Kristopher
Purcell, a member of 43 Alumni for Biden, explains why hundreds of Republican
ex-staffers under George W. Bush are coming together to endorse Joe Biden and
says, “Donald Trump is a threat to our nation.”»
'We've got to do something': Republican rebels
come together to take on Trump
A slew of organized Republican groups have sprung up
to do all they can to defeat Trump in November. Will their effort work?
Trump has enjoyed high approval ratings among his base
– but a growing band of disgruntled Republicans is doing its best to force him
out.
Daniel
Straussin Washington
@danielstrauss4
Published
onSun 5 Jul 2020 10.00 BST
Just like
in 2016, a faction of the Republican party has emerged to try to defeat Donald
Trump in the upcoming presidential election.
But unlike
the last presidential race, where the effort never truly took off, this time
those rebel Republicans have formed better organized groups – and some are even
openly backing Trump’s Democratic opponent, Joe Biden.
In 2016, as
Trump steamrolled his way through the Republican primary, some Republican
lawmakers and operatives tried to mount an effort to stop him. Elected
officials and veterans of previous Republican administrations organized
letters, endorsed Hillary Clinton, and a few set up meager outside groups to
defeat Trump.
That’s
happening again – but there are differences. The outside groups are more
numerous and better organized, and most importantly, Trump has a governing
record on which Republicans can use to decide whether to support him or not.
“I think
it’s qualitatively different,” said Republican operative Tim Miller, who
co-founded one of the main anti-Trump organizations. “A lot of people who
opposed [Trump] did the whole, ‘Oh, Hillary’s also bad, and Trump’s bad, and
everybody can vote their conscience’ kind of thing.”
Miller said
that 2016’s effort was far more of a “pox on both your houses” phenomenon
versus 2020’s “organized effort to defeat him”.
The latest
prominent Republican anti-Trump organization made its debut in early July. It’s
a Super Pac called 43 Alumni for Biden, and aims to rally alumni of George W
Bush’s administration to support the Democrat.
The new
Super Pac was co-founded by Kristopher Purcell, a former Bush administration
official; John Farner, who worked in the commerce department during the Bush
administration; and Karen Kirksey, another longtime Republican operative.
Kirksey is the Super Pac’s director.
“We’re
truly a grassroots organization. Our goal is to do whatever we can to elect Joe
Biden as president,” said Farner.
The Super
Pac is still in its early stages and isn’t setting expectations on raising
something like $20m. Rather, 43 Alumni for Biden is just focused on organizing.
“After
seeing three and a half years of chaos and incompetence and division, a lot of
people have just been pushed to say, ‘We have got to do something else,”
Purcell said. “We may not be fully on board with the Democratic agenda, but
this is a one-issue election. ‘Are you for Donald Trump, or are you for
America.’”
43 Alumni
for Biden is new compared with two other larger anti-Republican groups.
The
best-knownis the Lincoln Project, a political action committee founded in 2019
by Republican strategists who have long been critical of Trump.
The Lincoln
Project has made a name for itself for its creative anti-Trump ads. It has also
brought on veteran Republican strategists like Stu Stevens, a top adviser for
now-Utah senator Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. George Conway, the
husband of Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, is also a co-founder of the group.
Unlike
other anti-Trump groups, the Lincoln Project has weighed in to Senate races and
has begun endorsing Senate candidates. It has backed the Montana governor,
Steve Bullock, in his Senate bid against the sitting Republican Steve Daines.
Then
there’s Republican Voters Against Trump, a group led by Bill Kristol, a
well-known neoconservative and former chief of staff to then vice-president Dan
Quayle, and Republican consultants Sarah Longwell and Tim Miller.
That group
is focused on organizing anti-Trump Republicans.
“Lincoln is
doing two things really well. One is narrative-setting, and just beating Trump
over the head with hard-hitting attacks,” Miller said. “And they’re also
working on Senate races, which we’re not doing. I think that, frankly, they’re
bringing the sledgehammer and working on Senate races, and we are elevating
these peer voices in a way to persuade voters.”
A set of
Republican national security officials has also emerged in opposition to Trump.
That group
hasn’t given itself a name yet, and includes the former Bush homeland security
adviser Ken Wainstein, and John Bellinger III, who served in the state
department. The group is looking to rally national security officials away from
Trump – either by supporting Biden or writing in someone else.
Even with
all the organizing by these groups, there’s still the persistent fact that
swaths of former Republican officials and operatives methodically endorsed
Hillary Clinton in 2016, and since then Trump has enjoyed sky-high approval
ratings among the Republican party electorate.
But these
groups say that was a result of Americans having not yet experienced a Trump
presidency. They also say that the reason elected officials aren’t coming out
to support Biden is because they’re worried about the blowback.
Colleen
Graffey, part of the national security group of Republicans opposing Trump,
said the reason some elected Republican officials aren’t coming out to oppose
Trump publicly is because they’re scared.
“They’re
worried they’re going to be primaried,” Graffey said. “They’re worried they’re
going to be tweeted, if that can be a weaponized verb.”
Asked what
his big fear is now, Farner said it’s that Republicans won’t come out to vote
at all.
“My fear is
that they will not come out and vote. And we’re here to say that it’s OK. We’re
putting ourselves out here too,” Farner said. “It’s OK.”
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