A Republican presidential elector has become the first to announce that he intends to defect from Donald Trump when he casts his vote as part of the electoral college, vowing to try and block the president-elect from reaching the White House.
...[Christopher Suprun] argues that under the electoral college system he has the constitutional duty to vote according to his conscience, not just according to party loyalty – and his conscience tells him that Trump is unfit for the presidency.
Citing the Federalist Papers, the historic documents that laid out the principles behind the electoral college system, Suprun, who as a firefighter was one of the first responders to the Pentagon on 9/11, says that each elector must decide whether “candidates are qualified, not engaged in demagogy, and independent from foreign influence … Mr Trump urged violence against protesters at his rallies during the campaign. He speaks of retribution against his critics.”
Read More Details Here
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/05/faithless-electors-republican-electoral-college-trump
And Herehttp://secondnexus.com/politics-and-economics/texas-gop-elector-breaks-rank-trump/
I'm disappointed Suprun didn't use any of the obvious descriptors of Trump --misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, anti-semetic, islamophobic, and ethnoracist. I'm tired of these words being omitted in all but a few fairly left side news outlets. Describing Trump as anything else is covering up for him. But the thing that is worse is that covering up for Trump helps Trump's supporters deny what they are.
People who vote for a misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, anti-semetic, islamophobic, and ethnoracist aren't bothered that much by misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, anti-semetic rhetoric, islamophobic rhetoric, and ethnoracism because while these character flaws seem a little icky to SOME Trump supporters, they don't bother them that much because fair amount of misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, anti-semetic rhetoric, islamophobic rhetoric, and ethnoracism live inside them too
I don't want the people to who voted for Trump to know this about themselves because it amuses me. It does in a bitter, ugly way. But that's not the point. If you don't know yourself to be
20 misogynistic,
60% homophobic,
80% transphobic,
20 anti-semetic,
95 islamophobic, and
66% ethnoracist
then you can't pray to Middle Eastern Jesus and heal thyself.
Frankly it is very typically white for a white person like Suprun to separate how a person like Trump sounds (misogynistic, homophobic...) from who Trump has been telling us he is. In fact, I kinda wanted to b*tch slap Suprun for that thing I read where he was waiting for Trump to stop SOUNDING like aa misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, anti-semetic, islamophobic, and ethnoracist and start SOUNDING more presidential.
Pssst! I don't know if you've been paying attention. But for 66% of white people misogyny, ethnoracism.... all that is about rudeness and how one sounds. It's not about how one is in one's head and one's heart motivating you to reveal yourself in words. To 66% of white people verbally expressing xenophobia is like saying "f*ck" when you meant to say "stuck" When you say the wrong thing, you just apologize for how it sounds. No soul searching for where the homophobia came from is required.
But at least SOMETHING bothers Suprun about Trump. At least he has some sort of inkling that Trump is as anti-American in his ideas as one gets. Well....maybe...except for the part where Trump will greedily grab anything not nailed down if the tiniest profit is to be made or it'll put his name in lights somehow.
Greedy opportunism is as American as apple pie. It must be. Trump stood on a stage at a debate and said he cheated as best he could on his taxes using all the loop holes he could and damn near half the country cheered him on then voted for him.
So far I haven't read that Suprun objected to any of that. So excuse me if I don't have a parade for him just yet. He's committed to acting out a little common decency on December 19th. May other electors find the courage to follow in his footsteps. But I still can't pat anybody on the head for that.
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