I voted for Trump in 2016. His disrespect for veterans will make me vote for a Democrat.

With the passing of Memorial Day, the 80th anniversary of D-Day, and July Fourth, I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on the state of the country. I’m a lifelong conservative, a combat veteran, a local Republican committee chairman in Upper Merion, and the former vice-mayor of the city of New Port Richey, Fla. I served in the military, and I’m proud to have defended our country in battle.

As a former Trump voter, I can never forget that he never cared for me or my brothers and sisters in the armed forces.

When Donald Trump was invited to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris, where thousands of Americans killed in combat are buried, he refused and called the heroes buried there “suckers” and “losers.” I don’t agree with Joe Biden on a lot, but he had enough honor to visit the cemetery and pay his respects.

Of all Trump’s disrespect of the military, though, nothing was worse than his treatment of John McCain, who was — by any objective definition — an American hero. He devoted his life to our country as a Navy pilot and a true leader. He spent six years being tortured in captivity. As a senator, he understood what it meant to be a conservative.

But Trump didn’t care about all of that. He had a running feud with McCain, and it came to a boiling point when Trump was asked about McCain at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, in 2015, where he said McCain was “not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”

This from the guy who dodged the draft and claimed his “personal Vietnam” was trying to avoid catching a venereal disease.

Trump spits in the face of the sacrifice we veterans made, and I cannot believe I brought myself to vote for him in 2016.

At the time, I thought a change in the political status quo made sense. I figured Trump was a political amateur, so he would change once he took office, and he was saying extreme things during the 2016 campaign just for shock value. Once he took office, I realized I was wrong.

I served under James Mattis, who was Trump’s secretary of defense from 2017 to 2018. I believe Mattis when he said in 2020 that Trump is a threat to democracy.

I can get over Trump’s name-calling — Sleepy Joe, Ron DeSanctimonius, Governor Newscum. It’s all sticks and stones. But his disparagement of my fellow veterans reveals something so deeply sinister about Trump: a complete lack of understanding of duty and sacrifice. And that’s something I can’t get over.

I’m not offended by him. I pity him. And I don’t trust him to be president again.

I also can’t get over the impact of Trump’s words on the American psyche. Since he’s been making his vile speeches, hatred has become normalized. It’s now OK to publicly name-call, bully, and disparage people you don’t like. We’ve lost our civility.

And Trump’s words hold weight. His supporters take everything he says to heart. He told them the election was stolen, both before and after the 2020 election. He told them to come to the U.S. Capitol to protest on Jan. 6, 2021. He told them it would be “wild.” And he told them to march to the Capitol while Congress certified the election. His supporters did everything he said, culminating in one of the darkest days in our country’s history.

We’ve lost our civility.

And for 187 minutes, our then-commander in chief did nothing to stop the riot unfolding at our nation’s Capitol. He’ll tell you he tweeted for them to go home. This is his revisionist history. He wants people like me to forget that day. He wants me to forget that his supporters, enthralled by his lies, attacked police officers, chanted “Hang Mike Pence,” and defaced the center of government our founders built and my fellow soldiers died for.

But I remember that day all too well. It is seared into my brain, into my soul, and I will never forget that Trump abandoned his post as leader of the free world because he lost an election. He wanted America to crumble that day.

But as always, we held strong.

Trump’s supporters are happier than ever that he’s running again, but everyday Republicans like me are tired. He will never win me back. And I hope my fellow Republicans, and especially those who served in the military, will reject him this November. Trump does not deserve to lead the strongest, noblest military in the world, and we have to let him know it.

» READ MORE: To serve his country, Donald Trump should leave the race | Editorial

I am pledging to do everything I can to prevent a second Trump term. I made a video for Republican Voters Against Trump, a testimonial where I gave my reasons why I won’t support Trump again.

So I humbly ask my fellow veterans, conservatives, and anyone who will listen: Join me. Take a stand against Trump. Submit a video to Republican Voters Against Trump. Put your face on billboards. Write to your local paper.

As a veteran, I took an oath to serve my country. This year, that service includes proudly voting for a Democrat in November.

Matthew Paul McCaffery, from Conshohocken, is a veteran and participant in Republican Voters Against Trump, a nationwide campaign of former Donald Trump voters who are not supporting him in 2024.