While Donald Trump’s supporters adamantly argue in defense of whatever Trump does, says, and is, Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, a key member of the Republican party, has said “Enough.” Schmidt helped run George W. Bush’s presidential campaign and managed John McCain’s run for president in 2008. He also helped get two GOP judges, Samuel Alito and John Roberts, onto the Supreme Court. But Steve Schmidt resigned from the Republican party last week, saying, “I’ll have no part in it.”
Steve Schmidt sees Donald Trump as destructive to not only the Republican party, but, if left unchecked, to the democracy this country has enjoyed. Steve Schmidt has compared Trump’s policies to those of the Nazi party. Schmidt’s main concern, however, according to Time Magazine, is not Trump himself, but “the failure of Republican leaders to stand up to him.”
“What destroyed the Republican Party isn’t Trump,” said Schmidt. “It’s the obedience to Trump from servile leaders like McConnell and Ryan who could have put a check on him. They have gotten their place in political history. They’ll be remembered as vile.”
Trump supporters frequently accuse those who didn’t vote for him of “whining” because they didn’t “get their way” in the 2016 presidential election. But one only has to look at the resignations and deep discord within the Republican party to know that there’s more to it than just “whining.”
Steve Schmidt’s disdain toward Donald Trump and his administration began during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, and has grown since Trump was elected. Among Schmidt’s reasons for finally leaving the Republican party are its position on same-sex marriage, and Trump’s praise for Kim Jong Un, leader of North Korea. The final straw, however, was the Trump Administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy that called for full prosecution and jail for those trying to cross the U.S. border from Mexico, and thus separating young children from their parents.
For the near future, Steve Schmidt says he’ll be voting for Democrats. Though he doesn’t fully align with the Democratic party’s agenda, Schmidt says he is “absolutely aligned with the party’s commitment and fidelity to democracy…[The Democratic Party] is an institution I respect. It’s an institution that has created many great leaders.
“I’ll be as supportive as I can to Democratic candidates who are running to displace this corruptive Republican majority… “If there is not a repudiation of Trumpism delivered this November, Steve Schmidt said, “We’re going to be living in a very different America than the one that everyone has been living in for the previous 240 years.”
Today News – Steve Schmidt leaves ‘the party of Trump’: ‘The GOP has become a danger to our democracy | Today News [2018-06-20]
Steve Schmidt, Longtime G.O.P. Strategist, Quits ‘Corrupt’ and ‘Immoral’ Party | Top Trends [2018-06-021]