In a White House race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, I’d prefer Clinton, just as I’d prefer Malaria to Ebola.

In most cases, Malaria is curable. Ebola is more often deadly.

This is not an easy admission for me to make. As a conservative opinion journalist and commentator, I have been harshly critical of Hillary Clinton my entire career. Corruption follows the Clintons like cable news follows Trump, and I believe Hillary’s policies would do serious damage to the U.S., both at home and abroad.

But as bad as Hillary would be as president, there is little threat another Clinton presidency would end the American system as we know it. You can’t be so sure with Trump. What are the odds a President Donald Trump would attempt to become honest-to-God American dictator? Five percent? Ten percent? No one can say for sure, but certainly greater than any other presidential contender in my lifetime.