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To set the record straight for the millionth time, we refuse to vote for Kamala Harris, not because she is a woman and not because she is Black, but because she can only offer a continuity of our current predicament. With President Joe Biden having been in evident cognitive decline, Harris is essentially the incumbent defending a record that has seen the renewal of two major global conflicts, high inflation rates and crime in our cities. What we want — and what the United States needs — is for Donald Trump to secure re-election and continue the good work he started during his first term with a Republican House in tow. 

There is no questioning that Americans are polarized over Trump, but we attribute that to the calumnies upon calumnies that have been levied against him right in our faces since he first announced his candidacy in 2015. With most mainstream media outlets having decided that their interests are aligned with the left’s, he has always faced an uphill battle. While very young, many of us were frightened at the prospect of women and racial minorities losing their rights, of us or people we love being deported and the end of the world among other things. None of that happened — in fact, many of the times when we ask those on the other side what harm Trump did while in office, all we get are shallow ramblings about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Remembering a time when gas cost a little over $2, a group of people illegally promenading through the U.S. Capitol is not in any way sufficient to dissuade us. 

To their advantage, Democrats know how to and do play on fear, but their muddled priorities and weaponization of identity politics have left us a mess. For our part, we do not really care whether Harris actually soaks her greens in a communal bathtub or if she once worked at a McDonald’s. It stands that no serious person who is struggling to feed their family cares who Taylor Swift is voting for, either. There are times when Democrats make promises about actual, pressing concerns, like those surrounding abortion, but both parties have also repeatedly addressed the election — making half the electorate worry about their decision to vote for the so-called restrictions on reproductive rights. You will be just as happy as many of us are disappointed that Trump is not in favor of a federal ban on abortion. With that big issue out of the way, we must turn our attention towards the myriad of other issues that plague us all as Americans at the national level.

Hardly anyone in politics today understands what the average American goes through — unless they actually did experience it — and we resent it when they pretend that they have. Unlike Harris, Trump does not pander incessantly, nor does he act entitled for our vote based on our socio-economic status, whether that be as women, racial minorities or members of the middle class. He is a billionaire — he does not claim to be anything else. Americans from all walks of life have seen his policies presented plainly with no targeted embellishment and still choose to support him. 

We recognize Trump as the only person in the last four years who cares to speak honestly about the humanitarian crisis at our unsecured southern border and in our cities — a task that was supposed to be the responsibility of Vice President Harris. We understand his protectionist economic plan as having long-term benefits to long-term benefits to a domestic economy, a promise that current and future generations will inherit. The prospect, too, of not being sent to die overseas in foreign wars remains boundlessly attractive. After all, the foreign policy that critics bemoaned was too unpredictable under the Trump administration was perfectly in line with American strategic ambiguity, not to mention being the first in decades to not get us into any new, major overseas wars.  

Our ability to practice our interests at home is paramount to our success as a nation, but it has been overlooked for longer than is sustainable. We cannot stand for another term of this administration hell-bent on feeding us unfulfilled promises and foreign interests. It is in this name of public safety, national sovereignty, world peace and common sense that we are voting for Trump. Over the past four years, Harris has not earned our vote despite her most insidious efforts at dividing and conquering our half of the electorate. We stand firm in our positions, however unpopular they may be at NYU, and we hope to God for a change.

If you are open to hearing more of what we have to say, please come to our meetings. If you want to work together with us you can join our organization today. We urge you not to be afraid of the lack of social desirability — we are good, normal people that want the best for our country and our families as much as anyone else. We urge you to get to know us better before you judge us. We give our opposition the benefit of the doubt that they are well-meaning, albeit sorely misguided in their priorities, but it is hardly ever returned. That needs to change, but we have bigger things to worry about than our reputation. 

At the time of this writing, we are less than 20 days out from the election. Our members will continue going on campaign deployments every weekend to support candidates like Mike LiPetri, who we believe have a shot at representing our interests at the national level. Whatever happens at the top of the ticket on Nov. 5, the NYU College Republicans are here to stay, whether you like it or not. The majority of us are average Americans who are privileged to go to a good school. We are young and don’t necessarily even want to care about something so much bigger than us like politics, but we feel we have to. Conservatives remain a minority on college campuses, but no matter who is in office, we will continue to stand for what we know is right. 

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Contact NYU College Republicans at [email protected].