Trump bleeds support from GOP elites and Washington establishment

WASHINGTON: MAGA supremo Donald Trump continues to bleed support from mainstream Republicans and the Washington establishment, with more than 100 GOP cabinet members, administration officials, and envoys declaring their support for Kamala Harris despite their reservations about Democrats.

In a signed letter they released on Wednesday, 111 former national security officials, mostly of Republican persuasion, said they expect to disagree with Kamala Harris on many domestic and foreign policy issues, "but we believe that she possesses the essential qualities to serve as President and Donald Trump does not."

"Donald Trump's susceptibility to flattery and manipulation by Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, unusual affinity for other authoritarian leaders, contempt for the norms of decent, ethical and lawful behavior, and chaotic national security decision-making are dangerous qualities... He is unfit to serve again as President, or indeed in any office of public trust," they said in a stinging rebuke of the former President.

The letter comes on the heels of a previous one in August in which 238 former Republican staffers endorsed Harris over Trump. The letter was ridiculed by the Trump campaign, which said no one knows who those staffers are. Signatories to the new letter include former Ambassadors to India (Richard Blackwill), to Pakistan (Richard Boucher), and to China (Winston Lord), besides former cabinet members William Cohen and Chuck Hagel, spy chiefs John Negroponte and William Webster, former lawmakers and senior officials in various Republican administrations. Their service ranged across the White House, the Departments of Defense, Treasury, State, Justice, Homeland Security, Commerce, and other agencies and in Congress.

Often dismissed as the "Washington elite" and "Deep State" by the MAGA constituency, the officials said even during his first-term Presidency, Trump "promoted daily chaos in government, praised our enemies and undermined our allies, politicized the military and disparaged our veterans, prioritized his personal interest above American interests, and betrayed our values, democracy, and this country's founding documents."

In contrast, they praised Harris for demonstrating a commitment to upholding the ideals that define the US freedom, democracy, and rule of law. They said they recognize and do not disparage potential concerns of Republicans, including about some of the positions advocated by the left wing of the Democratic party, but, they said, "any potential concerns pale in comparison to Trump's demonstrated chaotic and unethical behavior and disregard for our Republic's time-tested principles of constitutional governance."

The broader mainstream Republican support for Harris came despite two assassination attempts on Trump, and another episode on Wednesday when officials were reported to have found some explosive at a site close to an upcoming MAGA rally in Long Island, New York. Trump supporters are accusing Democrats, without the slightest proof, of trying to kill the former president, but the histrionics does not appear to be translating into any electoral gains.

The MAGA ploy of demonising immigrants with stories of them eating dogs and cats -- which even Republican officials have debunked -- has also found no traction. Most polls, except a few outliers promoted by MAGA propagandists, show Harris starting to gain support, including in previously Trump-leaning states such as Iowa and Florida where she has narrowed wide gaps.