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Bill, Andrew, and Will Quick Hit (in part):
*****WILL THE TRUMP CABINET PLEASE STAND UP? We were all heartened to see so much space made for Democrat-agnostic anti-Trump voters at the DNC last week. But as Tim wonders in a piece up at the site today: Where are all the ex-Trump officials who have told the world that they think he’s a raving lunatic? Why aren’t they endorsing Harris? No offense to the former lieutenant governor of Georgia, but were these really the most high-profile Republicans willing to step up at the convention?*****
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Of all the absences of high profile Republicans from the Democratic National Convention, the most surprising is that of Liz Cheney. Cheney has repeatedly (and in her 2023 book Oath and Honor, at great length) proclaimed that she will do whatever she can to prevent the 45th president from becoming the 47th. She created the Our Great Task PAC to advance this cause. I do not readily attribute her non-appearance to cowardice or bad faith. Perhaps we will yet see more from her personally.
In my own most recent essay I shared the views of most of the non-Democrats who spoke at the convention.
People who are fully decent and sensible agree with Adam Kinzinger “that we have to defend truth, defend democracy and decency” and that “any policy disagreements one may have with the Democratic nominee “pale in comparison with those fundamental matters of principle, of decency, and of fidelity to this nation.”
They nod along with Stephanie Grisham when she explains that she supports the Democratic ticket “because I love America more than my party.”
They understand Olivia Troye being “proud to support Kamala Harris not because we agree on every issue but because we agree on the most important issue” and that in voting for Harris, “You aren't betraying our party. You’re standing up for our country.”
They look askance at people they know who thus far have failed to recognize, as Geoff Duncan put it, that “If Republicans are being intellectually honest with ourselves, our party is not civil or conservative” and “If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024, you are not a Democrat. You are a patriot.”
And they are right there with Oprah, who observed that “more than anything…decency and respect are on the ballot in 2024. And just plain common sense.”
Decency and sense together are the north star of “this sometimes awkward alliance.”
Read fuller excerpts and navigate to the video of each of these convention speakers via the link below.