A group of 30 former GOP congressmen has publicly condemned Donald Trump, according to NBC News. Historically, it’s the largest group of former career politicians to come out and publicly rebuke a candidate for president.
“Sadly, our party’s nominee this year is a man who makes a mockery of the principles and values we have cherished and which we sought to represent in Congress,” the group’s letter states.
Although some had voiced displeasure with Trump before, most of the letter’s signatories are speaking out for the first time.
“Given the enormous power of the office, every candidate for president must be judged rigorously in assessing whether he or she has the competence, intelligence, knowledge, understanding, empathy, judgment, and temperament necessary to keep America on a safe and steady course,” they wrote. “Donald Trump fails on each of those measures, and he has proven himself manifestly unqualified to be president.”
The group expressed disgust at Trump and his surrogates’ rhetoric surrounding minority groups and immigrants, which sometimes seems like an incitement to violence.
“It is in that spirit that, as Donald Trump’s unfitness for public office has become ever more apparent, we urge our fellow Republicans not to vote for this man whose disgraceful candidacy is indefensible,” they said. “This is no longer about our party; it’s now about America. We may differ on how we will cast our ballots in November but none of us will vote for Donald Trump.”
Here’s a list of signatories:
Steve Bartlett (R-TX)
Bob Bauman (R-MD)
Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY)
Jack Buechner (R-MO)
Tom Campbell (R-CA)
Bill Clinger (R-PA)
Tom Coleman (R-MO)
Geoff Davis (R-KY)
Mickey Edwards (R-OK)
Harris Fawell (R-IL)
Ed Foreman (R-TX) (R-NM)
Amo Houghton, Jr. (R-NY)
Gordon Humphrey (Senator, R-NH)
Bob Inglis (R-SC)
Jim Kolbe (R-AZ)
Steve Kuykendall (R-CA)
Jim Leach (R-IA)
Pete McCloskey (R-CA)
Connie Morella (R-MD)
Mike Parker (R-MS)
Tom Petri (R-WI)
John Porter (R-IL)
Claudine Schneider (R-RI)
John “Joe” Schwarz (R-MI)
Chris Shays (R-CT)
Peter Smith (R-VT)
Edward Weber (R-OH)
Vin Weber (R-MN)
William Whitehurst (R-VA)
Dick Zimmer (R-NJ)
Follow @deadstatetweets [NBC News/POLITICO] Featured image: Gage Skidmore (Flickr)
Leave a Reply