The people who know Trump best have spoken: He is unfit to lead | Editorial

Many conservative Republicans who worked with the former president have strong words for why he shouldn’t return to the White House.

Despite two impeachments, four criminal indictments, a civil fraud judgment, a sexual abuse finding, a mismanaged pandemic, an attempted coup, a deadly insurrection, 30,573 lies, unending chaos, and incompetence, many voters continue to stand by Donald Trump.

But some Republican leaders who know Trump best no longer support him. The Inquirer Editorial Board has deemed a second Trump presidency a clear and present danger, but some dyed-in-the-wool Republicans who worked with Trump make an even stronger case.

Former Vice President Mike Pence stood beside Trump until his final days in office, when he refused to help overturn the election. Some Trump supporters wanted to hang Pence, and Trump sided with the mob. The ever-loyal Pence now says he cannot “in good conscience” endorse Trump for president in 2024.

Bill Barr is a lifelong Republican who served as attorney general under Trump and soft-pedaled the probe into Russia’s 2020 election interference. He now calls Trump “a consummate narcissist” and refused to endorse him. Barr added, “I don’t think he’s going to move the country forward.”

Other Trump cabinet officials have also sounded the alarm.

John Kelly, a retired four-star general who served in Vietnam, was Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff. After the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, Kelly said he would have voted to remove Trump from the White House.

Kelly remains dumbfounded by the continued support for Trump. “What’s going on in the country that a single person thinks this guy would still be a good president?” he wondered.

James Mattis, another retired four-star general, was Trump’s first defense secretary. He issued a lengthy statement after Trump threatened to use the military to quell protests following the 2020 murder of George Floyd.

“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us,” he wrote.

Mattis later accused Trump of inciting the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He said Trump used the government to “destroy trust in our election and to poison our respect for fellow citizens.”

Mark Esper, another former defense secretary under Trump, said the former president is “unfit for office.” Esper explained why he would not vote for Trump: “Any elected official needs to meet some basic criteria: They need to be able to put country over self. They need to have a certain level of integrity and principle. They need to be able to reach across the aisle and bring people together and unite the country. Donald Trump doesn’t meet those marks.”

A number of other Trump administration officials refuse to support him in November, including former national security adviser John Bolton, deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews, and the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley.

Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former assistant to Trump and White House director of strategic communications, fears what would happen if Trump were elected in November. “A second Trump term could mean the end of American democracy as we know it,” she said. “And I don’t say that lightly.”

Ty Cobb, the former White House lawyer who defended Trump during the Russian election interference probe, urged voting against Trump. “He has never cared about America, its citizens, its future or anything but himself,” Cobb wrote.

Cobb called Trump “the gravest threat to democracy that we’ve ever seen.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski is a lifelong Republican whose father served as governor and senator in Alaska before her. Murkowski said she “absolutely” would not vote for Trump in November. She lamented how Trump has perverted the GOP: “I just regret that our party is seemingly becoming a party of Donald Trump.”

Liz Cheney, a former top-ranking Republican congresswoman, was voted out of office after she voted to impeach Trump for his role in inciting the insurrection. She has called Trump a “liar” and a “con man” and vowed to do everything she can to ensure he is not elected.

Cheney, a conservative and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, said reelecting President Joe Biden — as opposed to voting for a third party or a write-in candidate — is the only way to save the country from a potential dictatorship.

Most elected Republican officials lack Cheney’s courage. Even worse, they know Trump is a danger, but still support him.

House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote in 2015 that Trump is “unfit” and “dangerous.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 a “dereliction of duty.”

Sen. Ted Cruz called Trump a “bully,” a “sniveling coward,” a “pathological liar,” and “utterly amoral.” That was before the impeachments, indictments, and insurrection. In January, Texas’ junior senator endorsed the former president.

Fortunately, some GOP leaders refuse to enable Trump or the Republicans who support him.

Jennifer Horn, the former chair of the New Hampshire GOP and cofounder of the Lincoln Project, said she would not vote for Trump or any Republican who refuses to denounce him. “He is a grotesque, narcissistic, emotionally ill criminal who has already made it clear he is willing to toss aside the Constitution and incite an insurrection,” Horn said.

Horn and some Republican officials who know Trump best have put the country ahead of their party. Will enough voters heed their warning?