By Robert Laurie ——Bio and Archives--May 20, 2016
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I like Libertarians. They're staunch constitutionalists and I agree with them often. The problem is that they always take things a step too far and cross the line into the absurd. If you agree that perhaps we should consider legalizing marijuana, there's always a die-hard Libertarian who will come back with "Then we should legalize ALL drugs, because principles!"
Today's example of a Libertarian "jump the shark" moment comes to us from former Governor Bill Weld (RINO-MA). He recently accepted Gary Johnson's invitation to be his 2016 running mate. Johnson is about to lock up the ultimately doomed Libertarian nomination and adding Weld as VP was seen as a big get for the #NeverTrump faithfull. All well and good ...until Weld opened his mouth for an interview.“I can hear the glass crunching on Kristallnacht in the ghettos of Warsaw and Vienna when I hear that, honest,” Mr. Weld said Thursday. “I’m not horrified about everything Mr. Trump has done at all,” he said, adding: “I think he’s done a lot. But when I think about some of the positions, I think they’re way out there.” Asked if he believed Mr. Trump was a fascist, Mr. Weld demurred. “My Kristallnacht analogy does evoke the Nazi period in Germany,” he said. “And that’s what I’m worried about: a slippery slope.”So, let's get this straight. According to Bill Weld, Trump's plan to enforce existing U.S. immigration law is no different than the night the Nazis whipped up their loyalists and punished law-abiding German Jews by destroying Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues while simultaneously murdering hundreds of them and dragging 25,000 others off to concentration camps. That's what Bill Weld thinks.
Mr. Weld, 70, was not uniformly critical of the presumptive Republican nominee. “I don’t consider myself part of the Never Trump movement,” he said, expressing admiration for Mr. Trump’s success in the primary contest. After a circuitous answer, he eventually came to a conclusion. “No, I wouldn’t call Mr. Trump either a fascist or a Nazi,” Mr. Weld said. “I’m just saying, we got to watch it when we get exclusionary about people on account of their status as a member of a group.”So congratulations, Libertarians. Your would-be VP is perfectly willing to compare Trump's immigration policy to Kristallnacht and invoke the Third Reich to warn of slippery slopes, but he's not willing to place himself among those who refuse to vote for it. No wonder the Libertarians can never mount a legitimate campaign. I don't know what's worse, the ridiculous comparison, or the lack of backbone.
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