Longtime Ohio conservative commentator: 'In 2018 I will vote for Democrats'

[workinclasszero]

BY JUSTIN WISE - 06/14/18 02:08 PM EDT

A longtime conservative commentator and former Republican politician says he's voting for Democrats in this year's midterm elections.

Phil Heimlich, the host of conservative talk show "Hard Truths with Phil Heimlich" who served on the Cincinnati City Council from 1993 to 2001 and the Hamilton County Commission from 2003 to 2006, wrote in The Cincinnati Enquirer on Thursday that, despite being a Republican for decades, he's casting his vote for Democrats in November.

"I’m scared — scared of losing our rights to free speech, fair elections and the rule of law," Heimlich writes. "You see, we’re witnessing a dangerous trend in which dictators come to power in once-promising democracies and crush dissent."

Heimlich says President Trump lacks respect for democratic values, and pointed out how Trump admires people like Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, two leaders who have cracked down on independent media in their respective countries.

http://thehill.com/homenews/392308-longtime-ohio-conservative-commentator-im-voting-democratic-now

[First Speaker]

1. We need people like this--

--even if they disagree with every one of our issues. As long as they believe in liberal democracy and the rule of law.

[gopiscrap]

2. fuck him he voted for trump

he's part of the reason why we have that fucker as pres.

[wellst0nev0ter]

5. 100 times this

fuck trumpanzees

[Texin]

6. Well, I don't know who he thought he was casting a vote for, but

if he believed this empty suit was going to be a rethug "conservative", he was served up shit sandwich. Everyone (well... maybe everyone) needs a do-over. There's a loooong stretch from conservative to neo-Nazism and alt right populism. Maybe he's as scared as a lot of folks who believe that we're quivering above a precipice that is beginning to resemble Nazi Germany in its most dangerous and horrid period (and it was ALL horrid and dangerous).

[BobTheSubgenius]

12. I totally understand that line of thought, and agree with it.

My wife`s best friends are incredibly nice people, to their family, to their friends, and most especially to my wife. They have done more for her that she couldn`t do for herself over years and years....but they voted for Trump. I just KNEW they were going to, and hate more the position I find myself in vis a vis the group dynamic than I do their votes. And I hate those plenty.

ALL that said...this is all hands on deck. If you`re conscious and can stand, even with a wobble, you are needed on the front lines. I submit that extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures...and one of those just might be taking those who Drumpf has alienated into the fold.

Even just for the time being.

Ideological consistency and moral rectitude are fine things....very fine things... but pale in comparison to saving the world. IMO, clearly.

[Initech]

20. Yes but if this guy has seen the error of his ways...

I'm all for second chances. It's the people who think Trump is god and this is all part of god's plan that we need to worry about, their minds can't be changed.

[BadGimp]

3. PUTIN WINS AGAIN

[Cha]

4. Whoa! A reality based gop who's right..

trump's a wannabe Dictator and he's working on it..

Notorious Dictators, Nine Shout-Outs From Donald Trump

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/03/trump-xi-jinping-dictators/554810/



https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=10734093

[rickyhall]

7. of course, ALL the repugs are responsible for trump!

[axm]

8. Good

Let's hope a good number of his followers do the same.

My personal feeling is that the rank & file Republicans have had more than enough of Donnie's contempt for US democracy and the rule of law.

Many will probably sit the election out but it's good to know that some will vote D to put the brakes on Donnie Moscow.

[Norbert]

9. I'll take every vote I can get

to get the stench out of the statehouse, the governors house, Congress and the White House. I don't care if it is a dude that has buyers remorse.

[bluestarone]

14. THIS!!!!

[JHB]

10. Yay (years too late you hypocritical dumbass who ignored the obvious but) Yay!

Not to discourage this Heimlich maneuver, but never forget: Trump would never have gotten anywhere close to the presidency if not for conservatives. They nurtured what has turned into Trump's base for the very purpose of eliminating opposition, until it turned its fangs on them. And even then, they'd believed so much of their own advertising that they couldn't switch into a "normal" mode and vote for "That Woman" in the face of a Howler Monkey.

Politely golf-clap when they have stopped shitting the bed enough to be somewhat practical, but never, ever consider them your friend, because they will snap back to their old habits the moment they get the chance until the conservatism championed by Buckleyite radicals (y'know, the people who lauded McCarthy as a hero) -- Movement Conservatives (and their evangelical fellow travelers) == are relegated back to the fringes from whence they came.

[AlexSFCA]

11. trump is every republican's wet dream

he is doing everything they’ve wanted to do for decades from privatizing social security, medicare to abolising government agencies, etc. They are the ones who enabled all this by talking demagoguery for years. The thing is many didn't truly beleive what they were saying, it was just for ratings. Ttrump is only possible because of people like this fella. I have ZERO respect for demagogues. When those “conservatives” start admitting that it’s them who are the real problem then we’re talking. Trump is nothing w/o RW media.

[EndGOPPropaganda]

13. This is HUGE. Right-wing radio controls the base - and thus controls the Congress.

https://www.republicanradio.org/

h/t @certainot

[workinclasszero]

15. It's amazing that people like this GOPer ready to vote for democrats now

never saw the criminality, the constant lies, the racism in Trump.

How could you not? I think all these people were like the politicians in the Weimar Republic/Germany that thought they could control Chancellor Hitler.

I welcome his vote with amazement but would not shift one inch to the right to get it.

[blue-wave]

16. Let's not forget

Trump's love affair with Kim Jong-un and Rodrigo Duterte. He also heaped praise on the Polish government that is attempting to abolish any dissent and constitutional law thereby becoming a one-party rule country. Yes, he embraces despots.

I welcome any and all who will vote against tyranny. I do question though, why it took so long for so many to wake up.

[colsohlibgal]

17. The More Like This The Better

We are fighting for the soul of this country, so all votes against this abomination are welcome.

[Hekate]

18. I hope he hammers on this every single day on his media outlets

To which I can only say thank you.

[Initech]

19. I think this is appropriate here:

[disillusioned73]

21. Makes one wonder...

who has shifted in what direction...

[workinclasszero]

22. If the media in this country would ever fucking report the news

like the GOP trying like hell to kill pre-existing condition coverage on ALL health care insurance, we would not have to shift any damn way!

[disillusioned73]

23. Agreed..

the "media" has caused a lot of damage.. but they will always look out for THEIR best interest first, and then(only then) consider informing the masses..

[LisaM]

24. I'll take what I can get, but doesn't he remember Ohio in 2004?

Rejecting voter registration forms that weren't on certain types of paper, voter purges, minority voters in Cincinnati denied polling places, and conveniently tipping the scales with the wedge issue of gay marriage?

If he's seeing the light now, good, but I hope he's reflective about the things that happened in his own state that helped create this mess.