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George W Bush’s attorney general has slammed Donald Trump as “the most serious threat to the rule of law in a generation” in a scathing op-ed, adding himself to the growing list of Republicans endorsing Kamala Harris for president.
Alberto R Gonzales, who served as Bush’s White House counsel from 2001 to 2005 when he then became the US attorney general from 2005 to 2007, penned an op-ed in Politico explaining, unabashedly, why he plans to vote for Harris in November following her debate against Trump.
In it, he warned of the dangers he believes Trump poses to the country’s “rule of law,” pointing to the state of the other governmental branches, the former president’s role on January 6 2021, and his ongoing legal woes.
“As the United States approaches a critical election, I can’t sit quietly as Donald Trump — perhaps the most serious threat to the rule of law in a generation — eyes a return to the White House,” Gonzales wrote.
“For that reason, though I’m a Republican, I’ve decided to support Kamala Harris for president.”
The former AG emphasized that the “character” of the next president is “particularly important,” pointing to the other two branches of government.
“The current members of the House of Representatives and the Senate have proven spectacularly incapable or unwilling to check abuses of executive power,” he wrote brutally.
Gonzales then alluded to the Supreme Court’s July immunity ruling, which granted Trump some immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts. The former AG warned: “Power is intoxicating and based on Trump’s rhetoric and conduct it appears unlikely that he would respect the power of the presidency in all instances; rather, he would abuse it for personal and political gain, and not on behalf of the American people.”
To exemplify this, Gonzales turned to Trump’s role during the Capitol riot, when he refused to call on the mob of his followers to stop the attack as they sought to block the certification of the 2020 election for President Joe Biden.
“Trump failed to do his duty and exercise his presidential power to protect members of Congress, law enforcement and the Capitol from the attacks that day,” Gonzales wrote.
“Trump still describes that day as beautiful. And as for those subsequently convicted of committing crimes, he describes them as hostages. He also has promised to pardon the convicted rioters if elected. Why? Because they were acting in his interests.”
On top of this, Gonzales argued that Trump’s many ongoing legal battles — as well as his conviction in his criminal hush money trial in New York and the civil judgment in the E Jean Carroll defamation cases — “show that Trump is someone who fails to act, time and time again, in accordance with the rule of law.”
These cases demonstrate that there is “little evidence” to support the notion that the GOP presidential nominee “has the integrity and character to responsibly wield the power of the presidency within the limits of the law.” He added: “And no amount of rationalization to support Trump because of his policies can overcome the disqualification of this man based on his lack of integrity.”
While Gonzales admitted that he doesn’t know Trump well personally, having only met him one time, he underscored the weight of his former administration officials’ refusal to endorse the Republican presidential candidate for a second term. Their lack of support “is an indictment of his character at a level equal to his many, many criminal indictments,” Gonzales argued.
In stark contrast to Trump, he continued, Harris has a strong track record of respecting the rule of law, given her time as prosecutor and state attorney general.
Gonzales admitted that he does not align entirely with Harris’s views and remarked that she does not have the same level of foreign policy experience and relationships with world leaders that Biden does.
That said, he underscored that while it’s unclear exactly how Harris will govern if elected, “there is little mystery or doubt…about how Trump will act and govern based on past behavior and comments.”
After closely watching the election cycle in recent months, namely the Democratic National Convention and Tuesday night’s debate, Gonzales said he believes Harris is “the best suited, able and committed to unite us in a manner consistent with the rule of law.”
His endorsement marks the latest in a growing list of Republicans and former Trump administration officials who have vowed to vote for Harris in November.
That list includes Bush’s vice president Dick Cheney, Melania Trump’s former aide Stephanie Grisham, former vice president Mike Pence’s counterterrorism advisor Olivia Troye, as well as Republican former Congress members Joe Walsh, Tom Coleman, Jim Greenwood, Denver Riggleman, and Adam Kinzinger.
