Is a Vote for Trump Formal Cooperation with Evil?

A discussion came up in the comment section yesterday on the Tulsi Gabbard post about whether a Catholic commits a mortal sin by voting for Trump. You can read the discussion here. It started with a priest preaching that you can never vote for a candidate who supports an intrinsic moral evil. The reader who commented raised the question of whether the fact that Trump has endorsed IVF and even inserted it into the GOP platform disqualifies him from the Catholic vote. Correct me if I'm wrong, Aqua. 

Hmmm...True or false?

I did not hear the sermon so I can't comment on that; I only have the reader's brief description. Did the priest explain the distinction between formal and material cooperation with evil? That's where the rubber meets the road, I think. 

A Catholic may never formally cooperate with evil. That is a mortal sin. If I buy Pampers knowing that the company supports Planned Parenthood (a head scratcher if there ever was one! What company thrives by killing their customers?), I cooperate with evil. But I doubt anyone is buying their diapers because they support an organization that can aptly be called Murder Incorporated. Their cooperation is material. 

If, on the other hand, they choose Pampers deliberately because they support PP, their cooperation is formal. No one may directly choose a grave moral evil without committing a grave sin.

Let's look more deeply. Catholic Answers has a series on the question of cooperating with evil. I'll quote from Part IV, Can Catholics Vote for Pro-Choicers: 

Even little decisions we make in life can bring us into contact with evil done by others. For example, a company can take the money I spend in its stores and use it to support immoral causes. Theologians call this moral cooperation with evil, and there are two basic kinds.

Formal cooperation is when I intend to promote the evil—for example, by giving money to Planned Parenthood so it can perform abortions.

Material cooperation, on the other hand, occurs when I provide some of the means for the evil but don’t intend the evil, such as when I buy goods at a store, and the store donates some of that money to Planned Parenthood.

There's the distinction. Do we use our vote to deliberately promote the evil in question, whether it's abortion, contraception, IVF or any other gravely and intrinsically evil choice? If we do that, we've committed, at least objectively, a mortal sin. And it's prudent to remember that even one unrepented mortal sin can send us to hell!

The article goes on:

Catholics may never formally cooperate with evil, but we may materially cooperate under certain circumstances.

First, our cooperation must be remote, that is, far removed from the evil that it supports. Much of our activity as consumers falls into this category. That’s why it’s not a sin to buy groceries at a store that’s part of a chain that donates to a foundation that supports charities that may fund contraception distribution.

Second, there must be a proportionately good reason to justify the cooperation. The good being sought must outweigh the harm caused by our relatively negligible cooperation. Frivolous consumer activity that materially supports a serious evil may not be justifiable even if it is fairly remote.

This is why I don't patronize Starbucks or buy Ben and Jerry's ice cream. But how many people can keep track of all the companies supporting grave moral evils? It's overwhelming and most of us are simply ignorant about the charitable activities of the restaurants, hotels, etc. that we patronize.

The moral issue that triggered this discussion is IVF, not abortion; but the reasoning is the same. To continue: 

In our previous essays we showed that it is gravely sinful to formally cooperate with abortion. We may never directly vote to support it or vote for a candidate because he will support it. But in rare cases, a Catholic could materially cooperate even in the evil of abortion if the cooperation is remote and there is a proportionately good reason for doing so.

As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) put it, “When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favor of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons.”

So, yes, Trump supports grave moral evils. So does Harris. In fact, I think one could accurately say she craves abortion/contraception/IVF/euthanasia like Hunter Biden craves sex and drugs.

Are the "proportionate reasons" in this election serious enough to allow a Catholic to vote at all since both candidates support intrinsic moral evils?

These proportionate reasons would have to show that the candidate who is an alternative to a pro-abortion candidate actually supports more evils of a gravity equal to abortion than that pro-abortion candidate. Since abortion is so grave, this is a very rare circumstance, and accordingly the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops says, “Voting in this way would be permissible only for truly grave moral reasons, not to advance narrow interests or partisan preferences or to ignore a fundamental moral evil.”

This means that Catholics could not vote for a candidate who endorses an intrinsic evil such as legal abortion merely because they prefer that candidate’s party or because they find the other candidate unlikeable or even morally reprehensible in his personal conduct. And as we noted last time, voting for a pro-abortion candidate also wouldn’t be justified merely because you disagreed with the other candidate’s views on an issue Catholics could reasonably disagree about.

So let's cut to the chase: 

But what should we do if two viable candidates in an election both support legal abortion? [or IVF]. In this case, a Catholic may vote for the one who, as the USCCB says, is “deemed less likely to advance such a morally flawed position and more likely to pursue other authentic human goods.”

For example, a Catholic could vote for a candidate in spite of his support of legal abortion [or IVF] if the other pro-abortion candidate also wanted to force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions. In this case, the pro-abortion candidate is merely tolerated in order to prevent the election of a candidate who endorses even more evil.

It's hard to argue that Trump "endorses even more evil" than Kamala Harris. Nevertheless, I understand the dilemma many people are facing. I will never try to force anyone's conscience and I am praying two election novenas that the election results be according to God's will. I will do the best I can with my own vote to be obedient to His Providence. At present, I intend to vote for Trump despite his support for IVF and other moral evils. I believe support for IVF is likely, as happened with Roe, to be a decision for the States. While I would like all of these evils to be outlawed nationally, the likelihood of that happening has the chance of a snowman in hell cooling the place. 

I offer some final thoughts, however, from another article preceding the 2020 election published by the US District of the SSPX:

• 
  Pope Pius XII decreed that there is a moral imperative (duty) for Catholics to vote in elections.
• In the United States, our choices are no longer between Catholic and non-Catholic.
• In practice, it generally comes down to the question of whether or not it is obligatory or permissible to vote for a "lesser of two evils"
• In such a case, there can be no obligation to vote, for all the reasons mentioned by Pope Pius XII below no longer apply.
• it is permissible to vote in such a case, provided that one can be sure that there truly is a lesser evil, and that there is a grave reason to do so.

May we each cast our votes from our knees and be at peace over the outcome. Our salvation is not in politics or in any candidate, and whatever God allows will be for our good. May we all worship Christ our King and work to bring about His kingdom here on earth.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.

Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, pray for us.

St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, pray for us.