ABC News(NEW YORK) — Meet one of the real 538 electors, Christopher Suprun a Republican from Texas. Suprun has decided to vote for someone other than Donald Trump when he casts his electoral college vote later this month. He believes other electors are right there with him.
“At this point there are people who have reached out to me. Again it wouldn’t be my place to name who they are,” he said, though he indicated he was talking about Republican electors.
“I am confident in saying, at this point,” he continued,”I don’t think I will be the only one voting for someone other than Donald Trump who is carrying a Republican elector seat.”
Suprun told Jonathan Karl and Rick Klein on the Powerhouse Politics Podcast that he is not sure which former candidate will earn the vote since his choice, Ohio Governor John Kasich, has said he is not interested.
“As electors come forward, and I have had conversations with other Republican electors in particular, I think we will start discussing names specifically and see who meets the test that we could all get behind,” he said.
“The point of this isn’t just to go down and raise a little ruckus it is to vote for the person we think would best be able to hold the position.”
Suprun says he has received both positive and negative reactions. On the positive side are people who say his actions restore their faith in the country. On the other side he has “received several twitter threats directly.”
“I have been told that this type of action leads to insurrection, which I think is unfortunate,” Suprun said. “There has been some backlash. Unfortunately there are some Trump backers who think violence is the answer.”
Suprun had been a Trump supporter but said he “started having very serious doubts two weeks ago when on the Sunday talk shows Mr. Trump started talking about a phantom three million illegal votes, where he was attacking members of the press for exercising their first amendment rights.”
“I think he is the only candidate I am aware of who ever asked a foreign country to hack his political opponent’s e mail account to find out what is in them, which I consider almost an invitation to espionage. We know he has been a demagogue. He has not attempted to unite the country. Even when Time Magazine made him their Person Of The Year they called him ‘President of the Divided States of America.’ And, finally, most objectively, he seems to have financial conflicts of interest which he won’t resolve.”
Suprun said he is in favor of an electoral college, but doesn’t think it should be “a rubber stamp.” As he wrote in his recent New York Times article, he believes his actions fall squarely in the Hamiltonian tradition. He wrote that “the United States was set up as a republic. Alexander Hamilton provided a blueprint for states’ votes. Federalist 68 argued that an Electoral College should determine if candidates are qualified, not engaged in demagogy, and independent from foreign influence.”
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