Michael Steele becomes the sixth former chair of the Republican National Committee to say he will not vote for the GOP nominee.
.. He joins Marc Racicot (chair 2002-2003), who told Bloomberg in August, “I cannot and will not support Donald Trump for president.” Mel Martinez (2007) memorably told The Wall Street Journal, “If there is any, any, any other choice, a living, breathing person with a pulse, I would be there.” Bill Brock (1977-1981) has said he won’t back Trump, and so has Ken Mehlman (2005-2007). Rich Bond (1992-1993) wrote in an email in May that he would not vote for either Trump or Clinton, and would write in Homer Simpson if need be.
.. Despite a mass exodus since a video emerged of Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women, some prominent Republicans have still kept backing Trump. That notably includes Speaker Paul Ryan, who is officially a Trump endorser, even though he has said he will not defend or campaign for the nominee, and even though Trump has taken to attacking him during stump speeches and interviews; and also Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.Barbara Bush: NAY.. Unlike her husband and elder son, the former first lady has publicly disavowed Trump. “I mean, unbelievable. I don’t know how women can vote for someone who said what he said about Megyn Kelly, it’s terribleMitt Romney: NAY.. “I wanted my grandkids to see that I simply couldn’t ignore what Mr. Trump was saying and doing, which revealed a character and temperament unfit for the leader of the free world.” Romney continued: “I know that some people are offended that someone who lost and is the former nominee continues to speak, but that’s how I can sleep at night.”Bob Dole: YEA.. The former Senate majority leader and 1996 GOP presidential nomineeendorsed Trump on May 6. He will also be the only living GOP nominee to attend the RNC. (May 6, 2016.)John Boehner: YEA
The former speaker, who says he and Trump are “texting buddies,” told an audience at Stanford University that he’d back Trump in the general election.Trent Lott: YEADick Cheney: YEA
The former vice president blasted Trump during the primary over his stance on 9/11, and said he “sounds like a liberal Democrat,” but he now says he will back the nominee.Newt Gingrich: YEAJeb Bush: NAYReince Priebus: YEARick Perry: YEA
The former Texas governor and presidential candidate—who was one of the first to blast Trump—told CNN that he backs Trump.Mike Huckabee: YEA
The former Arkansas governor, who ran for president this year, says Republicans should get in line. “When we nominated people over the past several election cycles, some of us had heartburn, but we stepped up and supported the nominee,” he said. “You’re either on the team, or you’re not on the team.” (May 5, 2016)Bobby Jindal: YEA
The former Louisiana governor, who during his own presidential campaign called Trump a “narcissist” and an “egomaniacal madman,” wrote in a Wall Street Journal column that he’s voting for Trump, “warts and all.”Eric Cantor: YEA
Trump’s Hill surrogates: Stop attacking Ryan
Trump blasted Ryan during a Florida rally Wednesday — just the latest in a series of attacks aimed at the House speaker in recent days — accusing the Wisconsin Republican and other GOP leaders of turning their backs on him because “there’s a whole sinister deal going on.”
But just hours before on a conference call among several dozen Trump Hill surrogates and Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, several lawmakers argued that criticizing Ryan isn’t productive, according to a source on the call who is close to the campaign.
.. the focus needs to be on why Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are different; not fighting between Donald Trump and Paul Ryan,’” the source recalled. “The focus of our efforts need to be on the enemy, not self-inflicted fire.”
.. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.), who voted for Ryan on the House floor earlier this year, tweeted that he’d withdraw support for the speaker over the recent spat with Trump.
.. Trump warned supporters “this is the last time you’ll ever have a chance to save our country,” going on to criticize Ryan and other party leaders for not reaching out after Sunday’s presidential debate.
.. Trump also took a shot at Ryan’s leadership position on the Bill O’Reilly show Tuesday night, implying that he might not be House speaker next year if the real estate tycoon wins the White House. But it was unclear exactly how Trump thought Ryan would be removed.
.. Many members, even if they don’t like the idea of abandoning the GOP nominee, understand the precarious position Trump continues to put Ryan in
If I Die Before You Wake…
This has been a year. It started with angry Trump supporters showing up at our home and at my office. It continued with angry people harassing my advertisers and station. And while the professional toll has been something to behold, it is nothing compared to the personal struggles my wife and I have had to deal with this year and will now continue to deal with.
.. I am no leader. I am just blessed with a platform where I say what I think is right and true and make sure those who agree know they are not alone.
Predators in Arms
One excuse we’re now hearing is that the new revelations are qualitatively different — that disrespect for women is one thing, but boasting about sexual assault brings it to another level. It’s a weak defense, since Mr. Trump has in effect been promising violence against minorities all along. His insistence last week that the Central Park Five, who were exonerated by DNA evidence, were guilty and should have been executed was even worse than The Tape, but drew hardly any denunciations from his party.
.. And even if you consider sexual predation somehow uniquely unacceptable, you have to ask where all these pearl-clutching Republicans were back in August, when Roger Ailes — freshly fired from Fox News over horrifying evidence that he used his position to force women into sexual relationships — joined the Trump campaign as a senior adviser. Were there any protests at all from senior G.O.P. figures?
.. The latest scandal upset Republicans, when previous scandals didn’t, because the candidate’s campaign was already in free fall. You can even see it in the numbers: The probability of a House Republican jumping off the Trump train is strongly related to the Obama share of a district’s vote in 2012. That is, Republicans in competitive districts are outraged by Mr. Trump’s behavior; those in safe seats seem oddly indifferent.
.. But think about how much bigger that wave might have been if voters had known what we know now: that Dennis Hastert, who had been speaker of the House since 1999, himself had a long history of molesting teenage boys.
.. The G.O.P. is, or was until this election, a monolithic, hierarchical institution, in which powerful men could cover up their sins much better than they could in the far looser Democratic coalition.
.. We’re talking about a party that has long exploited white backlash to mobilize working-class voters, while enacting policies that actually hurt those voters but benefit the wealthy. Anyone participating in that scam — which is what it is — has to have the sense that politics is a sphere in which you can get away with a lot if you have the right connections. So in a way it’s not surprising if a disproportionate number of major players feel empowered to abuse their position.
.. many Republicans will try to pretend that he was a complete outlier, unrepresentative of the party. But he isn’t. He won the nomination fair and square, chosen by voters who had a pretty good idea of who he was. He had solid establishment support until very late in the game.
.. Mr. Trump, in other words, isn’t so much an anomaly as he is a pure distillation of his party’s modern essence.