海角大神

Conservative radio host Glenn Beck believes Hillary Clinton is the 鈥渕oral, ethical choice鈥� between the presidential candidates of the two major parties. But he won鈥檛 vote for her.

He will cast his ballot for Constitution Party nominee Darrell Castle, Mr. Beck said in an interview with Vice News Monday night.

鈥淚 will tell you that 聽... to vote for Hillary,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 do it because she鈥檚 just 鈥� she鈥檚 just a horse of a different color.鈥�

Beck is part of a long list of prominent Republicans who, while they will not vote for Donald Trump, have come up with subtle ways to informally unendorse him or endorse Mrs. Clinton.

Political scientists and theorists say this lack of concrete endorsements or anti-endorsements has occurred because such an action is a definitive statement about a candidate鈥檚 character, one many Republicans don鈥檛 want to make.

鈥淥ne is a relative judgment. One is an absolute judgment: 'I endorse Trump because I think he would be a good leader,' 鈥� says James Campbell, a political scientist at the University at Buffalo, a conservative Republican, and the author of 鈥淧olarized: Making Sense of Divided America.鈥� 鈥淎 vote simply should be a choice between political leaders. An endorsement is saying there is something admirable about the person you are endorsing.鈥�

Beck has been against a Trump presidency throughout the election. Yet, after the release Friday of a 2005 video of Trump making misogynistic comments about a woman on the set of 鈥淎ccess Hollywood,鈥� Beck wrote on Facebook that a Hillary Clinton presidency might not be so bad.

鈥淚f the consequence of standing against Trump and for principles is indeed the election of Hillary Clinton so be it,鈥� wrote Beck. 鈥淎t least it is .鈥�

Two days later, Beck told Vice News he considered voting for Clinton, but won鈥檛.

鈥淸T]hey鈥檙e both bad,鈥� said Beck. 鈥淚 think under Hillary Clinton, the nation 鈥� most likely 鈥� can become just run by oligarchs. I think under Donald Trump, he鈥檚 so unstable, I wouldn鈥檛 put anything past him. I don鈥檛 know what our party looks like.鈥�

Other conservatives have approached it differently.

Following the release of the lewd video, some Republicans didn鈥檛 formally聽unendorse Trump. But they didn鈥檛 defend him either. Paul Ryan, the nation鈥檚 top elected Republican, told fellow lawmakers Monday he will no longer campaign for or defend Trump, but didn鈥檛 withdraw his endorsement of the nominee.

And there was Sen. Ted Cruz (R) of Texas. The former presidential candidate endorsed Trump only after he urged delegates at the Republican National Convention to 鈥渧ote your conscience,鈥� effectively distinguishing himself morally from Trump.

The list of Republican leaders who oppose Trump , according to an active tally The Atlantic magazine created Monday. On it, however, are only three Republicans who have formally endorsed Clinton. They are Larry Pressler, a former three-term senator from South Dakota; Christopher Shays, a former congressman from Connecticut; and Donald Gregg, Vice President George H.W. Bush鈥檚 national security adviser, and former ambassador to South Korea when the elder Bush became president.

Nancy Spalding, a political theorist at East Carolina University and a conservative, tells 海角大神 in a phone interview that Republicans are reluctant to endorse Trump because to endorse him would be to associate yourself with his values and character.

One exception is prominent members of the 海角大神 conservative movement, who, as Linda Feldmann wrote for the Monitor, 鈥渉ave stood by him even as they express revulsion over his actions.鈥澛�

Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, which hosts the annual Value Voters Summit in Washington 鈥� a major conference of social conservative activists 鈥� said in a that his support for Trump in the general election 鈥渨as never based upon shared values rather it was built up on shared concerns.鈥�

Gary Bauer, founder of the Campaign for Working Families PAC, said in a statement said the 鈥済rossly inappropriate language鈥� in the 2005 Trump video 鈥渄oes not change the reality of the choice facing this country,鈥�.

鈥淗illary Clinton is committed to enacting policies that will erode religious liberty, promote abortion, make our country less safe, and leave our borders unprotected,鈥� said Mr. Bauer, a veteran of the Reagan administration and a GOP presidential candidate in 2000. Mrs. Clinton will continue economic policies that are 鈥渄estroying鈥� the American working class and middle class, he added.

Erik Tillman, a political scientist at DePaul University, tells the Monitor the Never Trump, Never Hillary phenomenon among some Republicans is also part of the widening partisan gap in this country.

鈥淔or many Republicans, it鈥檚 just something they can鈥檛 conceive of doing,鈥� says Dr.聽Tillman.

If the situation were reversed, and Democrats were faced with a similar聽candidate, he adds, they might act the same.