I’m voting for Trump. Harris is too far to the left

On By Littum

We are a nation suffering the lingering pain of inflation, with a growing and unsustainable debt, in a world where wars threaten to erupt into global conflict. We cannot afford to stay the course.

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I’m a Republican, but I don’t like Donald Trump. I also don’t identify with the MAGA Republicans, especially the cult-like following that the former president has here in Texas.

The riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, which Trump encouraged, was the watershed moment that forced me to rescind my previous support for him. It was a violent incident in American history.

For many reasons, I could argue that Trump is unfit for the presidency. I will always be disappointed that Republican primary voters re-elected him to represent millions of conservatives.

However, I will vote for Trump this election. About 75 million Americans, perhaps more, will also vote for him. Here’s why.

Donald Trump is stronger on politics

When I was young and idealistic, I worried about a number of issues. As a more purist, I probably would have written in a candidate if Trump had been on the ballot, since I could vote in my first or second election.

But I think that is short-sighted and silly now. There is so much at stake. Three things matter to me in this election: foreign policy, the economy, and border security. Trump has shown that he can handle all of this.

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ economic plans are abysmal. They reflect purely socialist ideas, including the distribution of payments for housing and a number of “free” programs. America will go bankrupt trying to pay for Harris’ planned bloated bureaucracy.

Under the Biden-Harris economy, inflation rose to a 40-year high of 9.1% just two years ago. Merchant pricesrent, interest on mortgage loans and car prices remain high. Many Americans struggle to pay for necessities as a result.

Trump’s tax cuts, which he could extend if elected, are almost enough to get my vote. Middle and upper class Americans pay far more than their fair share of taxes. Most families would be better off—and would stimulate the economy—with a few more dollars in their bank account.

I hope Trump doesn’t implement his plans to impose additional tariffs on imports, but I prefer his economy to President Joe Biden’s any day of the week. Inflation was manageable under Trump, and deregulation of the energy industry would be a blessing to all.

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Foreign policy is another crucial matter. Under the Biden-Harris administration, the United States has looked weak. From Israel’s war against Hamas, made possible in part by the Biden administration’s decision to lift the sanctions against Iranto the withdrawal from Afghanistan and Russia’s war against Ukraine, the world is dangerously unstable.

As a billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman said in a viral interview“All this has led to a world on fire.”

In politics, perception is powerful, and Trump is more likely to be perceived as a stronger leader than Harris. He is nothing if not a dealmaker and that is what America needs at this moment in world history. If Trump reimposes sanctions on Iran and can temper the growing alliance between Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, peace may be possible.

Another case in Trump’s favor: America’s southern border must be taken seriously again. It is a matter of national security.

Under the Biden-Harris administration, the Trump-era policy was reversed, allowing 8 million migrants to enter the United States, according to Axios. more than 1.7 million people entered the country illegally by evading the Border Patrol. And smugglers brought an estimated 50,000 pounds of deadly fentanyl across the border.

If he does nothing else, Trump will secure the border for the well-being of American citizens.

Kamala Harris is too extreme

I can’t vote for Harris. I don’t know how even moderates can.

The Democratic Party spent the last four years lambasting Trump for undermining democracy, then replaced our duly elected, aging and disjointed president as its running mate with Harris after the primary season ended and she didn’t win a single Democratic vote. It is the Democratic Party that has broken the democratic process.

It has been difficult to pin Harris down on what she means. Her dodges are strategic and sinister. But when her ideas are clear, they reveal the Democratic Party’s embrace of progressivism.

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Harris, along with Biden, had four years to implement policies that would improve the lives of Americans. They failed. Gallup released a poll this month that shows that 52% of Americans say they and their family are worse off today than they were four years ago. Only 39% said they feel better; 9% said they are about the same.

In 2024, we are a nation suffering the lingering pain of runaway inflation, with a growing and unsustainable debt, in a world where devastating wars threaten to erupt into global conflict. It’s not time to stick around for four more years.

Tens of millions of Americans will vote for Trump

Three kinds of people will vote for Trump in this election, and those are important liberals and the mainstream news media—but I repeat myself—understand this.

Voters like me are conservatives who dislike Trump because we believe he does not represent true conservative ideas. I am also repulsed by his character flaws and legal problems.

The second category of Trump voters are right-of-center Americans who cannot find their values ​​or ideas represented in the far-left version of the Democratic Party that Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, represent.

The last kind of people who vote for Trump are those who like him – a lot. They believe he defies norms, bucks trends and represents the marginalized middle American voter. They like that he slips on golf courses he owns and yet wants to put on a McDonald’s apron to learn how to make fries. They don’t care that he isn’t an articulate, consistent ideologue because they aren’t.

Millions of voters are drawn to Trump because he seems pro-America, pro-military and pro-life. To these conservatives—a majority of the 74.2 million Americans who voted for him in 2020—Trump is a fighter, a two-time assassination survivor and a symbol of the American dream.

I don’t see Trump that way, but I understand the views of those who do. It is important that these views are seen and heard. And it’s incredibly hurtful and insulting when the current president refers to those of us who will vote for Trump as “garbage”—even if it’s by mistake.

This election, Donald Trump will draw all three of these types of voters by the millions. I want to be among them.

Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist for USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four children. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Trackand have it delivered to your inbox.