Donald Trump has a talent for rallying an astonishing range of political opinion around a common goal: to prevent him from returning to the White House.
They include prominent members of Trump’s own Republican Party and aides who served under him during his presidency. From former White House and national security staff to a once-revered press secretary, many of Trump’s former fans have now joined Democrats in declaring him unfit for another term in office.
White House lawyers and retired military officers who served under Republican presidents going back to Ronald Reagan have also denounced Trump as a danger to democracy.
Adding to Trump’s humiliation, even members of his cabinet who once pledged their loyalty to President Vladimir Putin with a deferential attitude that would not offend him are refusing to support him for re-election in November.
It’s not entirely one-sided: Trump managed to secure the endorsement of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former presidential candidate and scion of one of America’s most famous Democratic families, and former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard.
Trump added both men to his transition team, but the impact of their support was softened by Democrats who were quick to remind voters that Kennedy had previously called Trump a “terrible president” and his policies “ridiculous and terrible.” Kennedy’s anti-vaxxer views, despised by at least one major party donor, are also unlikely to reassure more rational Republicans.
The anti-Trump message is aimed at convincing Republicans who might have once voted for Trump that they must put country before party to prevent a dangerous populist from staying in the White House for a second term. Polls show that 9% of Trump-supporting voters would at least consider switching to Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
In early August, Harris’ campaign launched “Republicans for Harris” to target voters most likely to switch their support, particularly those who supported Trump’s rival Nikki Haley in the primary.
On Monday, 200 Republicans who served under President George W. Bush and former presidential candidates Sens. Mitt Romney and John McCain published an open letter in support of Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
The letter warned that there is more to fear from Trump than a repeat of his first term because he is now engaged in “Project 2025,” an authoritarian plan to impose right-wing control over the entire U.S. government, including nonpartisan federal agencies.
“Of course, I have many, frankly ideological differences with Vice President Harris and Governor Walz, and that is to be expected. However, any alternative is simply unacceptable,” the letter said.
“At home, four more years of Donald Trump’s chaotic leadership, this time focused on advancing the dangerous goals of Project 2025, will hurt real people and undermine sacred institutions. Abroad, our democratic movements will be irreparably endangered as Trump and his acolyte J.D. Vance kowtow to dictators like Vladimir Putin and turn their backs on our allies. We cannot allow that to happen.”
Signatories included Gene Becker, chief of staff to President George H.W. Bush, David Nirenberg, Romney’s 2012 campaign finance chairman, and two former chiefs of staff to McCain.
Trump campaign communications director Steven Chang charged that the letter was written by an unknown person.
“The crazy thing is no one knows who these people are. They’d rather see the country burn than see President Trump return to the White House and make America great again,” he told Fox News.
But many Trump supporters have likely heard of Stephanie Grisham, who served as White House press secretary and appeared regularly in conservative media to promote the then-president. Grisham spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August and said that while she had once been a “true believer,” by the end of Trump’s presidency she had concluded that “he has no empathy, no morals, no fidelity to the truth.”
“Trump is mocking his supporters. He’s calling them basement dwellers,” she told the Democratic National Convention and the millions of American voters watching on television.
Grisham was the first White House official to resign after Trump incited the Jan. 6 riot and urged Americans to vote for Harris.
“I love my country more than my party. Kamala Harris speaks the truth. She respects the American people and I will be voting for her,” she said.
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of just 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the Capitol attack, spoke at the Democratic National Convention about Trump’s “suffocating the soul of the Republican Party.”
Other Republicans have joined in criticizing Trump, saying it’s not enough to just stand by and not vote in November.
Twelve former White House lawyers who served under Republican presidents from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush endorsed Harris in a letter warning that Trump’s reelection “threatens American democracy and undermines the rule of law in our nation.” The letter called on “all patriotic Republicans, former Republicans, conservative and center-right citizens, and independent voters to put love of country above party or ideology” and vote for Harris.
“We cannot join other former Republican officials who condemn Trump for these scathing rulings but still do not intend to vote for Harris. This election is a binary choice and we believe Trump is completely unfit to vote,” the statement said.
This was apparently a direct attack on former senior administration officials, including Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton and former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, who have criticized Trump as unfit for office but refused to endorse Harris.
The letter, signed by 200 former senior government officials, said that in the last presidential election four years ago, “moderate Republicans and conservative independents in battleground states” defeated Trump by “putting country over party.”
“With all our hearts, we call on our friends, colleagues, neighbors and family to once again take courageous action and vote for leaders who will seek agreement not chaos, unite not division, and make our country and our children proud: Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz,” the statement said.
Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said it was unlikely that many voters were truly undecided and that anti-Trump Republican appeals were aimed at a small slice of the electorate.
“A lot of the undecided people are people who aren’t telling pollsters who they’re going to vote for. There aren’t that many undecided people. It’s people’s way of avoiding debate. And I don’t think it’s going to change the minds of Republicans who haven’t embraced the idea of not voting for Trump, and there aren’t that many of them,” he said.
“But for people who are paying attention and who are mobile, it could make a difference. It also makes a difference for Democratic-leaning independents. It validates the decision they’ve already made to support Harris. That’s why this is important, because many of these are people who worked closely with Trump in the White House and saw up close how incompetent he is and how unfit he is for the presidency. It’s really important that we get the record out to these people.”