Republicans and Conservatives Unite Against Donald Trump and Trumpism

Millions of Republicans and conservatives, including many prominent leaders, opposed Donald Trump’s candidacy for President of the United States in 2016 and 2020, but the list is growing for the 2024 presidential election, including several senior officials from his own Administration and his own-recommended Vice President. Because the list of prominent anti-Trump Republicans and conservatives would be far too long for a post, this post is primarily about those who have been the most active in opposing Trump’s 2024 candidacy and Trumpism (a populist mix of protectionism, isolationism and nativism, none of which are conservative). There are dozens of prominent Republicans and conservatives who have endorsed and who are campaigning for the Democratic presidential and vice presidential ticket. A Republicans for Harris committee was formed from among prominent former Republican members of Congress or congressional staff and former Trump Administration staff, several of whom spoke at the Democratic National Convention. The Democratic presidential nominee has promised to appoint a Republican to her cabinet if she were elected, restoring a custom of appointing a member of the opposite major political party that had ended with Trump. There was an open letter written by a conservative Republican former federal judge and signed by 11 Republican lawyers who served in senior positions in Republican presidential administrations against Trump’s reelection. They write that he threatens representative government and the rule of law, express particular concern about the threat from the plans by his supporters to replace career public servants with those loyal only to Trump, and that he is “unfit, dangerous and detached from reality.” An open letter was signed by 238 anti-Trump Republican ex-staffers of the administration or campaign President Geroge W. Bush, and the offices or campaigns of the late Senator John McCain of Arizona and Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, joined by 5 former staff members from President George H.W. Bush, which was up from 150 in 2020. They cited exit polling from battleground States that proved that conservative and Republican voters were responsible for the loss by the GOP and Trump-Pence Electors in the 2020 General Election. The anti-Trump signers wrote that Trump had led an insurrection based on his lies to try to overturn the election and would jeopardize representative government while he kowtows to Russia’s tyrant, Vladimir Putin, while turning his back on allies. Over 100 ex-Republican members of Congress and security officials from the Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Trump Administrations signed an open letter opposing Trump’s election. The security officials said, "We firmly oppose the election of Donald Trump. As President, he promoted daily chaos in government, praised our enemies and undermined our allies, politicized the military and disparaged our veterans, prioritized his personal interest above American interests, and betrayed our values, democracy, and this country's founding documents.” “By inciting the violent attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and defending those who committed it, he has violated his oath of office and brought danger to our country,” they write, before quoting Trump’s conservative former Vice President, Mike Pence, who has said that "anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.” Trump’s candidacy is opposed by former Republican Vice President Richard Cheney and his daughter, Liz Cheney, former U.S. Representative and House Republican Caucus Chairman Liz Cheney. The former conservative U.S. Representative, Defense Secretary and Vice President said that “there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our Republic than Donald Trump.” Including Cheney, every previous living Republican presidential or vice-presidential nominee is not voting for the Republican or Trump Electors. Former President George W. Bush, Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan, and former Vice President Mike Pence do not support Trump’s candidacy. Some of them are among the growing group who had supported Trump previously, such as former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez under President George W. Bush, Former Republican U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania Pat Toomey and the conservative editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, who are not supporting him this election. These prominent Republicans and conservatives are either voting for the Democratic Electors or writing in the names of other Republicans. By opposing Trump and Trumpism, these patriots are thus continuing to stand for the conservative and GOP principles of good character, equality, liberty, representative government, the rule of law, free trade, a strong defense, and American leadership in the world.