Though Trump has largely seized control of the Republican party and the loyalty of GOP officials, a number of prominent former GOP officials, and even some of his ex-staffers, have come out in favor of former Vice President Joe Biden.
Former Gov. John Kasich, who challenged Trump for the GOP nomination in 2016, has been one of Biden’s most vocal Republican backers, lauding his “experience and his wisdom and his decency” at the Democratic convention on Monday.
Biden has won the endorsements of three George W. Bush’s cabinet secretaries; Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel (who also served under Obama), Secretary of State Colin Powell and EPA Director Christine Whitman, who appeared at the DNC alongside Kasich.
Anthony Scaramucci, who served as Trump’s White House communications director for just two weeks, endorsed Biden and called Trump “crazy,” while former Homeland Security Department Chief of Staff Miles Taylor accused Trump of withholding disaster aid from blue states and claiming “magical authorities” above the law.
Carly Fiorina, a former Hewlett Packard CEO and GOP presidential candidate who was briefly the running mate of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), said she cannot support Trump and that “elections are binary choices,” while Meg Whitman, another Hewlett Packard CEO, said at the DNC on Monday that Trump “has no clue how to run a business, let alone an economy.”
Four former Republican Senators have come out for Biden: David Durenberger of Minnesota and Gordon J. Humphrey of New Hampshire (both independents now), John Warner of Virginia and Jeff Flake of Arizona, who called a Trump second term “a real danger.”
Former Rep. Susan Molinari spoke at the Democratic convention on Monday as well, joining former Reps. Charles Djou of Hawaii and Joe Walsh of Illinois, a former tea partier who challenged Trump for the GOP nomination in 2020 and voted for Biden in Illinois’ open Democratic primary in March, calling Trump a “horrible human being” who “must be defeated.”
KEY BACKGROUND
Numerous Republican media figures, campaign strategists and government officials have even organized PACs dedicated to supporting Biden, such as Republican Voters Against Trump and, most recently, 43 Alumni for Biden. The most notable among them is the Lincoln Project, whose scathing attack ads on Trump have captured the hearts of anti-Trump resistance-minded Democrats.
SURPRISING FACT
The last living former Republican president, George W. Bush, has said he won’t back Trump. Nor will his brother Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida who was mercilessly ridiculed by Trump when they fought for the GOP nomination in 2016. Trump’s former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and former Chief of Staff and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly have both expressed opposition to Trump as well, with Mattis calling him “the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try” and Kelly saying he wished “we had some additional choices.” Other ex-Trump officials have spoken out against him as well, including Homeland Security advisor Tom Bossert, communications staffer Omarosa Manigault, National Economic Council director Gary Cohn, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and National Security advisor John Bolton.
BIG NUMBER
5. That’s how many sitting Republican senators are weighing voting against Trump, according to Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.). Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) has said he will not vote for Trump and may write-in his wife, while Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she is “struggling” with the decision. Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) has also said he will not vote for Trump and is considering a vote for Biden.
This article originally appeared on Forbes.
