More than 200 former Bush, McCain and Romney staffers endorse Harris

[legiteum]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/200-former-bush-mccain-romney-staffers-endorse-harris-rcna168363

It's sometimes hard to make those who do not live in the USA understand our context here. If you don't get US news on a constant basis, you might think that Trump is just another American politician with a different viewpoint on certain things than the other candidate.

Here are 200 Republicans--Trump's own party--who are warning their fellow Americans of the danger of a Trump presidency. These are people who worked to get Republicans elected all of their lives, and have abruptly ended their own careers by making this statement.

Trump is a convicted criminal who has promised to seek retribution against anybody who does not support him. He is manifestly corrupt, in a way that no US president ever has been, and he is calling for radical changes to the US economy including the initiation of a trade war that will send the US into a recession. He is promising to make abortion illegal across the USA, and allow states to institute controls at their borders in order to keep women from escaping to have an abortion.

And he is promising to hand over Europe to Putin by pulling out of NATO, so if you live in Europe, you better be prepared to pay a lot higher taxes for the war coming to your country, and if you are under 35, you better be prepared to go fight on the eastern front.

Maybe you don't care about what happens to us Americans if Trump is elected, but you should at least care about yourself and your own country. The US economy going down the tubes and the US stopping imports will ripple across to every country on the globe.

Oh yeah, and you know what happens to Bitcoin when the US economy is disrupted? People lose their jobs, or are afraid of that happening--and when that happens, they sell their Bitcoin in order to pay the bills. You can't HODL when your rent is due and you don't have the money.

I know a lot of foreigners have a "burn baby burn" view of the US and want us to elect Trump because they think it will end our country, but you are seriously hurting yourself by wanting this too.

[Fiatless]

The US is indeed the biggest economy in the world and it has a lot of influence. But the threat that if the US goes down, the world will suffer is going out of hand. The United is not the first world power. Other leading economies have suffered a decline, and the world didn't go extinct. The fall of the US will bring some level of hardship to the world, but with time, the global economy will still stabilize. I don't care much about the US Presidential election because it will come and go. No matter who wins, Bitcoin and the world will survive.

The 200 Republicans who decided to support Kamala Harris are politicians. And politicians will always support candidates who give them a better deal. Don't trust them because the support is for personal interest.

[legiteum]

The 200 Republicans who decided to support Kamala Harris are politicians. And politicians will always support candidates who give them a better deal. Don't trust them because the support is for personal interest.

Quite the contrary, every person on that list will never work in politics ever again. That's the personal sacrifice they made to put their name to that statement.

Trump's former Secretary of State called Trump (while he worked for Trump), a "fucking moron".

Trump's former personal lawyer of 30 years testified against him and warns the US of the dangers of a Trump presidency.

Trump's former Chief of Staff won't support Trump.

Trump's former Vice President won't support Trump.

No living US Republican president or vice-president will support Trump.

But sure, they are "politicians".

[Fiatless]

The 200 Republicans who decided to support Kamala Harris are politicians. And politicians will always support candidates who give them a better deal. Don't trust them because the support is for personal interest.

Quite the contrary, every person on that list will never work in politics ever again. That's the personal sacrifice they made to put their name to that statement.

Yeah, they might not want to secure political positions, but they have children, relatives and friends who wants such political appointments. They also have interest in so many companies and projects that will be favoured if Harris wins. They are seeking political connections to enrich their families and cronies. What you call personal sacrifice is for personal gains.

[legiteum]

The 200 Republicans who decided to support Kamala Harris are politicians. And politicians will always support candidates who give them a better deal. Don't trust them because the support is for personal interest.

Quite the contrary, every person on that list will never work in politics ever again. That's the personal sacrifice they made to put their name to that statement.

Yeah, they might not want to secure political positions, but they have children, relatives and friends who wants such political appointments. They also have interest in so many companies and projects that will be favoured if Harris wins. They are seeking political connections to enrich their families and cronies. What you call personal sacrifice is for personal gains.

Wow, you're really reaching here, aren't you? Their children? Are you serious?

[Fiatless]

Wow, you're really reaching here, aren't you? Their children? Are you serious?

I know you are aware of the allegations that Hunter Biden used his father's connections to get favor from MBNA America, BHR, and Burisma Holding.

[Hispo]

As a foreigner who follows politics from the United States, it does not takes much to realize the USA have influence over all the countries on the planet, because of the size of their economy and the military headquarters abroad, whether we like it or not.
I don't want the USA to burn or to have to go through a recession to realize they have committed a mistake by choosing the wrong person for the most important job within Federal Government, but I cannot ignore the evil the USA has historically done to other nations and also to their own people, in that sense, I would just wish for the Republican and Democrat party to go back to what they used to be in the 2000s and debate on policy, instead of culture wars, which does not solve problems.

By the way, the signal would be more obvious for the remaining of the classical Republican voters out there if Bush himself decided to step up and endorsed Kamala Harris himself, in the same way those former staffers are doing.

[legiteum]

Wow, you're really reaching here, aren't you? Their children? Are you serious?

I know you are aware of the allegations that Hunter Biden used his father's connections to get favor from MBNA America, BHR, and Burisma Holding.

ROFL. ""Hunter Biden""? LOL

Are you aware Biden isn't running for president anymore?

My god, you Republicans seriously only have one shtick you just keep repeating regardless of what is going on in the world.

 

By the way, the signal would be more obvious for the remaining of the classical Republican voters out there if Bush himself decided to step up and endorsed Kamala Harris himself, in the same way those former staffers are doing.

Bush is very pointedly not endorsing Trump and did not show up at the Republican convention, which is unheard of for a former president of a party.

I'm one of those "classical Republicans", and I think most of us are voting for Harris...

[BADecker]

@OP

Where do you think that those people get their money? It isn't from working a job. Rather, it's from investing in the destruction of nations around the world, and people in those nations.

All that Trump would do is take their murdering money-mongering away from them, and give it back to average Americans the way it should be. How will Trump do this? Tariffs to stop the influx of foreign products into America, and deregulation so that Americans can make the products themselves.

Americans get rich off their own working. Places like Frisco and LA are cleaned up by Americans going back to work.

[Fiatless]

ROFL. ""Hunter Biden""? LOL

Are you aware Biden isn't running for president anymore?

My god, you Republicans seriously only have one shtick you just keep repeating regardless of what is going on in the world.

 

I don't even live in the US nor do I have any affiliation with or sympathy for any political party there. I don't like Donald Trump and will not vote for him because he hates minorities and destabilized the Middle East. His anti-immigration policies will increase human suffering. I don't also like Democrats because I do not agree with some of their policies. But if I were an American I would vote for a candidate that would stop the genocide in Palestine.        

[kotmolodec]

Go ahead, Trump, crush these leftists and LGBT trash!

[Mugtaiya]

Wow, you're really reaching here, aren't you? Their children? Are you serious?

I know you are aware of the allegations that Hunter Biden used his father's connections to get favor from MBNA America, BHR, and Burisma Holding.

ROFL. ""Hunter Biden""? LOL

Are you aware Biden isn't running for president anymore?

They all bathe in the exact same bath water.
They tossed the water out along with Hunter and his laptop.

[legiteum]

They all bathe in the exact same bath water.
They tossed the water out along with Hunter and his laptop.

They who? The entire human race? All Democrats? Any person who is not Trump?

[paxmao]

There are many Republicans that are not happy about Trump and have never been. There is a mixture of fear of taking him on with the realisation that it may not be politically possible to take on Trump without a massive risk to their careers. So, the solution they are seeking for is actually a Democrat win that will put Trump in the history books.

[legiteum]

There are many Republicans that are not happy about Trump and have never been. There is a mixture of fear of taking him on with the realisation that it may not be politically possible to take on Trump without a massive risk to their careers. So, the solution they are seeking for is actually a Democrat win that will put Trump in the history books.

That's certainly true for many Republicans who still wish to have a career in politics, and there are obviously many like that. Indeed, if you were to somehow organize a secret poll (and boy oh boy would it need to be secret ), I suspect at least half of elected Republicans secretly hope Trump will lose and leave their party. He has been a disaster for the conservative cause and has desecrated every single thing the party has ever stood for.

But sadly only a small percentage of Republicans have been ready to end their political careers by failing to support Trump.

And by the way, let's get one thing out of the way: turning against Trump doesn't make you a "Democrat", because absolutely none of these people would ever be accepted in the Democratic party or its broader community. They have fought Democrats all of their lives, and they don't agree with Democrats about almost anything.

These people know that their careers either directly in, or related to politics is over.

[Hispo]

Bush is very pointedly not endorsing Trump and did not show up at the Republican convention, which is unheard of for a former president of a party.

I'm one of those "classical Republicans", and I think most of us are voting for Harris...

Perhaps Bush is aware that his endorsement or the lack of it would not make much of a difference in this unprecedented presidential race, so he is keeping his thoughts to himself and not being explicit about whether he would like to see Trump again in the white house or not.
Also, I am very careful when comes to statements like those which alledge most "classical republicans" are likely to vote for Harris instead of Trump, in my opinion, people like you who still consider to be from the GOP are provably more inclined just to stay home at election day and not give their vote to anyone.

Also I am personally curious on what your definition of a classical Republican is, compared to what it has happened to the party nowadays. I have my own definition, you probably have yours, which may be completely different.

What could be the straw which broke the camel's back, when comes to making a classical Republican to vote for the opposing party rather staying home anyways? IIs it because the party of "law and order" is not supposed to have a convicted felon as leader?

[legiteum]

Perhaps Bush is aware that his endorsement or the lack of it would not make much of a difference in this unprecedented presidential race, so he is keeping his thoughts to himself and not being explicit about whether he would like to see Trump again in the white house or not.

His silence speaks volumes, and I suspect it doesn't matter to his career as to whether he is silent or not: he knows he will never work in politics again when he didn't show up to the RNC and endorse Trump.

Also, I am very careful when comes to statements like those which alledge most "classical republicans" are likely to vote for Harris instead of Trump, in my opinion, people like you who still consider to be from the GOP are provably more inclined just to stay home at election day and not give their vote to anyone.

I think there's a range of reactions. Many will stay home and not vote, some will vote for Democrats this election, some will just vote against Trump and vote for other Republicans, and so on.

Also I am personally curious on what your definition of a classical Republican is, compared to what it has happened to the party nowadays. I have my own definition, you probably have yours, which may be completely different.

What could be the straw which broke the camel's back, when comes to making a classical Republican to vote for the opposing party rather staying home anyways? IIs it because the party of "law and order" is not supposed to have a convicted felon as leader?

Republicans used to stand for limited government (but they always expanded government just as much as Democrats did)--but Trump wanted a bigger stimulus than Biden did in the last election, and Trump promises to massively expand the US government now with the police force he will need to ban abortions.

Republicans used to stand for law and order--and now they've nominated a felon to lead their party, and predictably, they now support and promote criminality.

Republicans used to stand for a strong national defense. Now Trump is leading the party to surrender to Putin and Xi and promotes dictators all over the world who wish to annihilate the USA. Trump called the buried dead at Arlington, "suckers and losers" because they didn't get their rich daddy to get them out of armed service like he did.

Republicans used to stand for traditional American values like personal honesty and integrity. Now the GOP leader boffed two porn stars while his (nude model) wife was home with his baby son.

Trump is, in short, the desecration of everything single thing Republicans used to stand for.

[Hispo]

...

Trump is, in short, the desecration of everything single thing Republicans used to stand for.

In the majority of those examples, we could point out your are right and Trump would have never had a chance to be the leader of the party back when the Republican party was more serious on their own principles.However, I find it is interesting how he still has managed to make a high percentage of people believe the core of republican values are still intact or there is something left of the classical party, which he is alledgedly representing.
It seems to me, politics from both sides of the political spectrum, has developed in choosing one candidate in order to prevent the opposite one to make it through their path and reach power, that is at least the perception I have got when Trump faced Hillary Clinton and I am getting a similar feeling this year with Trump facing Kamala.

If people were more willing to admit they could be wrong about their ideas and stayed away from the extremes, it would be possible for both of the major parties of the country to go back in time on what they used to be. (I cannot tell any major differences between nowadays democrat party and them back in the 2000s, though, perhaps they were less involved in so called "culture wars").

[legiteum]

In the majority of those examples, we could point out your are right and Trump would have never had a chance to be the leader of the party back when the Republican party was more serious on their own principles.However, I find it is interesting how he still has managed to make a high percentage of people believe the core of republican values are still intact or there is something left of the classical party, which he is alledgedly representing.

I think a few things are going on:

1. Trump brought in millions of former Democrat voters to his side, as he lost millions of previous Republican voters.

2. I think it's pretty much proven at this point that... not a lot of Republican voters really had those values, and instead cared about other things e.g. racism or bigotry and so on.

3. Sheer brand memory: lots of people consider the Republican party the "conservative party" and lots of people still call it that--even though it's not. (Or, people just assume "Republican" and "conservative" are the same thing). And conservatives used to stand for a lot of good things, and Republicans still benefit from that brand even though they are nothing like that any longer.

It seems to me, politics from both sides of the political spectrum, has developed in choosing one candidate in order to prevent the opposite one to make it through their path and reach power, that is at least the perception I have got when Trump faced Hillary Clinton and I am getting a similar feeling this year with Trump facing Kamala.

Most of the Republican campaign is complaining about how terrible the Democrats are, and how terrible America is. The Democrats, on the other hand, clearly have a much more positive message, and have lots of policies they want to do (even if they aren't the policies you personally want, you have to admit they have a big plate of ideas). The only policies Republicans have are ones they don't want to talk about since they are super-unpopular, such as banning abortion, or deporting children who have never been to the country they are sending them, or lowering taxes on the super-rich. Hence Republicans must stick to "culture wars" and personalities.

Note that Republicans stuck with their felon even though they hated him, and Democrats tossed out their leader in a heartbeat. The Democrats are about policy, and the Republicans are about personality.

If people were more willing to admit they could be wrong about their ideas and stayed away from the extremes, it would be possible for both of the major parties of the country to go back in time on what they used to be. (I cannot tell any major differences between nowadays democrat party and them back in the 2000s, though, perhaps they were less involved in so called "culture wars").

I can't either. On the other hand, the Republicans are a completely different political party now. Republicans are promising radical change, and Democrats are promising more of the same that we've had (that's why Democrats are actually more "conservative" now than the Republicans ).

[Hispo]

...

I think a few things are going on:

1. Trump brought in millions of former Democrat voters to his side, as he lost millions of previous Republican voters.

2. I think it's pretty much proven at this point that... not a lot of Republican voters really had those values, and instead cared about other things e.g. racism or bigotry and so on.

3. Sheer brand memory: lots of people consider the Republican party the "conservative party" and lots of people still call it that--even though it's not. (Or, people just assume "Republican" and "conservative" are the same thing). And conservatives used to stand for a lot of good things, and Republicans still benefit from that brand even though they are nothing like that any longer.

I don't get why Trump could have brought in many former democrat voters, though. You would need to further explain that to me, since I don't understand it.

In the topic of racism and bigotry. Is it truly necessary for people who are those things to be Republican? We both could associate those adjectives as something negative to be associated with, specially if we talk about a major political party of a country like the USA, is not possible for a racist or a bigot to vote democrat?
Also, In my mind, being conservative and being Republican are not necessarily the same, there can be people who consider themselves to be conservative and yet they vote third party or they do not vote at all. The Republican party led by Donald, mostly has based their political speech on how bad things alledgedly are under the presidency of Biden, they offer to overhaul things, but that would not call that to be progressive and nobody in the party would dare to say what Trump is offering is actually doing backwards in time/development.

One example of going backwards, is how he talks about tarifs... as if was some kind of magical economical policy would could make foes of the country (like China) to bend down and start to lose money to the United States, even when economists of all political branches have already agreed tarifs would not benefits the people in the slightest... it seems the opinion of the experts does not matter anymore.