Don't Take My Word for It—Take Theirs
The Conservative Case for Kamala Harris
Hi everyone. There are just five days remaining until voting is over in the U.S. presidential election. While I don’t usually write about politics, and while I recognize that a significant percentage of my readers are not American citizens, I hope you’ll bear with me in the closing days of this election, as I focus on what is arguably the most important story on earth right now, an event with ramifications that will be felt not only in the United States, but also here in Italy and around the world.
Though I’ve voted for two Republican presidents in the past, I am no longer a Republican. I’m aware that to some of you, that may mean my perspective on this election should be discounted or discarded. It is for that reason that I’m not asking you to listen to me; I’m asking you to hear out some of your fellow Republicans who are raising alarms about the stakes of this election.1
I’ve put a great deal of work into this piece, so I’m especially grateful to everyone who takes the time to read it. I’d encourage you to share this with your family and friends who may find it helpful. Grazie! -Michael
The Conservative Case for Kamala Harris
We hear a lot these days about how sharply divided the American people are. And that is true in many ways, of course. But there is a truly remarkable and entirely unprecedented movement underway that flies in the face of the "we are so polarized" narrative, and I fear it is at risk of being drowned out by all the other insanity we're seeing in the daily headlines. So that is what I want to focus on in today's post.
Short of his own words, I think the strongest arguments against Donald Trump—and for Kamala Harris—aren’t from newspaper editors or podcast hosts or cable news pundits; they’re from the many Republicans who have stood up to and spoken out against him, often at great costs to themselves.
Many of them have been subjected to harassment and intimidation, shouted at in restaurants and airports. Some have had their homes swatted. Others have lost their jobs as staffers, strategists, and consultants within Republican politics. Those who are elected officials have been ousted from leadership positions, censured and rebuked by their own party, and voted out of office by furious primary voters. Many, along with their family members and staff, have received threats of violence and even death from Trump supporters, who see them as traitors to their cause. At least one elected Republican began wearing body armor, while others hired private security services to protect themselves from Trump’s crazed followers. Trump himself has threatened some of them with televised military tribunals and prison time if he is re-elected.
I have found myself both inspired and deeply moved by the courage these folks have shown. I believe they are people of principles, people who love their country and fear for its future if Donald Trump regains power, and that we owe them deep gratitude. I admire their fortitude and believe history will judge them kindly for meeting the moment and doing their part to push back the looming darkness.
Today I want to spotlight what some of these people have said about why they cannot support Donald Trump, and why many of them are going the next step and urging their fellow conservatives to vote for Kamala Harris.
I hope those of you who are leaning toward voting for Trump will carefully consider their dire warnings. And I hope you’ll ask yourself why they have stood up, spoken out, and even crossed party lines, when it would have been so much easier for them to simply stay silent.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS
JOHN KELLY (Retired U.S. Marine Corps general who served as White House Chief of Staff for Trump)
In an interview with The New York Times:
[Kelly] said that, in his opinion, Mr. Trump met the definition of a fascist, would govern like a dictator if allowed, and had no understanding of the Constitution or the concept of the rule of law.
He discussed and confirmed previous reports that Mr. Trump had made admiring statements about Hitler, had expressed contempt for disabled veterans, and had characterized those who died on the battlefield for the United States as “losers” and “suckers” — comments first reported in 2020 by The Atlantic.
JOHN BOLTON (National Security Advisor to President Trump)
"He just doesn't know limits. What he cares about is the greater glory of Donald Trump; the concept of the national interest or American national security are things he doesn't comprehend.”
MIKE PENCE (48th Vice President of the United States, serving under Donald J. Trump)
"It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year…The American people deserve to know that President Trump asked me to put him over my oath to the Constitution…Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States."
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON (Assistant to Trump’s Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows)
“We are not voting for a Republican platform or a Democratic platform; we are voting for the survival of our nation. I will do whatever it takes to make sure Donald Trump is nowhere near the Oval Office again. [He is] a fundamentally undemocratic and dangerous man who has shown us time and time again that he does not have any regard for the Constitution. He would go in with the mindset of a ‘revenge presidency’ and surround himself with people who would enable him to achieve those ends.”
SARAH MATTHEWS (White House aide under Trump)
"Trump's continued use of Nazi rhetoric is un-American and despicable. Yet too many Americans are brushing off the glaring red flags about what could happen if he returns to the White House. When someone shows you who they are, believe them...It's not a lesser of two evils situation...I know that Trump is a threat to our democracy and that he is unfit to ever serve as president again. I have no choice but to...do everything I can to make sure we defeat Donald Trump."
There are other former Trump administration officials also speaking out; flip through this gallery by clicking on the first photo.
REPUBLICAN OFFICIALS
LIZ CHENEY (former Republican Congresswoman and Chair of the House Republican Conference, making her the 3rd highest-ranking Republican in the House. She is the daughter of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney.)
Perhaps no Republican has spoken out more strongly or in more high-profile ways than Liz Cheney. I am, quite simply, in awe of her integrity and her nerves of steel. I’ll include here a lengthy collection of some of the things she has said about the stakes of this election.
"I've been voting for 40 years. My first vote was for Ronald Reagan in 1984. I've never voted for a Democrat. [But] Republicans have nominated somebody who is depraved, somebody who shows us every day that he's willing to embrace things that are fundamentally a danger to this nation and to our constitution. He was willing to use violence in order to attempt to seize power, to stay in power.
"We can't survive a president who is willing to torch the Constitution. He's so dangerous. If you have a president who is unwilling to abide by the rulings of the courts, who is unwilling to uphold the Constitution, then there are no guardrails that can stop him.
"I urge my Republican colleagues, both in the Congress and across the country, to really look at Donald Trump’s policies, to really look at the danger he presents. It's a firm rejection not just of traditional Republican policies, but of the constitutional order on which this country depends.
"In this election, putting patriotism ahead of partisanship is not an aspiration. It is our duty. So the choice, in my view, is not a difficult one.
Flip through this gallery by clicking on the first photo:
“This year, I am proudly casting my vote for Kamala Harris. I know that she loves our country, and I know that she will defend the rule of law and be a president for all Americans. As a conservative, as a patriot, as a mother, as someone who reveres our Constitution, I am honored to join her in this urgent cause.
“I ask everyone across this great country to join us. I ask you to meet this moment. I ask you to stand in truth, to reject the depraved cruelty of Donald Trump. And I ask you instead to help us elect Kamala Harris for President.
"If you really believe, as I do, that Donald Trump is too dangerous to ever again be near the Oval Office, then I think that it's incumbent upon us to go the extra step and actually cast a vote for Vice President Harris.
“[H]elp us right the ship of our democracy so that history will say of us [that] when our time of testing came, we did our duty and prevailed because we loved our country more.
"Every one of us—Republican, Democrat, Independent—must work together to ensure that Donald Trump and those who have appeased, enabled, and collaborated with him are defeated. This is the cause of our time."
DICK CHENEY (46th Vice President of the United States, serving under George W. Bush)
PAUL RYAN (Republican Speaker of the House during Donald Trump's first two years as president)
“Trump’s not a conservative, he’s an authoritarian narcissist.”
ALBERTO GONZALES, former Republican Attorney General under George W. Bush)
“I am the only lawyer in American history to serve both as White House counsel and as attorney general. So, while that does not make me special, it does give me a rather unique perspective about presidential decision-making and the necessity of electing a president who respects the rule of law to safeguard our liberties and way of life. As the United States approaches a critical election, I can’t sit quietly as Donald Trump — perhaps the most serious threat to the rule of law in a generation — eyes a return to the White House. For that reason, though I’m a Republican, I’ve decided to support Kamala Harris for president.” (Read the whole thing.)
GEOFF DUNCAN (Republican former Lieutenant Governor of Georgia)
"I'm committed to beating Donald Trump. This November, I am voting for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass. Let me be clear to my Republican friends: If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024, you're not a Democrat, you're a patriot."
GARY REED (former Executive Director of the Michigan Republican Party)
Reed wrote a piece explaining he is voting for Kamala Harris because of her values, discipline, ideas. “Trump and his allies have done grave damage to the Republican Party — both in Michigan and nationally. If we ever want our Republican Party back, it has to start with Donald Trump losing on November 5. That’s why I’m voting for Kamala Harris.”
MICHAEL BRODKORB (former Deputy Chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota)
"I urge my fellow Republicans to consider this: Supporting Harris and Walz is not about abandoning the Republican Party. It is about standing up for the principles the party once represented—principles that I believe will be at risk if Trump returns to the White House.”
DAWN ROBERTS (Co-Chair of Republican Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley's 2024 Iowa campaign)
“Kamala Harris is the person to lead our country into the future.”
FRED UPTON (former Republican Congressman from Michigan)
“I’ve never voted for a Democrat for president, and I never thought I would. But I’m proud to say that I cast my ballot for Kamala Harris. She’s strong and a committed public servant. Trump is completely unfit to serve as commander-in-chief.”
JIM GREENWOOD (former Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania)
“I observed [Trump] to be a man who is not mentally fit for the job...He's a narcissist, and he's a pathological liar."
JOE WALSH (former Republican Congressman from Illinois)
"I want to apologize once again for voting for Donald Trump in 2016. I'm truly sorry. I apologize for helping to put this horrible human being in the White House. And I'm doing all I can do to make sure he's not re-elected in November."
ADAM KINZINGER (former Republican Congressman from Illinois)
"True conservatism has been replaced with a cult. We must put country first...to my fellow Republicans, if you still pledge allegiance to those principles...vote for our bedrock values and vote for Kamala Harris.”
JOHN GILES (Republican Mayor of Mesa, Arizona)
“I think the time has come for us as Arizona Republicans to admit the obvious...which is that our party's nominee is not qualified for office and that we need to vote for the adult in the room, and that is Kamala Harris."
SHAWN REILLY (Mayor of Waukesha, Wisconsin, a Republican city in Wisconsin's largest Republican county)
"It's difficult. The easy thing to do is just not say anything and cast my vote the way I want, but I think we're at a crossroads now. I feel in my heart that this is something that I need to come out and say: I am going to be voting for Vice President Harris to become our next president. It is a vote against Trump. I am terrified of Donald Trump becoming our next president for all the reasons I have indicated: he's already been impeached twice. He's been convicted of felonies and this is not what the United States needs.”
DAVID HOLT (Republican Mayor of Oklahoma City, OK)
Holt wrote a piece explaining that he is voting for Kamala Harris because of her character, competence, and commitment.
There are many more Republican officials also speaking out; to read their words, flip through this gallery by clicking on the first photo.
ASSORTED OTHERS
LARRY ELLIS (retired General) and MICHAEL SMITH (retired Rear Admiral)
"[Donald Trump is] a danger to our national security and democracy."
WILLIAM MCRAVEN (retired U.S. Navy Admiral)
“Mr. Trump has no self-control. He lashes out at immigrants, religious groups and military heroes. He lies with reckless abandon. In August, in what was outlandish even by Mr. Trump’s standards, he reposted on Truth Social a picture of Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton above a crude sexual joke. Just last week he was regaling a crowd about Arnold Palmer’s anatomy. These are things a disturbed 15-year-old boy would do, not the commander in chief, not the man who holds the nuclear codes, not the leader of the free world.
You may not like her policies, her followers or her vision for America, but Ms. Harris won’t threaten the press, demean immigrants, mock those who have died for the country, break with our allies, or undermine the Constitution. And in four years, if we are past the era of Trump, the Republican Party can rise again...”
STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (retired Army general)
In an OpEd entitled “Why Kamala Harris Has Won Me Over,” McChrystal wrote:
“Vice President Kamala Harris has the strength, the temperament, and the values to serve as commander in chief. I have no doubt that she is working in our national interest, not her own.”
BIPARTISAN GROUP OF 741 (!!) NATIONAL SECURITY LEADERS
“We are former public servants who swore an oath to the Constitution. Many of us risked our lives for it. We are retired generals, admirals, senior noncommissioned officers, ambassadors, and senior civilian national security leaders. We are Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. We are loyal to the ideals of our nation—like freedom, democracy, and the rule of law—not to any one individual or party. We do not agree on everything, but we all adhere to two fundamental principles. First, we believe America’s national security requires a serious and capable Commander-in-Chief. Second, we believe American democracy is invaluable. Each generation has a responsibility to defend it. That is why we proudly endorse Kamala Harris to be the next President of the United States.” (Read their full statement here.)
J. Michael Luttig (Retired judge, appointed by President George H.W. Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Previously: Counselor to the attorney general of the United States and Assistant counsel to President Ronald Reagan. Law clerk to then-Judge Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.)
“In the presidential election of 2024, there is only one political party and one candidate for the presidency that can claim the mantle of defender and protector of America’s democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law. As a result, I will unhesitatingly vote for Kamala Harris. I assume that her public policy views are vastly different from my own, but I am indifferent in this election, as I believe all Americans should be.”
CHRISTIANITY TODAY Magazine
CT wrote that Donald Trump is “a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused. President Trump abused his authority for personal gain and betrayed his constitutional oath. This damages the institution of the presidency, damages the reputation of our country, and damages both the spirit and the future of our people. None of the president’s positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character. To use an old cliché, it’s time to call a spade a spade, to say that no matter how many hands we win in this political poker game, we are playing with a stacked deck of gross immorality and ethical incompetence.”
JOHN D. MILLER (Former marketer for NBC who led the team that marketed Trump’s TV show "The Apprentice.” Miller describes himself as a "born-and-bred Republican.”)
“I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster. The image of Trump that we promoted was highly exaggerated. In its own way, it was ‘fake news’ that we spread over America like a heavy snowstorm. I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House.
While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that. And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public. But I say now to my fellow Americans, without any promotional exaggeration: If you believe that Trump will be better for you or better for the country, that is an illusion, much like ‘The Apprentice’ was.” (Read his whole statement here.)
SUSAN FORD BALES (daughter of Republican President Gerald R. Ford)
“[Kamala Harris] recognizes the goodness and the greatness in our country. I know she will defend the rule of law and our Constitution. And I know she will work to bring all Americans together to move us beyond partisanship. That is what America deserves from our President, and that is why I am proud to endorse Vice President Harris for President of the United States.”
AN INVITATION
I’ll close with the words of Vice President Harris herself. She recently joined more than 100 Republican leaders at a “Country Over Party” campaign event in Pennsylvania to deliver this invitation to Republicans and Independents:
“[N]o matter your party, no matter who you voted for last time: There is a place for you in this campaign. The coalition we have built has room for everyone who is ready to turn the page on the chaos and instability of Donald Trump.
“I pledge to you to be a President for all Americans. And I take that pledge seriously… “[O]ur campaign is not a fight against something. It is a fight for something. It is a fight for the fundamental principles upon which we were founded, It is a fight for a new generation of leadership that is optimistic about what we can achieve together—Republicans, Democrats, and independents who want to move past the politics of division and blame and get things done on behalf of the American people.
“Imperfect though we may be, America is still that ‘shining city upon a hill’ that inspires people around the world. And I do believe it is one of the highest forms of patriotism to fight for the ideals of our country.
“So…let us together stand up for the rule of law, for our democratic ideals, and for the Constitution of the United States. [W]e have the power to chart a new way forward, one that is worthy of this magnificent country that we are all blessed to call home.”
RELATED RESOURCES
Why We Did It by Tim Miller
It Was All a Lie by Stuart Stevens
I created the above word cloud image on freewordcloudgenerator.com
My gawd this was a labor of love for the USA. 🇺🇸 I voted. Thanks for this.
Thanks for the hours of work it took to put this together. It’s very powerful. It’s inspired me to try and find a similar article that appeals to conservatives showing things they can agree with VP Harris about. That would be a nice follow up to send to friends after reading this collection. If I find it, I’ll post it here.