Stalwart Republicans urge U.S. to abandon Trump and unify behind Biden at 2020 DNC

For­mer Repub­li­can office­hold­ers, from Wash­ing­ton to Wash­ing­ton, are improb­a­bly join­ing front ranks of the oppo­si­tion to Repub­li­can incum­bent Don­ald Trump.

With for­mer Ohio Gov­er­nor John Kasich in the lead, they were dis­played Mon­day night at the decen­tral­ized 2020 Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Convention.

“Sol­id Kasich job – Amaz­ing times,” tweet­ed Mike Mur­phy, the for­mer John McCain strate­gist. “GOP gov­er­nor of Ohio bat­ting hard for the Demo­c­ra­t­ic candidate.”

As long ago as the spring of 2019, two Repub­li­can lumi­nar­ies in this Wash­ing­ton – for­mer three-term Gov­er­nor Dan Evans and ex‑U.S. Sen­a­tor Slade Gor­ton – said they would not be sup­port­ing Trump’s 2020 reelec­tion effort. Both were Kasich sup­port­ers when the Ohio gov­er­nor ran for pres­i­dent in 2016.

The errat­ic behav­ior of Trump, Trump’s vengeance, and loss of America’s posi­tion in the world seem seem to have moti­vat­ed the Repub­li­cans’ blue-bloods. What influ­ence they can still exer­cise in the par­ty of Lin­coln is high­ly questionable.

The par­ty of Lin­coln has become the par­ty of Trump. The nar­cis­sis­tic tele­vi­sion per­former spoke the truth in 2016 when he said: “I could stand in the mid­dle of Fifth Avenue and shoot some­body and wouldn’t lose any vot­ers, okay?

“It’s, like, incred­i­ble,” Trump added.

No dis­sent is per­mit­ted in the par­ty of Trump.

Con­ser­v­a­tive Sen­a­tor Jeff Flake of Ari­zona was hound­ed into retire­ment after dar­ing to dis­sent from the boss. Ex-Attor­ney Gen­er­al Jeff Ses­sions was nev­er for­giv­en for appoint­ing a spe­cial coun­sel in the Rus­sia probe, and was doomed by Trump when he tried to win his old Sen­ate seat back.

Trump has con­tin­ued to denounce Sen­a­tor John McCain after the wide­ly respect­ed sen­a­tor died. He has belit­tled Sen­a­tor and for­mer pres­i­den­tial nom­i­nee Mitt Rom­ney, and called Sen. Ben Sasse, R‑Nebraska, a “RINO” (Repub­li­can in Name Only” after Sasse ques­tioned the pres­i­den­tial order sus­pend­ing the pay­roll tax.

Hence, it took con­sid­er­able courage for Kasich to declare: “I’m a life­long Repub­li­can but that attach­ment takes sec­ond place to my respon­si­bil­i­ty to my country.”

Kasich has been a state leg­is­la­tor, chair of the House Bud­get Com­mit­tee, Gov­er­nor of Ohio and can­di­date for Pres­i­dent. As House Bud­get Chair in the 1990s, he pro­vid­ed impor­tant sup­port for removal of two salmon-killing dams on the Elwha Riv­er, tak­ing a look at the Olympic stream and say­ing this was a con­ser­va­tion project that con­ser­v­a­tives could support.”

Defec­tors have not influ­enced recent pres­i­den­tial elections.

Sen­a­tor Joe Lieber­man, D‑Connecticut, Al Gore’s 2000 run­ning mate, lined up behind McCain in 2008 and cam­paigned for even McCain in Seattle.

Though the Bush del­e­gates loved him, nobody else paid much atten­tion when Sen­a­tor Zell Miller, D‑Georgia, spoke for George W. in 2004.

For­mer Sec­re­tary of State Collin Pow­ell may be the excep­tion, with an Oba­ma endorse­ment and this year’s state­ment that he will vote for Joe Biden.

But the list of Repub­li­can blue bloods going “red” is impres­sive and includes peo­ple with vast expe­ri­ence in governing.

For­mer Pres­i­dent George W. Bush did not endorse in 2016, and friends say he will not vote for Trump. Sen­a­tor Rom­ney wrote in the name of wife Ann in 2016, and has said he won’t vote for Trump this year.

Ex-New Jer­sey Gov­er­nor Chris­tine Todd Whit­man also spoke to Democ­rats on Mon­day night. So did Quibi CEO Meg Whit­man, who spent “$140 mil­lion as Repub­li­can can­di­date for Gov­er­nor of Cal­i­for­nia, run­ning against Jer­ry Brown.

Sen­a­tor Lisa Murkows­ki, R‑Alaska, said in June: “I am strug­gling with it [a Trump vote]. I have strug­gled with it for a long time.”

Ex-South Car­oli­na Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mark San­ford, defeat­ed in a pri­ma­ry after a nasty Trump tweet, will not vote for Repub­li­can incumbent.

One group of dis­si­dents has repeat­ed­ly raised Trump’s ire.

The Lin­coln Project, a ven­ture formed by sev­er­al savvy Repub­li­can strate­gists, has run scorched earth TV spots. The TV ads have also gone after such Repub­li­can sen­a­tors as Susan Collins of Maine and Cory Gard­ner of Colorado.

Trump blew up at a spot that mir­rored the famous 1984 “Morn­ing in Amer­i­ca” spot by the Rea­gan cam­paign, only sug­gest­ing that Amer­i­ca has become “weak­er, and sick­er, and poor­er” under his regime.

Trump wrote that the Lin­coln Project was “a dis­grace to hon­est Abe,” called  cam­paign strate­gist Rick Wil­son “crazed,” and abused George Con­way, spouse of pres­i­den­tial coun­selor Kellyanne Con­way. “I don’t know what Kellyanne did to her deranged los­er of a hus­band, but it must have been real­ly bad.”

Few Amer­i­can vot­ers are unde­cid­ed this year, but those who are live main­ly in the sub­urbs. The defect­ing Repub­li­cans are aim­ing to secure con­verts in just the right places, main­ly in the upper Midwest.

Hav­ing burned bridges, they are also hav­ing fun at their job.

Of course, there is prin­ci­ple involved. Said Kasich: “We are being tak­en down the wrong road by a pres­i­dent who has pit­ted one of us against the other.”

In a gal­va­niz­ing 1940 con­ven­tion speech, as Europe was falling to the Nazis, Eleanor Roo­sevelt stead­ied a balky con­ven­tion by urg­ing Democ­rats to respect the judg­ment of her hus­band, pro­claim­ing: “These are no ordi­nary times.”

The Kasich mes­sage on Mon­day night: “These are not nor­mal times.”