In an op-ed for the New York Times, Texas GOP elector Christopher Suprun said he will not cast his Texas electoral vote for Donald Trump on December 19. Suprun says that Trump “is not qualified for the office.”
Instead of uniting the country–over the last three weeks?!?!– Mr. Trump has ranted against Saturday Night Live, asserts Suprun.
“He tweets day and night, but waited two days to offer sympathy to the Ohio State community after an attack there. He does not encourage civil discourse, but chooses to stoke fear and create outrage,” he wrote. “This is unacceptable. For me, America is that shining city on a hill that Ronald Reagan envisioned. It has problems. It has challenges. These can be met and overcome just as our nation overcame Sept. 11.”
Not everyone in America wants to be united. There’s a huge grievance industry filled with special interest groups that have a goal of delegitimizing the Trump presidency. There’s not a thing he could do to bring them over to his side or even to a position where they give him a chance, so this criticism is rather unfair. The Trump-hating media, such as the publication in which Surprun has chosen to write his screed, loves to prop up and magnify the coastal elite’s agitation against the president-elect.
Other reasons Surprun will withhold “his” vote for Trump include that Trump “lacks the foreign policy experience and demeanor needed to be commander in chief” and that he “urged violence against protesters at his rallies during the campaign. He speaks of retribution against his critics.”
Instead he tells his fellow electors to “vote their conscience” and vote for someone like John Kasich. Mr. Surpun’s conscience seems pretty flexible if it allows him to ignore the will of Texas voters.
Texas does not have laws that bind its electors, so Surpun is legally able to disregard the voters’ choice.
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