Republican member of Electoral College asks colleagues to reject Trump

Accusing Donald Trump of “demagogy” and calling the president-elect unfit to serve, a Republican member of the Electoral College from Texas says he can’t vote for Trump when the body meets on Dec. 19.

Texas elector Christopher Suprun announced his opposition to a Trump presidency in an op-ed published by The New York Times this week.

“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,” he wrote. “Mr. Trump shows us again and again that he does not meet these standards. Given his own public statements, it isn’t clear how the Electoral College can ignore these issues, and so it should reject him.”

Suprun backed his position against Trump by listing a number of controversies which arose during the campaign for president, some of Trump’s making and others pushed by the Democratic party.

Trump, Suprun said, “lacks the foreign policy experience and demeanor needed to be commander in chief.”

“During the campaign more than 50 Republican former national security officials and foreign policy experts co-signed a letter opposing him,” the elector said.

Suprun also criticized Trump’s reliance on Stephen Bannon and Gen. Michael Flynn as advisors.

Democrats have repeatedly made baseless claims that Brannon is a white supremacist because of his work for alternative media outlet Breitbart.

The Texas elector also claimed that Trump’s business dealings could ultimately cause him to be impeached.

He wrote: “We have reports that Mr. Trump’s organization has business dealings in Argentina, Bahrain, Taiwan and elsewhere. Mr. Trump could be impeached in his first year given his dismissive responses to financial conflicts of interest. He has played fast and loose with the law for years. He may have violated the Cuban embargo, and there are reports of improprieties involving his foundation and actions he took against minority tenants in New York. Mr. Trump still seems to think that pattern of behavior can continue.”

Suprun doesn’t say that he plans to vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton when the Electoral College meets, but rather encourages fellow electors to unite behind a different GOP name.

“Presidential electors have the legal right and a constitutional duty to vote their conscience. I believe electors should unify behind a Republican alternative, an honorable and qualified man or woman such as Gov. John Kasich of Ohio. I pray my fellow electors will do their job and join with me in discovering who that person should be,” he wrote.

Suprun’s call on fellow electors to reject Trump is part of a broader movement to convince electors from all states to pull the rug out from under Trump later this month.

POLITICO, on Monday, reported that lawyers have already lined up to help electors in states with laws binding them to the candidate but who wish to vote for someone else.

From the report:

A prominent Harvard University law professor is teaming with a California-based law firm to offer legal support for any members of the Electoral College seeking to oppose President-elect Donald Trump in violation of state law.

Larry Lessig says his new effort, which he calls “The Electors Trust,” will provide free counsel to electors, provided by the midsize firm, Durie Tangri, whose partner Mark Lemley is a longtime associate of Lessig’s.

More significantly, Lessig said, the Trust will offer a platform – with guaranteed anonymity – for electors to strategize about stopping Trump from taking the White House. It’s a platform, he said, that could help electors coordinate to determine whether they’ve gathered enough support to stop Trump from winning the presidency.

“It makes no sense to be elector number five who comes out against Trump. But it might make sense to be elector 38,” Lessig said in a phone interview.

If 38 electors currently pledged to Trump oppose his candidacy, it could open the door for a compromise candidate or throw the election outcome to the House of Representatives.

According to reports, Kasich is the name at the top of the list for electors wishing for a compromise candidate on both sides of the aisle.

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