Hundreds of top Republican leaders have called on Americans to reject the disgraced former president who is their party’s standardbearer, but some still pretend that there is more than a binary choice tomorrow.
Former Republican President George W. Bush will not support GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump but he is not publicly stating that he will vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.
This is the third consecutive election cycle in which Bush refused to support Trump.
US Senator Susan Collins also didn’t vote for Trump for president in 2016 or 2020, and she will not be voting for him the third time he tops the ballot. Senator Mitt Romney has criticized Trump, saying he is unfit for office, but the 2012 GOP nominee also does not plan to support Harris.
Bush’s daughter, Barbara has taken to the campaign trail to support Harris in the swing state of Pennsylvania.
“It was inspiring to join friends and meet voters with the Harris-Walz campaign in Pennsylvania this weekend,” said Barbara Bush. “I’m hopeful they’ll move our country forward and protect women’s rights.”
While her father has not weighed in on the race, Bush joins a growing list of daughters of former Republican politicians announcing their support for Harris, including former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, Susan Ford Bales, daughter of former Republican President Gerald Ford, and Caroline Giuliani.
Ann Womble is one former Republican Party official from Lancaster County, Pa., who changed her registration to independent when Trump was nominated in 2016. She’s now co-chair of Republicans for Harris in Pennsylvania.
Olivia Troye, an ex-national security adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, also endorsed Harris.
Chuck Hagel, a Republican senator from Nebraska who served as Defense secretary, and Ray LaHood, a GOP congressman from Illinois who became Transportation secretary, both support Harris over Trump.
Former Reps. Christopher Shays, Adam Kinzinger, Joe Walsh and Susan Molinari each put their support behind Harris.
The 43rd president declined an invitation to join his former vice president, Dick Cheney, who said that he would vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee. Bush is the only living former president, except for Trump, who is not publicly supporting Harris.
Cheney’s daughter, former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney, has also called on conservatives to vote for the Democratic nominee. Bush’s former attorney general and counsel to the president, Alberto R. Gonzales, also endorsed Harris.
Other high-profile Republicans backing Kamala Harris instead of Trump are former Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, plus two of Trump’s White House communications directors Stephanie Grisham and Anthony Scaramucci.
Other endorsements came from former GOP Govs. Bill Weld, Christine Todd Whitman, and Jim Edgar plus former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan endorsed Harris.
Hollywood star Harrison Ford issued a stern warning as he revealed his presidential endorsement. The 82-year-old actor posted a video revealing he had chosen to back Harris in the election.
“I’ve been voting for 64 years, I’ve never really wanted to talk about it very much but when dozens of former members of the Trump administration are sounding alarms, saying ‘For God’s sake don’t do this again’ it is telling us something important,” the Star Wars and Indiana Jones actor said. “The truth is this, Kamala Harris will protect your right to disagree with her about policies or ideas.”
“I’m Harrison Ford. I’ve got one vote, same as anyone else, and I’m going to use it to move forward. I’m going to vote for Kamala Harris,” Ford declared, taking direct aim at Trump’s leadership style. “The other guy, he demands unquestioning loyalty, says he wants revenge.”
Rock singer Mick Jagger also endorsed Harris just 24 hours before Election Day, but since he is a British subject and not an American citizen, he noted that his children will be voting for the Democratic contender.
The 81-year old The Rolling Stones legend announced his endorsement in an Instagram post with pictures of six of his eight children that reminded people to vote and revealed his kids were backing Harris.
The family of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. has become increasingly involved in the 2024 presidential race, endorsing the Vice President and repeatedly denouncing Trump, as the GOP nominee continually invoked the civil rights legend’s name.
Trump falsely claimed that his 2020 inauguration speech drew the same number of people to the National Mall as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963, when King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
The Republican also compared North Carolina’s GOP gubernatorial candidate to King, although Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson described himself as a “black Nazi” on an online message board, amid a deluge of scandals throughout his campaign.
Trump is downplaying a controversy regarding racist rhetoric at his Madison Square Garden rally.
No Republican presidential candidate has won the popular vote since 2004, but Trump is faring significantly better in the polls than he did at the same point in 2020 and 2016.
This has created a real danger that Harris supporters, sensing impending defeat, could fail to turn out.
Should Harris lose the election, she could potentially drag many Democrats down with her, opening the door for Trump Republicans to cement a supermajority on teh US Supreme Court and enact a radical legislative agenda, outlawing abortion nationally, deploying military forces against critics, deporting millions of people, and vanquishing worker rights.