In Nov. 2016, I blogged about my “Trumpotheses,” which were my own core beliefs about leadership as applied to Donald Trump’s oncoming presidency. They were:

Experience Matters. Leaders with practical experience in their field perform better than those without such experience.

Character Matters. Leaders with strong character (defined as truthfulness, integrity, fairness, and consistency) are better leaders than those without such character.

Inserting a “celebrity” into the Oval Office will have a negative, corrosive influence on our culture and our politics.

Advisors are less important than ultimate decision makers. Though excellent advisors can minimize problems, flawed decision-makers exercise a noticeable, negative influence on the organizations they run.

Donald Trump’s presidency has mostly strengthened my beliefs, and I think my “Trumpotheses” have been supported. I admit that President Trump’s four years in office have been better than I expected in some ways. He followed through on his judicial appointments, and he put cabinet officials in place who helped roll back some of the Obama Administration’s more outlandish executive orders and regulations. While I am concerned about the budget deficit and national debt, reducing corporate taxes made America more competitive and helped secure solid economic growth during his first three years in power. President Trump’s decision to move the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem was a good decision. The peace agreements between Israel, the U.A.E. and Bahrain could be critical moving forward.

President Trump struggled in other facets of his job. He frayed relationships with many of our key allies. He bolstered oppressive regimes through his rhetoric and behavior. By fawning over brutal dictators, President Trump gave them unearned credibility and eroded America’s long-standing commitment to political freedom across the globe. His decision to abandon our allies, the Kurds in northern Syria, not only ran against policy and the advice of his defense and security experts, it allowed the Turks to savage a longstanding enemy. If it was impeachable or not, his decision to dangle defense funding in front of Ukraine was bad politics and bad policy.

There was never a magical pivot away from the brash, corrosive candidate of 2016 and toward the dignity of the presidency for Mr. Trump. President Trump uses any weapon in the arsenal to confront those who cross him. Lies, distortion, and derision are common for President Trump on social media, in press conferences, and on the campaign stump. He was most scornful of his political opponents–both Democrats and Republicans–based almost entirely on their short term utility. President Trump demands unquestioned loyalty, and any crack of criticism unleashes a storm of abuse.

This tendency displays President Trump’s misunderstanding of how a deft hand could have strengthened his cause. Instead of allowing for some variation at the margins, where a Republican Senator from a difficult state will not be supportive of all Trump’s initiatives or ideas, Trump would instead go scorched earth to punish any perceived disloyalty. This approach could erode Republican support for someone like Susan Collins (R-ME). Giving her room for dissent would make her more palatable to Maine’s electorate. Holding on to her seat would strengthen Trump’s hand in the Senate. Instead, Trump’s desire to punish Collins, Romney (UT), Murkowski (AK), or even Graham (SC), damages them with Republicans. On the flip-side, by forcing Republicans to slavishly follow every whim and defend every mis-statement, Trump’s rhetoric could make members of Congress more vulnerable from the left. Martha McSally (AZ) had to morph into mini-Trump to stave off rebellions on her right, which made her vulnerable to her left. She currently trails Mark Kelly badly according to current polls. Some of this might be due to McSally as a candidate, but Trump’s actions can’t help her navigate a complicated political environment.*

While I have some policy disagreements with the Trump Administration, my biggest concerns have always been related to character. By any reasonable measurement, he lies regularly. He attacks American companies, celebrities, and politicians who cross him, while praising the world’s most brutal dictators. President Trump veers toward lawlessness when he threatens to lock up his political opponents. Instead of trying to unify the country during the COVID crisis and the racial unrest following George Floyd’s killing, President Trump courted division. Due to the almost unprecedented nature of COVID, we should show some grace to elected officials who felt compelled to react to an unpredictable and poorly understood pandemic. Still, when unity and comfort were needed from the White House, Americans got neither.**

There are good reasons to vote for Mr. Trump next week, but I don’t find them persuasive. Mr. Biden, in contrast, offers no better comfort. He represents a party that treats abortion as an article of faith, almost a religious ritual. Progressives are threatening to destroy the filibuster, pack the Supreme Court, and admit Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico as states to generate more support in the Senate. Many of my friends find these reasons strong enough to support President Trump in spite of his deficiencies. I don’t.

As Jay Nordlinger writes in a recent piece on National Review Online, there is a gap in American politics between those who see President Trump as fit for office, and those who don’t. “Between those two points of view, there is a gulf. Unbridgeable, in my estimation.” I find myself in the small but uncomfortable camp of choosing “neither” as I ponder Biden and Trump. I will likely vote Republican everywhere else on the ticket, but not at the top.

*If the polling is accurate (I know, a significant ‘if’), Republicans stand to lose Senate seats in Maine, North Carolina, Colorado, and Arizona. They could, though it is slightly less likely, lose in Iowa and South Carolina. While they should pick up a seat in Alabama, there is a high likelihood the GOP will lose control of the U.S. Senate. It will be interesting to see how Republican Senators run in comparison to President Trump in the same states.

**Perhaps most disturbingly, GOP candidates across the country are now mimicking Trump’s rhetoric, social media presence, and modes of attack.