A lifelong Democrat writer and civil liberties attorney said Thursday she will vote Republican for the first time, motivated by what she sees as the left's embrace of "authoritarian" measures during the COVID pandemic and censorship of opposing views.
"Though I was a lifelong Democrat until 2020, I will be voting red this November and in every election for the foreseeable future. I firmly believe that, despite my many disagreements with platforms of the Republican Party, it poses far less of a threat than Democrats," Jenin Younes wrote on Twitter this week.
Younes told Steve Doocy on Thursday that several crucial issues compelled her to make the switch, including gender identity politics forced on children, Biden's executive overreach, censorship and "authoritarianism."
"I would say I initially associated the Democrats with sticking up for the little guy, being anti-corporation, even anti-big government," she said while appearing on "Fox & Friends."
"Things have changed since then, and I would say especially with COVID where the Democrats really embraced authoritarian policies in terms of closing businesses and schools," she added.
Younes lambasted Democrats' notoriety for censorship, particularly through the Big Tech and social media crackdowns, adding that the issues she finds so important have made her consider voting Republican for some time.
"We even have a voting bloc called ‘Democrats for DeSantis’ because we've really admired his way of dealing with COVID," she said.
LIFELONG DEMOCRAT BELIEVES HE'LL VOTE REPUBLICAN IF BIDEN RUNS AGAIN: ‘A BUNCH OF EMPTY PROMISES’
She roasted progressive Democrats even further by dissecting their laser focus on gender ideology issues for children, including pronouns and gender-affirming treatments for minors.
"[That's] another issue I have with Democrats at this point in time. I want to emphasize that I don't have a problem with adults being able to do what they want, but I have a problem with people pushing children to get surgeries and confusing them about their identity in this way," Younes said.
LIFELONG DEMOCRATS, FEMINIST WARNS PARTY TO STOP TRYING TO ABOLISH BIOLOGICAL SEX OR LOSE VOTES
She argued that the party misplaces its priorities on gender ideology issues while most Americans are more concerned about how to put food on their tables and tackling skyrocketing inflation, a dilemma she says pandemic-era economic shutdowns helped create.
Other lifelong Democrats have announced their exodus from the party in light of recent issues, most notably including former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who announced her severance from the Democratic Party last week, lambasting the organization as an "elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness" that she said bends to "anti-White racism."
Despite announcing support for Republican Senate nominee Don Bolduc and Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, Gabbard maintains she considers herself an independent.
Other former Democrats have voiced concerns over the party's affinity for cancel culture, open border policies and more.
Fox News' Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report
