It is the day before the election as I write this, and I haven’t fully decided on my vote for president.  If you asked me a couple of months ago, I was leaning towards doing a write-in vote for someone like Ron Paul.  As of today, I am leaning towards voting for Trump.  What changed?

The more I watch Kamala Harris and the Biden administration, the more disgusted I get.  Biden made a recent gaffe, which means he accidentally expressed his opinion out loud.  He said that Trump supporters are garbage.  I already knew he despised tens of millions of people, but it is actually worse when he has the gall to say it out loud as if to flaunt it.

Meanwhile, Kamala Harris is fumbling almost every interview and speech.  This doesn’t particularly bother me except that I know she is fully controlled by the same people who control Biden.  She is a puppet.

I was reminded of her authoritarianism recently when I watched a video of her from 2010 bragging about her plans to throw parents in jail in California for their kids missing too much school.

Harris is also out there campaigning with Liz Cheney of all people, which tells you just what kind of a person she is and what kind of a president she would be.

Reasons Against Trump

If I vote for Trump, I am not endorsing what Trump did in his first term, nor am I endorsing many of his policy positions today.  I am making it clear that I do not support the following:

• Hiking tariffs
• Belligerence towards Iran
• Funding and arming the Israeli state
• Allowing Fauci to have the spotlight during COVID
• Promoting the COVID vaccines
• Hiring people like John Bolton, Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, Christopher Wray, Bill Barr, and the list goes on and on

There are many other areas that are perhaps less significant where I strongly disagree with Trump.

To be sure, I also have my criticisms of his demeanor at times, but it has nothing to do with what the establishment media says.  I don’t think Trump should pick a fight with someone like Candace Owens just because she offers some constructive criticism.  He also originally did the same thing with Joe Rogan when Rogan spoke highly of Kennedy (before Kennedy endorsed Trump).

I have no issue with Trump with regard to the lies the media hands out.  He didn’t tell anyone to drink bleach.  He didn’t call white supremacists very fine people.  He didn’t call for an insurrection.  He didn’t hold a Nazi rally.  He didn’t collude with the Russians to steal the election.

Changing My Mind

The reason I have changed my mind and am leaning in favor of voting for Trump is because of the prominent people who have been speaking at his rallies and cheering him on.  I have my disagreements with J.D. Vance, but he is about the best I could have hoped for in a running mate for Trump.  He is not great on foreign policy, but he is better than almost anything we’ve had from the two major parties in quite some time.  Vance recently appeared on Rogan and was talking about how we need to do something about the Federal Reserve.

Aside from Vance, there are a handful of people that get me somewhat excited, or at least cautiously optimistic.  I have in mind the following people:

• Robert Kennedy Jr.
• Nicole Shanahan
• Elon Musk
• Tulsi Gabbard
• Vivek Ramaswamy
• Tucker Carlson

I have my disagreements with all of them, but I believe they all want to sincerely help the country, and they all lean libertarian to some degree on the issues where they focus.

Kennedy was great on COVID, and he is a strong advocate for making America healthier.  He understands the damage government has done in this respect.  He also believes that the CIA killed his uncle.

Nicole Shanahan (RFK’s running mate) has been surprisingly great on many liberty issues.  She has had multiple conversations with Ron Paul and has been very open to his ideas while praising him.

Elon Musk recently said he wants to cut $2.5 trillion out of the federal budget.  He wants a government efficiency commission, which normally sounds bad.  But I believe he is serious about this, as he actually directed a message to Ron Paul about helping to cut government spending.
Tulsi Gabbard isn’t a total non-interventionist with foreign policy, but she is far better than anyone in the Biden administration.  If she gets a prominent role in directing U.S. foreign policy, we will be much better off.

Vivek Ramaswamy goes on all of the major libertarian podcasts and frequently expresses libertarian ideas.  Again, I am aware that he is not a pure libertarian, but it is incredible that someone like this is having influence on Trump.

Tucker Carlson is also not a libertarian, but he is pretty close where it really counts.  Tucker has done an amazing job at going just far enough to not lose Republican support while challenging many conventional things.  He challenges the whole foreign policy apparatus, and he challenges the national security state.  His economics may not always be great from a libertarian standpoint, but he is great on the things where he focuses his attention.

Not Letting the Perfect Be the Enemy of the Good

Sometimes I hate this saying because people use it as justification to support bad things.  If you voted for Bush in 2004 for president and used this saying, it is just completely wrong because there was barely anything good about the Bush presidency.

In the case of Trump, I think it does apply because Trump is significantly better than Harris and her puppet masters.

Libertarians running for office often say that you shouldn’t choose between the lesser of two evils.  But there are very few libertarians running for office where I agree with everything they say.  So, I am always voting for a lesser evil.  It is just a question of degree.

In this case, I think Trump is significantly less evil.  He doesn’t hate my guts.  If he does, he is a great actor.  Biden and Harris and their controllers hate my guts.  They hate the average American family.  They will barely tolerate you if you obey their dictates.

We aren’t going to get a libertarian president any time soon.  But we have a candidate who has several prominent people around him who at least lean libertarian.

The people mentioned above are almost bullying Trump (in a good way) towards greater liberty.  Kennedy endorsed Trump, and Kennedy is supposed to lead a transition team.

We have several of these people who are questioning the Fed, the intelligence agencies, U.S. foreign policy, and bloated government in general.  How can a libertarian look at this and not consider supporting it in the hopes of moving us in the right direction?

Ron Paul isn’t running for president.  The country wasn’t ready for Ron Paul in 2008 or 2012.  The country still isn’t ready for someone like Ron Paul, but we are getting a lot closer.

Cautious Optimism

Kennedy, Shanahan, Vivek, Elon, Tulsi, and Tucker can guide Trump in the right direction.  They can overwhelm the establishment people who will try to influence Trump.

I understand that a lot can go wrong.  I understand that Trump will do many things that are bad.  I understand that it is hard to change anything significant for the better in Washington D.C.

But it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.  There is reason for very cautious optimism.  Even if Trump is a bad president again, people are getting educated.  They are learning that the ruling elite do not like them and do not have their best interests at heart.

We can build on this and continue to move public opinion in a more libertarian direction.

There is going to be some chaos after the election no matter what happens, but there is reason to be hopeful for the future.