Peter Walks for Democracy

We are now under two weeks until Election Day 2024. With Donald Trump seeking office a second time, citizens should understand that Trump’s own cabinet and a swath of staunch Republicans oppose him. For those RepublIcans who revere the Constitution and believe in the rule of law–folks who supported Nikki Haley but worry about Kamala Harris–this is so important. We need you to stand for the Constitution and not vote for Donald Trump. The republic requires it.

At this time in 2020, Trump was broadcasting “the big lie.” It would culminate in the January 6th, 2021 insurrection. He would eventually advance the “termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” to overturn the 2020 presidential election and maintain power. Today, an army of lawyers and GOP operatives are already wreaking havoc on his behalf, flooding election commissions and courts with wild and unfounded allegations of voter fraud, though they are losing key cases. His unwillingness to accept a legitimate loss, his love of chaos, disdain for the Constitution and the rule of law render him a danger to freedom and liberty. That is why scores of Republicans are opposing him and supporting Kamala Harris.

The list of Republicans who oppose Donald Trump grows every day. It includes former Arizona Senator Jeff Flake. Referring to Trump’s lawlessness, he said, “Conservatives, first and foremost, believe in the rule of law. How can a conservative support such a person?” Former New Jersey Governor and Bush, Jr. cabinet member Christine Todd Whitman. observed, “how he consistently chose himself, his pursuit of power, and his billionaire friends over the American people while spewing lies and spreading chaos at every turn.” Longtime Oklahoma legislator and founding trustee of the Heritage Foundation, Mickey Edwards said, “he poses a danger to American democracy, and that is because he has no regard for the basic institutions of our democracy, about rule of law or about separation of powers.” George W. Bush’s Attorney General, Alberto Gonzalez, knows Trump is “perhaps the most serious threat to the rule of law in a generation.” Trump’s former defense secretary Mark Esper told CNN that Trump is not “fit for office because he puts himself first and I think anybody running for office should put the country first.”

Former Congresswoman Liz Cheney. and Congressman Adam Kinzinger have been the most outspoken RepublIcans against Trump. They experienced Donald Trump’s depravity firsthand on January 6th. Each of them were put in grave danger by the violent anti-American mob Trump created with his “Big Lie.” They went on to serve as the two Republicans on the January 6th Select Committee.

Like Flake, Whitman, Edwards, Gonzalez, and so many other Republicans, Cheney and Kinzinger oppose Trump because he despises the Constitution. In Oath and Honor, Cheney writes, “I believe that Donald Trump’s decision to attack the lawfully certified Electoral College results and to ignore the rulings of our courts was an assault on the structural constitutional safeguards that keep us free.” Kinzinger said, “As a conservative and a veteran, I believe true strength lies in…standing up for our Constitution and our democracy. That—that is the soul of being a conservative. It used to be the soul of being a Republican. But Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party. His fundamental weakness has coursed through my party like an illness, sapping our strength, softening our spine, whipping us into a fever that has untethered us from our values.”

Speaking to a crowd in Wisconsin yesterday, Cheney said, “We’ve never faced a threat like [Trump] before, and I think it’s so important for people to realize this Republic only survives if we protect it, and that means putting partisan politics aside and standing up for the Constitution and for what’s right and loving our country,” John Kelly agrees.

No official in Trump’s White House cabinet spent more time with him than Kelly. He was Trump’s chief of staff for a year and a half, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and a former Marine general. During that time, he heard Trump call fallen soldiers “suckers” and “losers.” He has heard Trump praise Adolf Hitler.

Kelly has come out forcefully against Trump because he wants to use the military against U.S. citizens inside the country. Recently Trump said, “I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they’re the big — and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen” (emphasis mine). These are not isolated incidents. Trump now routinely uses language reminiscent of Mussolini, Stalin, and Hitler, a dictator on day one whowill root out those who oppose him.

Kelly told The New York Times, “He’s certainly the only president that has all but rejected what America is all about, and what makes America America, in terms of our Constitution, in terms of our values, the way we look at everything, to include family and government — he’s certainly the only president that I know of, certainly in my lifetime, that was like that.” Trump is a fascist. “Well, looking at the definition of fascism: It’s a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy.” Kelly continued, “So certainly, in my experience, those are the kinds of things that he thinks would work better in terms of running America.”

John Kelly is facing all of us, but especially Republicans, with a stark decision. Do you believe in Donald Trump OR do you believe in freedom and the law granted to us by the Constitution? The Constitution, the democratic republic it established, and the people elected to run it have created a nation of ever freer people. While our history proves our imperfections, we have made it possible for every citizens’ voice to count. Donald Trump does not care about that.

As Kelly says, “He just doesn’t understand the values — he pretends, he talks, he knows more about America than anybody, but he doesn’t.” Kinzinger and Cheney know it. Esper, Gonzalez, Whitman, Edwards, and Flake know it too. In your heart of heart, you know it.

Do not re-elect him.