Hello.
My name is Brandon Hughes,
and I'm a director of patient
access in Somerset, Kentucky.
I was a registered Republican for
my entire life, and I've always
supported Republican candidates, both
on the statewide and national level.
All of that changed however,
when Donald Trump became
President of the United States.
I ascribed to the anyone,
but Trump mindset during the
2016 Republican primaries.
I hopped around as far as who
I would support until it became
evident that Donald Trump would
ultimately become the nominee.
Heading into the general,
I really wrestled with what
I plan to do in November.
Sitting out wasn't an option because
I've always been a firm believer
in the importance of Americans
exercising their civic duty and voting.
I contemplated voting third party.
I contemplated writing in John
Kasich, but then email gate happened.
I felt this gave me an out, or perhaps
an incentive, to vote for Donald Trump.
Because it painted Hillary Clinton, who
I already had an unfavorable opinion
of, in an even more negative light.
I ultimately voted for Donald
Trump because I naively bought
into this drain the swamp
messaging that he was running on.
And I thought it might be actually good
for a change to have someone on the
outside of Washington in the White House.
I mean, it worked out
well with Ronald Reagan.
So maybe it'll happen again.
Not so much.
I have never regretted a choice
in my entire life, more so than
my decision to vote for this man.
I actually regretted it very early
in his term, as the Charlottesville
"very fine people on both
sides" comment, repulsed me.
Politics and public service have
always been my biggest interest.
I majored in public administration
and public policy in college.
And I work in healthcare access,
so staying abreast of politics and
government policy is something I've
not only enjoyed over the years, but
it's also helpful for me to be informed
of these topics in my profession.
I live in a rural area in Kentucky.
So needless to say, most people
here are Trump supporters.
I stayed mostly silent during Trump's
first term, simply because speaking
out against the president in this area
of the country triggers the vilest
of reactions from his loyalists.
His response to the COVID-19 pandemic,
however, is too important for me
to just stay on the sidelines.
Our national approach to this
pandemic has been a complete and utter
failure of disastrous proportions.
He downplayed the virus for
months, assuring Americans
their risk remained very low.
He allowed our public health experts
to release guidelines on how to
safely navigate the crisis and
save as many lives as possible.
Only to then go on Twitter and
encourage his supporters to storm the
capitals of States ran by democratic
governors and demand that they bypass
his own administration's guidelines.
Instead of following trusted health
experts, he follows conspiracy theories.
Instead of setting up a national
strategy of testing and contact tracing,
like other developed countries, he
advised that the solution to the
pandemic was to just stop testing.
Quote, "if we stopped testing,
we wouldn't have any cases."
That's probably the stupidest thing
I've ever, ever heard a sitting
United States president say.
I'm expecting him any day now to say
that he's found the cure for cancer.
Dismantle all MRI and CT machines.
Problem solved, no cancer.
It's just madness.
He has a portion of our country
even denying that the pandemic
even exists or that it's a hoax.
One of his favorite words.
This has been extremely frustrating for
healthcare workers, such as myself and
my wife, who was a registered nurse.
Donald Trump is the worst possible leader
for our nation at the worst possible time.
Instead of uniting us, he divides us.
Instead of extinguishing
hate, he fans the flames.
Instead of providing calm and steady
leadership in the midst of a crisis,
he governs by insane erratic tweets.
The man is categorically unfit to
be president, and he's especially
ill-equipped to lead America into
a post-pandemic world while somehow
salvaging America's credibility
as the leader of the free world.
When the stakes are this high, when
American lives and our very democracy
is on the ballot, the only patriotic
thing that any one of us can do is
go to the polls and regardless of our
party affiliation, and regardless of our
policy viewpoints, vote for Joe Biden.
That's what I plan to do.
And I hope and pray that a majority
of Americans will do the same.
