TOPLINE
Phil Scott, the Republican governor of Vermont, announced Friday that he will not vote for President Trump in November, but, as some GOP officials distance themselves from the current administration, is hesitantly loyal to Team Biden.
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott is a moderate Republican who has said he will not vote for Trump, but he will not … [+]
KEY FACTS
“I have not yet decided at this point whether I will give a vote to former Vice President Biden,” sei Scott, a moderate Republican who put a vote for the Democratic nominee as “something I would consider.”
While a number of Republicans have announced their distinction from Biden over Trump, including a group of more than 70 National Security officials who serve under GOP presidents, Scott is not alone in his opposition to full-blown party lines.
Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) Has publicly stated that he will not vote for Trump, criticizing the president’s handling of the pandemic and saying he ‘drives us all crazy’, and although he is lying to Biden, worries that liberal influence could pull the former vice president too far from the political mainstream.
Despite heavy criticism and a published book in which he calls for Trump to “become a one-time president,” former National Security Adviser John Bolton has said he “will not vote for Joe Biden either,” and plans to write in a “Still Too determine ”Republican Conservative.
Retired Marine Admiral William McRaven, who targeted the assassination of Osama bin Laden, decided to lack Trump as the “qualities needed to be a good commander in command,” but offered his support for Biden not, and said, “This fall, it’s time for new leadership in this country – Republican, Democrat or Independent.”
Then there are the long time critics Sen. Rom Romney (R-Utah) and former President George W. Bush who did not vote for Trump in 2016 and both have apparently decided to recall in 2020 but have not yet signed Trump’s main opponent.
Crucial quote
Although Bolton said he respects the choice of Republicans who cast their vote for Biden, and considers it a “sensible strategy,” the former Trump official said he also understands why Republicans would not curse Biden, and declare “they are afraid of what the left wing of the party would do in a Biden board, like me.”
Key background
Trump has used fear of progressive influence among some more moderate voters as a major offensive line against the Democrats, calling Biden a ‘Trojan horse for socialism’ and marked running mate Sen. Kamala Harris as ‘more liberal than Bernie Sanders,’ a Democratic socialist. The Biden campaign worked hard to reduce an overly left-wing image of the Democratic Party during this week’s national convention, with a number of Republican speakers including former Gov. Ohio, John Kasich and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who their distinctions have been offered by Biden. Progressive policies, influenced by a changing Democratic party, however, underscore both Biden’s and Harriss’s speeches for acceptance of nomination, a potential limitation for some pondering Republican party dissenters.
Curse tangent
A handful of other top Republicans are considering seceding from the Trump administration in 2020, including sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the second-highest-ranking Republican woman in the Senate, has said she ‘wrestles’ with the decision.
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“All Republicans Who Have Signed Joe Biden as President” (Forbes)
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