To endorse or not

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is facing revolt by brave souls within his own party. After endorsing Democrat party challenger Vice President Kamala Harris, the most prominent Republican stalwart Liz Cheney joined Harris at a rally in Wisconsin. Cheney was elected by Wyoming to the House of Representatives where she served from 2017-2023 when she was chairwoman of the party’s faction.

Her father Dick Cheney, former Vice President during the administration of George W. Bush, also endorsed Harris. The elder Cheney bore considerable responsibility for Bush’s disastrous 2003 war on Iraq and was regarded the most influential vice president in US history.

Liz Cheney explained her defection by castigating Trump for refusing to accept he lost the 2020 presidential election and urging his supporters to march on Congress to prevent the confirmation of Joe Biden. She said, “Donald Trump was willing to sacrifice our Capitol, to allow law enforcement officers to be beaten and brutalised in his name, and to violate the law and the Constitution in order to seize power for himself.” In an appeal to voters she stated, “I don’t care if you are a Democrat or a Republican or an independent. That is depravity, and we must never become numb to it.”

She added, “In this election, a broad coalition has come together to support Vice President Kamala Harris. Now, we may disagree on some things, but we are bound together by the one thing that matters to us as Americans more than any other, and that’s our duty to our Constitution and our belief in the miracle and the blessing of this incredible nation… So, today I ask all of you here and everyone listening across this great country to join us. I ask you to meet this moment. I ask you to stand in truth to reject the depraved cruelty of Donald Trump. And I ask you instead to help us elect Kamala Harris as President.”

Republican House member from Illinois from 2011-2023, Adam Kitzinger was a critic of Trump as soon as he mounted his campaign to undermine the 2020 election result. Kitzinger was among 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for incitement to insurrection and served along with Liz Cheney on the Congressional committee to investigate the Capitol attack. Kitzinger did not stand for re-election in 2022 but has become a prominent Trump critic.

Former Republican representative and senator Jeff Flake endorsed Harris last month, arguing, “I want to support a presidential candidate who seeks to units our country rather than one who divides us.” He also backed Biden in 2020 and served as US ambassador to Turkey.

In February, Utah Senator and party elder Mitt Romney said he would not support Trump. Romney stated, “No, no, absolutely not.” He was mainly motivated by Trump’s character. He warned, “Having a president who is so defaulted of character would have an enormous impact on the character of America.” Romney has had a peripatetic Republican life. He grew up in the Michigan governor’s mansion while it was occupied by his father George Romney. Mitt Romney served as Massachusetts governor before entering the Senate. As the Republican party’s presidential nominee in 2012, Romney lost to Democrat Barack Obama. While denouncing Trump before his 2016 election and subsequently calling for his impeachment.

Romney has, however, not endorsed Harris. In the last two elections, he has reportedly written in the name of his wife on his ballot. He argued in The Washington Post that he wants to retain an influential position in the Republican party with the aim of reforming it and he told the Atlantic that he feared for his large family if vindictive Trump wins in November.

Despite Romney’s rebuff, The Washington Post has reported Harris has received endorsements from leading Republican politicians and officials who have established “Republicans for Harris” to win over moderate party members who are leery of Trump. In August more than 200 Republicans who worked for Romney, the late Senator John McCain, and President George W. Bush published a letter backing Harris and warning that a second Trump presidency “will hurt real, everyday people and weaken our sacred institutions.”

Harris is not having an easy ride. A week ago, Harris faced Biden administration critics over Israel’s Gaza and Lebanon wars. During a visit to critical swing state, Michigan, she met Wa’el Alzayat, head of Emgage Action which has endorsed her, and Ed Gabriel, president of the American Task Force on Lebanon. During the brief half-hour encounter, she expressed concern over civilian displacement and suffering in Gaza and Lebanon and discussed the administration’s feeble and failed efforts to end the war.

She did not invite to the meeting activists of the Uncommitted Movement which voted “uncommitted” during the Democratic primary which endorsed Biden as the party’s candidate. Michigan’s vote matters as the state has 300,000 residents who are of Middle Eastern and North African heritage. Many are furious with Biden for his submission to Israel and insist that Harris distance herself from his policies. Last week, Kamel Ahmad Jawad from the heavily Arab community in Dearborn, Michigan, was killed in an Israeli airstrike, deepening anger against the administration. Biden won Michigan by 154,000 votes in 2020 and Harris is in a tight contest for the state’s Electoral College votes which could determine the winner. For some inexplicable reason, US voters of Arab background are evenly split between Harris Trump.

Harris drew some comfort from the formation of a group calling itself “Arab Americans for Harris-Walz” which is made up partly of former uncommitted voters. The group argued Harris would be more ready to act on Arab concerns than Trump. He dropped the US demand for the “the two-state solution” involving the emergence of a Palestinian state, defunded the UN agency caring for Palestinian refugees, closed the Palestinian mission in Washington, shuttered the US East Jerusalem consulate which served Palestinians, and shifted the US embassy from Tel Aviv to occupied Jerusalem. Unfortunately for Harris, Biden has given full military and political support to Israel in its year-long offensive in Gaza and recent attacks on Lebanon and has been as deaf to Arab concerns as Trump.

Photo: TNS