Republican elector explains why he won't vote for Trump

The 2012 Electoral College certificate from Ohio.
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Republican presidential elector Christopher Suprun says he doesn't think a president-elect should be disqualified over policy disagreements or because he lost the popular vote — to him, the deal-breaker is showing the country daily that you're not qualified for the office.

In a New York Times op-ed published Monday, Suprun, a paramedic from Texas, said he was part of the response to the Sept. 11 attacks, a period he calls the last time the country was united. With his unfettered tweeting, Donald Trump is doing what he can to "drive a wedge between us," Suprun said, and he "does not encourage civil discourse, but chooses to stoke fear and create outrage." Suprun also took issue with Trump's business dealings and the fact that he surrounds himself with advisers like former Breitbart News head Steve Bannon, and said Trump lacks the foreign policy experience and demeanor to be president. This is troubling, but since the vote hasn't taken place yet, "electors of conscience can still do the right thing for the good of the country."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.