More than 100 former Republican leaders who served under Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Donald Trump have broken with their party by signing a letter endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president and warning that Trump is “unfit to serve.”
“We expect to disagree with Kamala Harris on many domestic and foreign policy issues, but we believe that she possesses the essential qualities to serve as president and Donald Trump does not,” the letter reads. “We therefore support her election to be President.”
“We firmly oppose the election of Donald Trump. As president, he promoted daily chaos in government, praised our enemies and undermined our allies, politicized the military and disparaged our veterans, prioritized his personal interest above American interests, and betrayed our values, democracy and this country’s founding documents,” it continues. “In our view, by inciting the violent attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and defending those who committed it, he has violated his oath of office and brought danger to our country.”
Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence — who did not sign the letter — is quoted, saying, “Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.”
Wednesday’s missive also calls out Trump’s “susceptibility to flattery and manipulation by Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping” and “unusual affinity for other authoritarian leaders” as well as his “contempt for the norms of decent, ethical and lawful behavior” and “chaotic national security decision-making.”
The letter goes on to state, “As many honorable Republican colleagues and military officers who served in senior national security positions in his administration have frequently testified, he is unfit to serve again as president, indeed in any office of public trust.”
Among those who signed the letter are Admiral Steve Abbot, former deputy Homeland Security advisor to the George W. Bush Administration; Greg Brower, former FBI assistant director to the Obama and Trump Administrations; Chester A. Crocker, former assistant secretary of state to the Reagan Administration; and William H. Webster, former director of the CIA and FBI to the Reagan and George H.W. Bush Administrations, as well as several former Republican members of Congress and the Senate.
