Hope at Washington Crossing

The Republicans for Harris army is growing

(Photo Courtesy of the AP)

In most swing states it’s coming down to conservative independent voters and Republicans who need a nudge to abandon the deranged Donald Trump and vote for a Democrat – Kamala Harris – to be our next president. This is the calculus that found me at  Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, where then-General Washington famously crossed the  Delaware River on Christmas night in 1776.

We made a little history at the historic site as more than 100 traditional, conservative Republicans—former Trump aides, lawmakers, and party officials—stood behind Harris at a rally aimed at GOP fence-sitters.  

"What is at stake in this race are the Democratic ideals that our founders and generations of Americans before us have fought for,” Harris told the crowd. “At stake in this election is the Constitution of the United States its very self. We are here today because we share a core belief — that we must put country before party," she said.

The phrase “country before party” has been at the front of my mind in the five years since I came to recognize that Donald Trump represents the gravest threat to our country since the Civil War. A diabolical, would-be dictator who espouses violence and lies every time he opens his mouth, Trump has used a dark charisma and messages of doom and disaster to make the party into a personal political machine devoted, not to principles, but to one man.  This is how I put it at Washington Crossing:

“The first order of business obviously, is we have to get Donald Trump out of the way because he’s toxic. He is a malignant narcissist, and he has dragged a whole bunch of, frankly, gullible people into believing the things that he has said…

“Donald Trump may be running as a Republican, but the truth is, he does not share those long-held Republican values of supporting democracy, of standing for the rule of law, and of faithfulness to the Constitution. As a Republican, that saddens me. But what gives me hope is that there is a candidate in this race who does hold those values.”

My sadness is a kind of grief that I feel as I watch the party I love, the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and Reagan become a cult of personality. Fortunately, I’m not the only one who sees things this way.  I’ve lost track of how many prominent Republicans, including many who served in his administration, have come out for Harris. This group includes former GOP defense secretaries, intelligence officials, Trump White House aides, former members of Congress, Trump cabinet secretaries, and former governors. Senator Mitt Romney has called Trump, “a phony and a fraud.” Former vice president Dick Cheney has bluntly declared, “He is a coward.”

Now, the truth is that no one knows the value of endorsements. And crossover voting is rare. But in the case of Harris v. Trump, we can find some hope in the campaign that former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley ran against him in the primary season. Although she lost, her pro-democracy/anti-Trump message won her roughly 20 percent. If Harris captures these voters, she’ll win the presidency.

 At Washington Crossing, I was moved by the symbolism of the setting. Washington’s army, it must be remembered, was in battered and declining condition that night. The general himself had said, “I think the game is pretty near up.”  But then, in a surprise strike, the Continental Army stole across the Delaware River, marched nine miles. defeated the British at Trenton, and the war turned.

As we stood in the place where Washington’s frozen and suffering troop began their march from the river to the battlefield, I felt the gravity of the challenge our country faces. But I also felt inspired. We may be politically battered. But the game is not up.