CNBC Squawk Box host Joe Kernen urged former Republican Senator Patrick Toomey after declaring that he would not vote for the former president Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming 2024 election.
Toomey, who represented Pennsylvania in the Senate for 12 years, said he voted for Trump in both 2016 and 2020, but argued that he could not support Trump again because of Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Kernan, unwilling to accept Toomey’s view, challenged him in a heated argument on Tuesday, arguing that not voting for Trump was a vote for Harris.
KERNAN: If you look at the presidential campaign, there are people like you or Paul Ryan who will give me a list of reasons why Kamala Harris would be the worst thing that could ever happen, but they still don’t want to vote for Trump. And they say something like, “Well, that’s not really a vote for Harris, and it’s not, I just can’t.” Because it’s a binary decision. So a vote against Trump is a vote for Harris.
TOOMEY: First of all, I voted for Donald Trump twice, in 2016 and 2020.
KERNAN: I know that. But we don’t talk about that. We all know…
TOOMEY: But if you lose an election and try to manipulate the outcome to stay in power, you lose me. Then you lose me.
KERNAN: Okay, then…so you prefer Kamala Harris?
TOOMEY: Wait, wait.
KERNAN: You would prefer Kamala Harris?
TOOMEY: I recognize that the outcome is a binary situation, but it’s not my choice. OK? I have a choice, and you and I are just going to disagree on this.
KERNAN: What if it came down to one vote? And your vote put Kamala Harris in the race. Then it’s yours.
TOOMEY: I can safely say that none of these candidates can be my choice.
KERNAN (laughs): It will be one or the other.
Despite his refusal to support Trump, Toomey also expressed strong reservations about Harris at the time, criticizing her policies as “economically disastrous,” particularly her proposals to raise the corporate tax rate for top earners to 28 percent and the capital gains tax rate to 45 percent.
When pressed again by Kernan, he stressed that his lack of support did not mean he supported Harris. He noted that the “answer” to a Harris victory would be “Republican control of the Senate,” which he said was “absolutely necessary.”
Watch above on CNBC.
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