Republican presidential elector Christopher Suprun explained in an eye-opening op-ed to the New York Times on Monday why he intends to reject Donald Trump when it comes to voting as part of the electoral college.
In a column aptly titled “Why I Will Not Cast My Electoral Vote for Donald Trump,” the Texas paramedic revealed how he will break ranks will Republicans in an attempt to halt the president-elect’s road to the White House.
“I do not think president-elects should be disqualified for policy disagreements. I do not think they should be disqualified because they won the Electoral College instead of the popular vote. However, now I am asked to cast a vote on Dec. 19 for someone who shows daily he is not qualified for the office,” the former firefighter and 9/11 first responder wrote in the Times. “That attack and this year’s election may seem unrelated, but for me the relationship becomes clearer every day.”
The days following the response to the Sept. 11 attacks “was also the last time I remember the nation united. I watch Mr. Trump fail to unite America and drive a wedge between us,” he said.
Suprun went on to make a number of references to Hollywood, from Trump’s Twitter tirades accusing the “Saturday Night Live” cast of bias, to Darth Vader and the Dark Side of the Force.
“‘Rogue One,’ the latest ‘Star Wars’ installment, arrives later this month. I am not taking my children to see it to celebrate evil, but to show them that light can overcome it,” he wrote.
“Finally, Mr. Trump does not understand that the Constitution expressly forbids a president to receive payments or gifts from foreign governments,” Suprun pointed out, saying the incoming president “has played fast and loose with the law for years.”
“The election of the next president is not yet a done deal. Electors of conscience can still do the right thing for the good of the country … I pray my fellow electors will do their job and join with me in discovering who that person should be,” he concluded.
Read the full op-ed here.