Breaking news: Kamala Harris is being called out for being dishonest and inauthentic, willing to say or do anything to win the election. This isn’t just my opinion, though I do agree. It’s the central argument of an op-ed in the New York Post by Andrea Peyser, a self-described “pro-choice, anti-gun, gay-marriage-friendly Democrat” who plans to vote for Donald Trump.
Her reasons are, to say the least, intriguing.
“I’m voting for Donald Trump for president. This is the only way to save the country I love. I realize that people will shun and ridicule me. I’ll create chaos at family gatherings. Hip restaurants will lose my reservations. I’ll shed a ton of Facebook friends. But while I recognize the Republican ex-president’s flaws, I have come to realize that electing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris to the highest office in the land would be far scarier.”
Peyser criticizes Harris’s recent CNN interview, accusing her of flip-flopping on key issues such as the environment, the border, healthcare, and inflation—all in a desperate attempt to win Middle American votes. According to Peyser, Harris even threw Israel “under the bus.”
She may sound like a Republican, at least on some issues. But her social stances are among the reasons Peyser believes Trump is the better choice.
Peyser notes, “Trump, meanwhile, has signaled a moderate approach to the social issues I ardently believe the government has no business butting into, including going against traditional Republican opposition to same-sex marriage.”
She points out that Trump thinks a six-week abortion ban is “too short” and supports the idea that abortion limits should be determined by state governments, not the federal government. He also favors in-vitro fertilization treatments, which some pro-lifers oppose, being covered by the government or insurance companies. Crucially, Trump remains unequivocally supportive of Israel.
Peyser argues that Trump offers solutions to the issues Harris hesitates on: secure borders, an end to runaway crime, and relief from crushing inflation. “As Kamala Harris dithers, we at least stand a chance at solving some of our problems with Donald Trump at the helm,” she declares. “I’m with him.”
At this point, it would be tempting to say to Ms. Peyser, “Welcome to the Republican Party.”
While I don’t know Peyser’s stance on many issues, and I suspect she and most Republicans would disagree on Second Amendment rights, I do share her and Trump’s belief that abortion is a state issue, as the Supreme Court has affirmed. Her concerns about crime and unchecked immigration, two major factors in the decline of many once-great American cities, are also understandable.
It’s worth noting that Donald Trump, for much of his life, was a Democrat with moderate views, especially on social issues. In fact, the Donald Trump of today wouldn’t have been out of place in the Democratic Party of the ’70s and ’80s.
In the ’80s and into the ’90s, “Reagan Democrats” were a significant voting bloc, contributing to Ronald Reagan’s 1984 landslide victory. Similarly, there will be Trump Democrats in this election. While the exact number remains to be seen, Andrea Peyser’s op-ed explains why she is among them and what the Trump campaign can do to welcome her and others like her into the fold. She may not agree with every aspect of Trump’s agenda, but to have any hope of seeing that agenda realized, Trump first needs to win.
