While ~70% of Americans lament that we are stuck with Biden-Trump Round II, there is nevertheless a choice to make this November. For Christian conservatives, I believe there really is no choice, as Joe Biden is hostile to most Christian values (e.g., he is not just supportive but an unabashed defender of the most radical LGTBQ and abortion policies). Which leaves most* with voting for Donald Trump, or none of the above. Even if I chose not to vote for Mr. Trump, I hope he wins, because as Nikki Haley recently said, Trump “has not been perfect” on policies important to her, including foreign policy, immigration and the economy, but President Joe Biden “has been a catastrophe.” Yet Mr. Trump’s penchant for adopting losing strategies, including his cherished belief that politics is about subtraction rather than addition, means his path to re-election is more difficult:

“Anybody that makes a ‘Contribution’ to Birdbrain, from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp,” Trump wrote. “We don’t want them, and will not accept them, because we Put America First, and ALWAYS WILL!”

Yet after Nikki Haley’s comments saying she’d vote for Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump offered his own olive branch:

One day after former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said she would vote for former President Donald Trump in November, Trump addressed Haley’s remarks Thursday after a rally in the Bronx — his first major campaign event in New York City since 2016.  “I think she’s going to be on our team because we have a lot of the same ideas, the same thoughts,” Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, told News 12 New York. “I appreciated what she said. You know, we had a nasty campaign, it was pretty nasty. But she’s a very capable person, and I’m sure she’s going to be on our team in some form, absolutely.”

Now I don’t think he will offer her the VP slot, nor am I sure she’d want to take it, yet it is good for Mr. Trump to make overtures toward her and the stubborn 15-20% of the voters in the Republican primary that still refuse to vote for him. Similarly, despite most media suggesting that Mr. Trump’s appeal to the Libertarian convention was a disaster, I think this is a well played move.

If Donald Trump came to the Libertarian National Convention to make peace on Saturday, it could hardly have gone worse. Within minutes of beginning speaking — and after enduring sustained jeering and boos — the former president turned on the third party, mocking its poor electoral record in presidential elections even as he appealed to them for their endorsement.“ What’s the purpose of the Libertarian Party of getting 3 percent?” Trump asked the crowd, which proceeded to pelt him with jeers. “You should nominate Trump for president only if you want to win.”

Yet I disagree with the media assessment. I think this is manifestly good for Trump, and good for Americans concerned with Liberty. Mr. Trump promised that there would be Libertarian members of his cabinet, and if in the right place, such as Commerce (compared to the abysmal industrial policy favoring Wilber Ross {or US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer} in Mr. Trump’s first term), we could see a decidedly more free-market oriented Trump administration. Further, if Mr. Trump would have received most of the Libertarian votes cast in 2020, he would be president today. All he needs to do is peel some of these off. Likewise, some don’t-want-to-be-Trumpers (like me) will get increasingly comfortable with casting a vote for Trump. My concerns around Trump (beyond the obvious character flaws) are around foreign policy and economics (and he is decidedly superior to Mr. Biden on both). If he has someone like a Nikki Hayley (or Mike Pompeo, or Tom Cotton) as VP, I get a lot more comfortable on foreign policy. If he has Libertarian cabinet members in Commerce, FTC, etc, I get a lot more comfortable about his economic policies.

And this is a really important thing to remember. We are not electing Donald Trump or Joe Biden per se. We are choosing between a Trump II Administration and a Biden II Administration. And there is little doubt in my mind that the former will be vastly superior. Especially with Mr. Trump, who is rumored to take positions based on what the last person that briefed him suggested, this is all the more reason to be encouraged by having senior officials that are committed to both strong defense and limited government. Even though I’m not a Trump fan, I find it hard to argue with something I heard from John Stonestreet a few weeks ago. We need to think not about the about voting for the lesser of two evils, but rather how does our vote lessen evil. I think the last few weeks by Mr. Trump in terms of potential personnel are positive for policy and therefore will help Mr. Trump lessen the evil that the current administration continues to do.

* I say most because the logic from my 2016 non-endorsement of Mr. Trump still is unassailable (essentially from Gordon Tullock). Even for a so-called swing state, not one of our individual votes will ever matter in a national election. Never has, and almost certainly never will.