For years, I grew up as “That Republican Guy” to many of my peers. But I didn’t vote for Donald Trump.
My earliest political memory goes back to 1996, when I remember asking my best friend who his parents were voting for. “We like Bob Dole,” I said. In 2000, I made a homemade Bush/Cheney sign and taped it to my 4th grade desk. If I recall correctly, George W. Bush won the Oakley Park Elementary student vote that year. By 2012, I was the president of the College Republicans at the University of Rochester. My first TV interview was for a local outlet on the day of Mitt Romney’s convention speech.
What began as an outgrowth of my family’s beliefs matured into a belief system grounded in free market principles. I’ve come to believe in most, although certainly not all, of what the Republican Party stands for.
But as “That Republican Guy” that many people knew growing up, I feel a need to say why I didn’t vote for Trump. This is not an attempt to persuade anyone, just to explain my own thoughts.
First of all, Trump is a bad person. I cannot, in good conscience, vote for someone who’s said the things he’s said about immigrants, women, veterans, etc. I promise I have examined his comments in their full contexts. I haven’t been brainwashed by the media narrative — or hypnotized by his narrative, either.
Second, I believe we need to accept more immigrants and refugees into the country, for both economic and moral reasons. I could vote for a Republican who disagrees on this, but not for someone who does it with Trump’s mean-spiritedness and vitriol.
Third, Trump’s grasp of public policy is shallow. For years, Republicans have loved the famous quote from President Reagan. “It isn’t so much that liberals are ignorant, it’s just that they know so many things that aren’t so.” You could substitute “Trump” for “liberals” and the saying would still be accurate. He seems unwilling to show any humility on public policy, any willingness to learn or to accept objective evidence that something he said might be wrong.
I also didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton. She’s also not a great person. I disagree with too many of her policy positions, probably even more than I disagree with Trump. She is cold, calculating, dishonest and changes her beliefs according to which way the political winds blow.
That’s my two cents. Get out there and vote for whomever you want. Remember that your single vote won’t decide the election, so vote with your conscience for the candidate you think would make the best president, whether they’re a write-in candidate or from the Republican, Democratic, Libertarian or Prohibition Party.
Jason Russell is the contributors editor for the Washington Examiner.
