We might have realized the weakness of our position after Romney’s defeat in 2012. Instead, some Republicans are looking to Romney to save them from Trump at the 11th hour. Less than a week ago, some other Republicans were putting their hopes on a one-term senator from Florida who will likely lose to Trump in his home state. Their alternative is a first-term senator from Texas.

Have Republicans learned nothing about elevating inexperienced senators to the Oval Office? No wonder Trump is winning.

Yet given the choice between Trump and Hillary Clinton, many Republicans could be forgiven for rejecting them both. I know I will. And I know other Republicans will, too.

We don’t need a strongman with an overinflated ego and a big mouth. A political party that embraces Trump is no longer the Party of Lincoln. We will not have left the Republican Party. The Republican Party will have left us.

Ben Boychuk (bboychuk@city-journal.org) is associate editor of the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal. Joel Mathis (joelmmathis@gmail.com) is associate editor for Philadelphia Magazine. Visit them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/benandjoel