There are plenty of incoherencies about how voting is handled, including winner-take-all in which a candidate with a mere plurality falsely appears to have majority support.
But there is one in particular that I want to address now: the specious proposition that failing to vote for Trump is ipso facto a vote for Clinton (or whomever). The claim typically goes: you better vote for Trump because if you don't then you're voting for Clinton (with the further implication that anything you say is illegitimate so you'd better STFU or find another forum to post on). Stripped to essentials the claim is that refusing to vote for Trump is the equivalent of voting for Clinton.
But, since generally speaking no #NeverTrump is going to vote for Clinton, the Clinton camp has just as much right to claim that if I refuse to vote for Clinton, then I am voting for Trump.
All of which leads to the logically impossible conclusion that if I either vote third party or write-in, or don't vote at all, then I am really voting for both Trump and for Clinton (and, in fact, for anyone else on the ballot whom I actually did not vote for). That is logically incoherent. Or perhaps the Justice Department should be investigating me for election fraud since it seems I am casting more than one ballot in the same election.
When stated clearly, the falsity of the claim becomes clear. That means that I cannot be charged with voting for Clinton simply because I didn't vote for Trump. Which means in turn that I am not to blame if Trump loses to Clinton.
The blame would lie with Trump and those whose actions gave Trump the nomination because they are the ones whose actual actions, not some nebulous imputed actions, failed to win the election for Trump. First and foremost blame would lie with Trump for failing to persuade enough people to vote for him. Second blame would lie with his supporters who, likewise, failed to persuade enough of their fellow voters to vote for Trump. Third, blame would lie with the primary voters who gave Trump the nomination in the first place, knowing full well that he would most likely not be able to beat Clinton. The only people on this side of the line who would not bear blame would be #NeverTrump and the others who chose to not vote for Trump.