CNBC’s “Squawk Box” host Joe Kernen pressed former U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) over his announcement that he will not be voting for former President Donald Trump in November.
While Toomey conceded that Harris is a radical leftist who will implement radical, authoritarian policies, he still told Kernen that he will not be voting for Trump in November. “I think it’s very helpful to look at what she actually did. Right? When she was in the Senate, she had the most liberal record in the Senate, to the left of Bernie Sanders. She was in favor of Medicare for all. She was in favor of banning fracking. She lined up perfectly with the far left wing,” Toomey said.
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Despite this, Toomey held firm on his anti-Trump position, at which point Kernen told him that his refusal to vote for Trump is effectively a vote in support of Vice President Kamala Harris and her far-left policy proposals.
“Guys like you, guys like Paul Ryan, that tell me, yeah, I mean, they give me a list of reasons why Kamala Harris would be the worst thing to ever happen, but still won’t vote for, for Trump and say something like, well, uh, it’s not really a vote for Harris,” Kernen said, adding that the upcoming election is a “binary choice.”
Toomey responded by pointing out that he voted for Trump both in 2016 and 2020, though he ultimately feels that Trump’s constitutionally protected objection to the 2020 election results is a bridge too far. He also repeated several hyperbolic claims about the January 6 Capitol protests and Trump’s election challenge, falsely claiming that Trump “tried to overturn the results.”
“So you prefer Kamala Harris,” Kernen shot back.
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“You would prefer I acknowledge that the outcome is a binary situation, but my choice is not. I have the choice. And you and I just are just gonna disagree on this,” Toomey replied.
“What if it came down to one vote? And it was yours that put Kamala Harris in. Then it is yours,” Kernen said.
Toomey eventually acknowledged that the election is a binary choice, though he would find a Kamala Harris victory “acceptable.”
