“Trump talks about America first, but every time he opens his mouth and says these kind of things praising authoritarianism.”
“I’m Tom and I’m a registered voter in the state of Nevada. However, I’m currently here in Tokyo, Japan. I voted Republican all of my life. In the last several elections, I split my vote, I voted for Trump in 2016. I did not vote for him in 2020. And this year I’ll be voting for Kamala Harris.
“My history with the Republican Party goes back many years. I walked precincts, believe it or not, for Richard Nixon in the 1972 election, and I was a surrogate speaker for Ronald Reagan in 1980 on Asian affairs in California. And I also worked with the, we called him the governor at that time, Governor Reagan at his think tank in Santa Monica, clipping news articles for him.
“I go back where the Republican party quite a bit for the reasons that I basically agreed with their principles on smaller government, less government interference in the lives of individuals, but at that time, particularly opposition to communism and tyrants abroad.
“One of the main issues, of course, was freedom and democracy versus authoritarianism. That’s why I became a Republican.
“Being overseas, we’re always impacted by whatever a president says overseas. And comments such as, I’ll be a dictator on day one, even if it’s just one day, or Kim Jong-un gets along with me or I like Putin because he’s a strong character, or Orban is strong. These all have very negative impacts upon our alliances abroad. So the irony is that Trump talks about America first, but every time he opens his mouth and says these kind of things, praising authoritarianism, it sends shockwaves around the world and it actually creates an environment of America alone.
“We need to get back to Ronald Reagan Republicanism. And it’s odd that the vehicle to do that is to vote for Kamala Harris, but that’s just the way it’s going to be, you know, for me in this election cycle.
“There’s an issue of voting for Harris, which maybe is a little irritating, like a small pebble in a boot. And that is, some of the policy issues I definitely disagree with her on. However, in the larger package of freedom, democracy versus authoritarianism. There’s absolutely no choice between the two. I have to go with Harris.
“So my vote is really a tactical vote. And not only is it a tactical vote to stop Trump, it’s also a tactical vote to restructure the Republican party to help return it, perhaps, to its original roots. And then we can have those policy decisions and arguments with the Democrats in a civil manner and our ideas will prevail.
“For the time being, we have to put out the kitchen fire that we currently have, rather than arguing about what’s on the menu for dinner.”