Two former Republican lawmakers have joined the ranks of Republicans endorsing Democratic nominee Joe Biden for president.
Former Reps. Mickey Edwards (R-OK), a former chair of the American Conservative Union who served in Congress for 16 years until vacating his seat in 1993 and Charles Djou (R-HI), an Afghanistan war veteran, who won a three-way special election in 2010 and served until 2011, have become the latest GOP supporters of Biden.
“Joe Biden is not a perfect man, but he is a man of humble decency,” the former GOP lawmakers penned in an op-ed published by Roll Call on Friday. “America needs a restored sense of national unity, basic civility and true character in our president. After four years of reckless Trumpian chaos and division, we believe it is time for a new president and ask that you join us.”
The duo, who have said they “should be among Donald Trump’s biggest supporters,” have backed Biden, citing Trump’s disparaging remarks about fallen military heroes in 2018, as first reported by The Atlantic earlier this month.
“Childish name-calling, crude behavior and immature narcissism is unwarranted in any adult, let alone our president,” the former GOP lawmakers wrote.
The former GOP congressmen further expressed discontent about alienation from global democracies as demonstrated by Trump’s efforts to cozy up to the world’s dictators.
“Trump professes kinship with dictators such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin and even expressed love for North Korean despot Kim Jong Un,” they wrote, appearing to refer to reports by famed investigative journalist Bob Woodward who detailed Trump’s gushing idolatry of the North Korean dictator in his book “Rage.”
The pair added that they were “so disturbed” by what they called President Trump’s
affection for conspiracy theories, which they said “reflect a disturbing paranoia.”
Trump has repeatedly praised GOP candidates who have sympathized and even promoted QAnon — a conspiracy theory that has been flagged by the FBI as a domestic terror threat.
“Donald Trump may pretend to be heir to the great Republican tradition that appealed to us both but he is no Republican. He is simply an ill-formed man who lacks basic self-control and shows no semblance of inner character,” Djou and Edwards said.
The former lawmakers decried Trump’s “anti-immigrant devotion to isolationism,” citing a Trump policy which beginning in 2017, separated children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. The policy was also mentioned by a former senior Trump official, Miles Taylor, in a video clip produced by Republicans Against Trump ahead of the Republican National Convention last month.
“His anti-immigrant approach bears a much closer relationship to the autocrats in Turkey or Russia or China than the American Statue of Liberty,” the former lawmakers wrote.
The former lawmakers appealed to the ideals of a unified America, ripping Trump for stoking division “for his personal gain.”
The comments comes as Trump suggested earlier this week that he may not accept the peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election in November. The former GOP lawmakers appear to stand in stark contrast with some of the Republican leaders of today who scrambled to play down the President’s comments, suggesting that he says, “crazy stuff” or that Democrats had a tendency to “over-dramatize” the remarks.
