On Monday, Maine Sen. Susan Collins announced she is the latest Republican defection from Team Trump. Collins laid out the reasons that she would not be voting for her party’s nominee in an op-ed in the Washington Post on Monday. Trump, Collins writes, “does not reflect historical Republican values nor the inclusive approach to governing that is critical to healing the divisions in our country.” Collins did not say who she will be supporting in November.
Here’s more from Collins on her anti-Trump reasoning from the Post:
With the passage of time, I have become increasingly dismayed by his constant stream of cruel comments and his inability to admit error or apologize. But it was his attacks directed at people who could not respond on an equal footing — either because they do not share his power or stature or because professional responsibility precluded them from engaging at such a level — that revealed Mr. Trump as unworthy of being our president… I am also deeply concerned that Mr. Trump’s lack of self-restraint and his barrage of ill-informed comments would make an already perilous world even more so. It is reckless for a presidential candidate to publicly raise doubts about honoring treaty commitments with our allies. Mr. Trump’s tendency to lash out when challenged further escalates the possibility of disputes spinning dangerously out of control.
Collins writes that three incidents, in particular, led her to believe that “Mr. Trump lacks the temperament, self-discipline and judgment required to be president:” Trump’s mocking of a reporter with disabilities, his making an issue of federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s Mexican ancestry, and his criticism of the Khan family following their appearance at the DNC.
