‘Bernie Sanders had my support’ – Why this RU senior is voting for Trump

As election season heats up, we’re starting to see more and more people make their positions known on who they’re planning to vote for in November, and student groups on our very own Rutgers campus are no exception. On Monday, the officially recognized Rutgers Republicans released a statement on their position through the Daily Targum, saying, “This election is particularly divisive, and our leadership team and our organization as a whole can’t reach a consensus on whether or not any candidate in this election represents the Republican Party’s core values.”

Rutgers Republicans vice-chairman Najum Junaid added that the group was not “seeking to promote a particular candidate,” although the group’s declination to give an official endorsement to any candidate was not without opposition, with some commenting that the group was “overtaken by a bunch of clowns.”

In light of this, I talked to Swapnil Basu, a senior, Computer Engineering major and self-identified Republican (not affiliated with the student group), about the tension of this election and who he’s giving his support to in November.

First things first, how do you feel about the election right now?

It’s been amazing these past 18 months, I think it has been a rollercoaster. It’s exciting. This election I think is particularly important because we’re seeing a different side of American politics, one that I think always existed but one that Trump made known to everyone. The public is more divided than ever on the nature of the parties involved and neither side is backing down. I think it’s going to be interesting to the world to see how everything plays out.

That’s true. As a Republican, will you be voting for Trump?

I am supporting Trump, yes.

So with that on the record, how do you feel about Rutgers Republicans declining to endorse any particular candidate this year?

I understand their reasoning behind it, they’re not the first group of Republicans to denounce Mr. Trump. They feel he is not a true Republican.

He’s no doubt a polarizing figure on both the left and the right.

To say he is not a true Republican may be accurate to some degree based on any specific policy. But in my opinion he has overall appeal to the American worker and he’s promising better trade and to put America first and it can be viewed as conservatism.

Do you have an opinion on how he’s expressed some of his less PC views? I know that’s where a lot of his alienation to many voters comes from.

Which ‘less than PC views are we talking about? There are many [laughs.]

The ones that usually get people heated you know, his comments on race and some of the jargon he uses to talk about women, including his daughter. I can understand how those issues may not be high on your list of priorities when voting though.

Swapnil: You’re absolutely right and I believe that Trump is playing to that effect largely in his campaign. But to answer your question, I believe the comments he made during his entire primary process were to gain as much media attention as possible. As a person who is for the most part a self-funder, all the media coverage he could get was essential. And Trump knows how to manipulate television. He has had a successful TV series for years. His comments were derisive because that was the intention. It seems dastardly evil, I know, but can you say it failed him in the primaries? And the comments about his daughter and about women in general were made years ago. When Trump was just a celebrity, it’s what he did.

I understand. I respectfully disagree, but I do want to make an effort to hear people out, you know? Were you intent on supporting Trump from the beginning of his campaign or were you leaning toward the other Republican candidates at first?

I’ll be honest, Bernie Sanders had my support until about August of last year, back in the early days.

Wow really? What changed? It seems like Trump and Sanders are on two opposing sides.

Swapnil: Well early on you have to remember Trump wasn’t taken very seriously, he just seemed insane. So to me, Bernie Sanders appealed more logically. However, after Trump began totally dominating the polls, I gained an understanding of why he was doing what he was doing. Like he said he was playing his own strategy on how best to win the primaries and even more brilliantly he geared his campaign completely against the one Democrat he would eventually face – Hillary Clinton. His only job was to be as anti-establishment as possible. I respected his strategy and predicted that he would eventually pivot more toward the center after his nomination which has happened. One thing about this election is that it brought intense political strategy to the forefront of the media. I respected Trump’s strategy and believed it would work and so far I’ve been correct.

That’s actually really interesting. Do you believe that Trump will make a good president?

Yes, I do. People say Trump’s lack of a political record will hinder him but I believe if he is successful his lack of one would become his biggest asset because he can then create it however he wants. He can be exactly what Congress needs. He can become precisely what the American public need him to be. Also, Hillary currently has a 60 percent disapproval rating from the public. I’m not sure how well she would be taken seriously in a majority Republican House, and a seriously angry American public.