Pick Your Poison This Dlection: Untruthful or Unstable

Something is broken here. A reader who says he is a lifelong Republican and who is prepared to vote for Clinton to stop Trump asks what many of us are wondering: "How did we get to the point of having to make this choice?"

Some people claim that the "Never Trump, Never Hillary" people are making a mistake, and that we're going to sway the election to the wrong candidate.

That assumes there is a right candidate. Besides, Trump and Clinton both seem capable of losing this race without help from anyone.

And here's another thought: What if it's the partisans who are making the big mistake? What if they are being fooled by their candidate?

Trump's brand -- as created by Team Clinton -- is all about being unstable, unhinged, and unreliable. Clinton's brand -- as generated by Team Trump -- is that the former secretary of state is untruthful, untrustworthy, and undependable.

During the primary campaign, when he was hammered by Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio for flip-flopping on difficult issues such as trade and abortion, Trump made the argument several times that -- in politics, as in business -- flexibility is a good thing and a refusal to compromise can be a liability.

And this is the person who many conservatives claim to support because, among other things, he promises to appoint a strict constructionist to the Supreme Court? His promises are worthless.

As for Clinton, it's a good thing that lying isn't an Olympic sport. She's been caught in lies frequently and rarely admits failure, mistakes, error, or gaffes. This is one big reason that many everyday Americans can't relate to her.

And this is the person who immigration reform advocates support because she promises to stop President Obama's policy of endless deportations and legalize the undocumented? I wager this isn't the truth, either. She'll take care of the unions, who support a hard line on immigration.

In the battle of the brands, it'll come down to "unstable" versus "untruthful." But no matter which one of these two candidates ends up in the White House, betrayal is unavoidable.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.