I voted for Donald Trump to save lives: Response to Redlawsk

Democratic organizer and activist Andrew Redlawsk wrote a column for USA TODAY arguing that progressives need to listen to and engage with Trump voters in order to get the country back on the right path. In an effort to advance that dialog, we asked Notre Dame senior Sophia Buono, a USA TODAY Opinion intern and Trump voter, to reply below and for Redlawsk to continue the conversation in another piece.

After the presidential election, I kept my mouth shut.

I knew of the reactions students had received when they revealed that they had voted for Donald Trump: Some experienced coldness from friends, others got more abusive responses. One friend told me that at a board meeting of a student club she sat on, leaders announced that any members who stated that they had voted for Trump would be dismissed.

Contained in all these reactions were the same questions: Don’t you care about undocumented immigrants? Women? Muslims? Blacks? Hispanics? LGBTQ people?

I answer each of those questions with an emphatic yes. I see every human being as unique, precious and beautiful. I enjoy engaging with people of all kinds — that is one of my favorite things about college.

With that in mind, Mr. Redlawsk’s call to “stop condescending” and “start listening” means a lot to me. For that message, I am very grateful, and I will strive to live it, too.

Taking that opportunity to speak to the open ear, I would like to explain what motivated me to vote for Donald Trump. It’s not that I want to return to a “traditional” America of the past. It’s not that I see Trump as the real answer to all of America’s problems. And — at least I sincerely hope — it’s not that I’m ignorant and bigoted.

The reason why I voted for Trump is simple: I could not, in good conscience, vote for Hillary Clinton.

My conviction surpassed a mere aversion to her personality or email habits. Rather, it stemmed from the fact that she was an actively pro-abortion candidate.

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Trump voters and foes can seek common ground on life: Response to Buono

Why let one issue, which has been settled by the Supreme Court since 1973, dominate my decision? At the core of it lies the unchanging gravity of the issue.

With every ounce of logic within me, I am convinced that the small thing inside a pregnant woman is a human life. To directly undo that life is to kill. And because that life is defenseless and innocent, to kill it is always wrong. It is a direct attack on human life — which, as I stated, is always unique, precious and beautiful.

We could argue about the merit of my conviction, but what matters here is to establish it as a core value of mine — and one that is not so unreasonable as to be immediately dismissed.

Therefore, I cannot without contradiction support a candidate who endorsed abortion, aided its distribution, and pushed for measures that would constrain those who oppose it. 

Even so, why Trump instead? It is hard to paint him as an infallible crusader for life. What’s more, voting for Trump could imply that I cared about unborn fetuses more than the people who felt threatened by his words. That, I repeat, is untrue.

I say this to every human: If any candidate advocated a practice whose primary purpose was to make you helpless and kill you, I would never vote for such a candidate. 

President Trump, to put it gently, has many flaws. Nevertheless, voting for him was the surest way for me to help prevent a presidency that would tighten the grip of abortion in America. I find that cause essential to help the whole nation: Without defending the most vulnerable and voiceless, I cannot consistently defend anyone.

Some of my fellow voters had similar convictions but decided to abstain or vote for a third-party candidate. For them, a vote for Trump would only constitute participation in a lesser evil, or it did not promote enough good to justify the decision. I understand and respect those decisions, but I concluded otherwise. I believe that participation in democracy is a vital responsibility, and I did not want to throw away my vote in any way. Furthermore, despite the ambiguity of his stance on the issue, Trump indicated that he could help protect pro-life values through actions such as the Supreme Court justice appointment and preserving the Hyde Amendment, which withholds certain federal funds from being used for abortion.

I know that to completely ground my voting decision, I must not be content with just voting. Especially because I do not agree with all of President Trump’s ideas, I must work within society to help promote policies of justice and fairness. Along the way, I hope to connect with those who disagree with me and work with them to support this beautiful nation of ours.

I only ask that after being heard, my core value — the protection of life — may be respected and protected, not ignored.

Sophia Buono is a senior at the University of Notre Dame and a College Fix summer intern at the Editorial Page of USA TODAY. Read Andrew Redlawsk's original column here and his last word here.

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