Recently, more than a few Republican leaders have come out in open opposition of Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s unfortunate nominee for president. It’s a good thing I waited to endorse a candidate for the Gryphon Gazette until now – my initial plan to simply bash Hillary Clinton but never openly admit support for Trump no longer represents my feelings about this election.

In early October, Trump came under heavy fire after a video obtained by The Washington Post showed him making lewd remarks about women. This was the nail in the coffin. Republicans can be made to look hypocritical for rescinding their support for Trump over this issue rather than the issue of his crude comments on Muslims, African Americans and other minority groups, but we as the GOP thought this was part of the “character” Trump was portraying in the primaries. The leaked video shows that this character is part of Trump’s personality, and a man with an aura of such crudity is simply unfit to be president.

While the radical right and alt-right continue to support the most unpleasant, inexperienced and deplorable candidate in recent history, I encourage voters to #StandUpWithEvan. Evan McMullin is a conservative third-party candidate who, until 2016, self-identified as a Republican. Having served the House of Representatives as an advisor for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the House Republican Conference, McMullin is an experienced politician, albeit not fully qualified to run for the presidency. But, in case you hadn’t noticed, neither are the two major-party candidates or their Libertarian and Green Party alternatives.

So, in an election in which the best America could come up with is a pair of bloviating clowns with insufficient qualification for the office of president, clearly all bets are off, and a write-in candidate like McMullin is worth supporting. McMullin’s campaign slogan states that “it’s never too late to do the right thing.” It would be in the best interest of the American people to stand up for their beliefs, rather than sell out and support a villain like Trump or Clinton because they feel the pressure of partisan loyalty.

If you are a Republican considering casting your vote for McMullin but are concerned that he deviates too far from the GOP’s conservative agenda to be successful, rest assured that a vote for a third-party candidate is not a wasted vote. In an election as unpredictable and unpleasant as this one, it’s acceptable to cast a vote with the intention of raising awareness for what is right,rather than choosing the lesser of two evils. McMullin’s stances line up well with those of a reasonable Republican’s: he holds pro-life views, respects the Supreme Court decision to outlaw state-level bans on same-sex marriage and supports the GOP’s plan for tax reform. A sound conservative both fiscally and socially, McMullin is the best alternative to not two, but four (Stein and Johnson included) candidates who have no business vying for the office of president.