I won’t vote for Trump. But I know why other conservatives will.

Former Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan surprisingly spoke at the Democratic National Convention last week to tell Republicans to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. 
Despite his policy disagreements with Harris, Duncan urged voters to recognize the significant threats that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump poses to our republic. 
“These days our party acts more like a cult,” Duncan said, “a cult worshiping a felonious thug.”
While I agree with Duncan’s sentiments about Trump, I disagree with his suggestion that Republicans ought to turn around and vote for Harris. Instead, I suggest abstaining entirely from the presidential race to show our disapproval. However, I know why many conservatives will feel bound to vote for Trump.
In the face of two candidates entirely unfit for the presidency, I will abstain. My position has not changed on this matter for years, and I fail to see how it possibly could before the election.
Trump has done nothing to change my mind about him. I will most likely vote down the ballot for Republicans and skip both Trump and Harris for the presidency.
I will instead use my vote as a signal to the Republican Party that it hasn’t earned my presidential support or that of other conservatives who refuse to vote for Trump. I’d prefer that than to use it to benefit either candidate.
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In my eyes, Trump’s actions following the 2020 election should prevent him from holding public office again. But I do understand why other conservatives feel they don’t have a choice.
Though somewhat diverged from conservative principles, the Trump administration’s policies are far easier to bridge ideologically than those of a potential Harris administration.
While a Trump presidency is dangerous in my eyes, wannabe policy tyrants like Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are a significant threat to conservative beliefs. Trump is dangerous because of his disregard for the rule of law. A Democratic administration is dangerous because of the policy harm it would do.
Harris is proposing genuinely socialist economic policies such as price controls and looking to curtail the Second Amendment further than any president before, and her vice presidential choice doesn’t even believe in the freedom of speech. 
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The expansion of government power, along with the changing of citizens’ rights, is a real threat if Democrats get their wish list of proposals, so much so that it should be disqualifying for any voter who resembles a conservative, regardless of their opinions on Trump.
Trump’s embarrassing loss in 2020 should have ended his political career. But he found a way to survive with claims of a stolen election. His cultish base naturally believed the lies he told and tied the Republican Party to Trump for at least two more election cycles in the process, even after Republicans failed to get their red wave in the 2022 midterm elections.
I have little reason to believe that Trump won’t do the same thing this time if he loses again. He has already laid the groundwork.
In the minds of us anti-Trump Republicans, it’s easy to think that Republicans can only take so much losing before they finally divert course back to something resembling conservatism. However, from what I’ve seen out of the Trump base over the past eight years, no amount of losing can betray their loyalties to him.
Frankly, I don’t know which path is a more direct route to ridding our party of Trumpism. A victory cements his vein of conservatism as the future of the Republican Party, whereas a loss means he will likely run for a fourth time in 2028. Ultimately, Republicans have to decide.
However, what I do know is that conservatives who want Trump out of the party don’t have to vote for Harris. We need to do the difficult work of building a conservative alternative to MAGA after this particular election.
America is sadly stuck with Trump’s influence on American politics. Those looking for a quick fix ignore the problems that got us here in the first place.
Dace Potas is an opinion columnist for USA TODAY and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science.