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- The 2020 Democratic National Convention saw several well-known Republican figures speak out and endorse former Vice President Joe Biden.
- In the hyper-partisan backdrop of a US presidential race, it is highly unusual for leading Republicans to back Democratic candidates and speak out in the DNC.
- What is happening is emblematic of how President Donald Trump has turned the modern GOP upside down, backing conspiracy theorists who come to Congress and inviting viral and gun couples to speak at the RNC.
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
The 2020 Democratic National Convention still has two nights left and it has already featured several prominent Republicans as speakers, which is emblematic of how President Donald Trump has upset the GOP and alienated himself from the wing of the party establishment.
John Kasich, former Ohio governor and former GOP presidential candidate, wholeheartedly endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden in remarks Monday night, excoriating Trump in the process.
“I have been a long-time Republican, but this attachment comes second after my responsibility to my country,” Kasich said. “That’s why I chose to attend this convention. In normal times something like this would probably never happen. But these are not normal times.”
The former governor of Ohio was right: Under normal circumstances, it would be unthinkable to see well-known Republican figures lend their votes to the DNC to endorse the Democratic presidential candidate.
Under Trump, however, times are decidedly abnormal and the GOP is a divided party.
—John Kasich (@JohnKasich) Aug 18, 2020
Normally, a Republican presidential candidate would see top Republican figures, including former GOP presidents, lining up to speak on their behalf from the Republican National Convention.
This is not the case with Trump, who has been abandoned by recent Republican Party standard-bearers.
Every GOP convention from 1980 to 2012 saw a member of the Bush family speak. But the Bushes, including two former Republican presidents (George HW Bush and George W. Bush), were absent from RNC 2016 when Trump first received the party’s nomination.
Former President George W. Bush will not speak at the RNC next week either, nor will his brother Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and former GOP presidential candidate.
Meanwhile, Republican Colin Powell, who served as Bush’s secretary of state, strongly endorsed Biden and touted the former vice president’s national security credentials Tuesday night at the DNC.
“The values I learned growing up in the South Bronx and serving in uniform were the same values Joe Biden’s parents instilled in him in Scranton, Pa. I support Joe Biden for the presidency of the United States because that those values still define him, and we have to restore those values to the White House, ”Powell said in a video released on the second night of the convention.
—MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 19, 2020
In 2016, all but one of the former GOP presidential candidates (Bob Dole) jumped onto the RNC.
GOP Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, the 2012 GOP nominee, did not attend in 2016 and will not be attending this year either. Romney was the only Republican to vote to convict Trump in the Senate impeachment trial in early 2020, highlighting at another point the profound ways in which Trump has been ostracized by household names in the GOP.
By comparison, all of the living former Democratic presidents – Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama – have strongly supported Biden and are speakers at the 2020 Democratic convention. And all of Biden’s major 2020 Democratic opponents have lined up behind him.
A former senior member of the Trump administration, Miles Taylor, also endorsed Biden this week, saying working under the Trump administration was “terrifying.”
As Biden garners support from Democrats and Republicans, Trump lines up behind far-right conspiracy theorists in Republican primaries and invites obscure figures to the RNC as speakers to fill in gaps created by prominent figures of the GOP who will not lend their names or their votes. to the current Commander-in-Chief.
Patricia and Mark McCloskey, for example, the Missouri couple who rose to internet fame for pointing guns at Black Lives Matter protesters in St. Louis earlier this summer, were invited to speak at RNC 2020.
Armed homeowners Mark and Patricia McCloskey, standing outside their home along Portland Place, clash with protesters marching towards the home of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson in west-central St. Louis.
Laurie Skrivan / St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP
Longtime Republican Cindy McCain and wife of the late GOP Senator John McCain highlighted Biden’s bipartisan credentials by approving a video for him at the DNC on Tuesday. While Biden has earned a reputation as a skilled person at building relationships across the aisle, his ability to garner GOP support this election cycle can largely be attributed to the person against whom He introduces himself.
Yet the bipartisan support Biden currently enjoys is remarkable in the context of the generally hyper-partisan nature of US presidential races. What is happening is utterly unorthodox and characterizes the way Trump has fractured the GOP with his inflammatory behavior and divisive approach to the presidency.
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