How long before it's us?

[Mugwump]

Harvard Republican Club
Yesterday at 1:30pm ?

Dear Members and Alumni,

In every presidential election since 1888, the members and Executive Board of the Harvard Republican Club have gathered to discuss, debate, and eventually endorse the standard-bearer of our party. But for the first time in 128 years, we, the oldest College Republicans chapter in the nation, will not be endorsing the Republican nominee.

Donald Trump holds views that are antithetical to our values not only as Republicans, but as Americans. The rhetoric he espouses ?from racist slander to misogynistic taunts? is not consistent with our conservative principles, and his repeated mocking of the disabled and belittling of the sacrifices made by prisoners of war, Gold Star families, and Purple Heart recipients is not only bad politics, but absurdly cruel.

If enacted, Donald Trump?s platform would endanger our security both at home and abroad. Domestically, his protectionist trade policies and draconian immigration restrictions would enlarge our federal deficit, raise prices for consumers, and throw our economy back into recession. Trump?s global outlook, steeped in isolationism, is considerably out-of-step with the traditional Republican stance as well. The flippancy with which he is willing to abdicate the United States? responsibility to lead is alarming. Calling for the US? withdrawal from NATO and actively endorsing nuclear proliferation, Donald Trump?s foreign policy would wreak havoc on the established world order which has held aggressive foreign powers in check since World War II.

Perhaps most importantly, however, Donald Trump simply does not possess the temperament and character necessary to lead the United States through an increasingly perilous world. The last week should have made obvious to all what has been obvious to most for more than a year. In response to any slight ?perceived or real? Donald Trump lashes out viciously and irresponsibly. In Trump?s eyes, disagreement with his actions or his policies warrants incessant name calling and derision: stupid, lying, fat, ugly, weak, failing, idiot ?and that?s just his ?fellow? Republicans.

He isn?t eschewing political correctness. He is eschewing basic human decency.

Donald Trump, despite spending more than a year on the campaign trail, has either refused or been unable to educate himself on issues that matter most to Americans like us. He speaks only in platitudes, about greatness, success, and winning. Time and time again, Trump has demonstrated his complete lack of knowledge on critical matters, meandering from position to position over the course of the election. When confronted about these frequent reversals, Trump lies in a manner more brazen and shameless than anything politics has ever seen.

Millions of people across the country are feeling despondent. Their hours have been cut, wages slashed, jobs even shipped overseas. But Donald Trump doesn?t have a plan to fix that. He has a plan to exploit that.

Donald Trump is a threat to the survival of the Republic. His authoritarian tendencies and flirtations with fascism are unparalleled in the history of our democracy. He hopes to divide us by race, by class, and by religion, instilling enough fear and anxiety to propel himself to the White House. He is looking to to pit neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend, American against American. We will not stand for this vitriolic rhetoric that is poisoning our country and our children.

President Reagan called on us to maintain this, our shining city on a hill. He called on us to maintain freedom abroad by keeping a strong presence in the world. He called on us to maintain liberty at home by upholding the democratic process and respecting our opponents. He called on us to maintain decency in our hearts by loving our neighbor.

He would be ashamed of Donald Trump. We are too.

This fall, we will instead focus our efforts on reclaiming the Republican Party from those who have done it considerable harm, campaigning for candidates who will uphold the conservative principles that have defined the Republican Party for generations. We will work to ensure both chambers of Congress remain in Republican hands, continuing to protect against executive overreach regardless of who wins the election this November.

We call on our party?s elected leaders to renounce their support of Donald Trump, and urge our fellow College Republicans to join us in condemning and withholding their endorsement from this dangerous man. The conservative movement in America should not and will not go quietly into the night.

A longtime student of American democracy, Alexis de Tocqueville once said, ?America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.?

De Tocqueville believed in the United States. Americans are a decent people. We work hard, protect our own, and look out for one another in times of need, regardless of the color of our skin, the God we worship, or our party registration. Donald Trump may not believe in that America, but we do. And that America will never cease to be great.

The Harvard Republican Club

[BallAquatics]

Yep it was easy to be proud to be a Republican back then.....

https://youtu.be/WiSyGi7IQvk

Dennis

[LizStreithorst]

Great speech.  the Republican party was not always the way is is today. It's strange to me to see the Democrats united and the Republican party is such disarray.   

[BallAquatics]

I don't think the Democrats are all that united.  There are a LOT of Democrats who don't like Hillary and are still very verbal about it.  If she can't get into the White House this time, she will definitely never have a better opportunity or a lesser opponent.

Dennis

[Mugwump]

I don't think the Democrats are all that united.  There are a LOT of Democrats who don't like Hillary and are still very verbal about it.  If she can't get into the White House this time, she will definitely never have a better opportunity or a lesser opponent.

Dennis

There won't be a next time, Dennis....

[wallace]

The Dems aren't what they used to be either... if you're an old fashioned working class new-deal democrat there isn't much to like about Hillary.

[ghonk]

I never was a fan of the republican party,and that's putting it mildly,but the GOP of the past are looking like Geniuses compared to what they have going on now.

Teabaggers ,and spineless sheep who are ONLY concerned about keeping their jobs, with a disgusting mentally ill man as their presidential candidate. 

[LizStreithorst]

The Repubs have different views from mine.  I think that they can be good.  I try to keep an open mind.

Right now they are in the processes of destroying themselves but they will come to their seances after they loose the presidential election by a huge margin, which they will .

[ghonk]

I don't think they will come to their senses,they will just try to do a better job of hiding  their true agenda.

[LizStreithorst]

I disagree.

[Mugwump]

I disagree.

..if they do, it'll be a long steep hill to climb....it took them almost 3 decades to get this way....and tougher changing back to anything similar to respectability...

[LizStreithorst]

Look at the state of the Democratic party in the 70's and later.  Yes, it takes time...a long time but it's either regroup and learn to work together or fall apart.

[wallace]

I disagree.

..if they do, it'll be a long steep hill to climb....it took them almost 3 decades to get this way....and tougher changing back to anything similar to respectability...

I'll see your 3 and raise it 3 more decades to Ike. 

[Mugwump]

I disagree.

..if they do, it'll be a long steep hill to climb....it took them almost 3 decades to get this way....and tougher changing back to anything similar to respectability...

I'll see your 3 and raise it 3 more decades to Ike. 

....Good old Ike....I still have one of the buttons here somewhere...I helped pass them around town back then...

[Mugwump]

During a 33-year career at the Central Intelligence Agency, I served presidents of both parties ? three Republicans and three Democrats. I was at President George W. Bush?s side when we were attacked on Sept. 11; as deputy director of the agency, I was with President Obama when we killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.

I am neither a registered Democrat nor a registered Republican. In my 40 years of voting, I have pulled the lever for candidates of both parties. As a government official, I have always been silent about my preference for president.

No longer. On Nov. 8, I will vote for Hillary Clinton. Between now and then, I will do everything I can to ensure that she is elected as our 45th president.

Two strongly held beliefs have brought me to this decision. First, Mrs. Clinton is highly qualified to be commander in chief. I trust she will deliver on the most important duty of a president ? keeping our nation safe. Second, Donald J. Trump is not only unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security.

I spent four years working with Mrs. Clinton when she was secretary of state, most often in the White House Situation Room. In these critically important meetings, I found her to be prepared, detail-oriented, thoughtful, inquisitive and willing to change her mind if presented with a compelling argument.

I also saw the secretary?s commitment to our nation?s security; her belief that America is an exceptional nation that must lead in the world for the country to remain secure and prosperous; her understanding that diplomacy can be effective only if the country is perceived as willing and able to use force if necessary; and, most important, her capacity to make the most difficult decision of all ? whether to put young American women and men in harm?s way.

Mrs. Clinton was an early advocate of the raid that brought Bin Laden to justice, in opposition to some of her most important colleagues on the National Security Council. During the early debates about how we should respond to the Syrian civil war, she was a strong proponent of a more aggressive approach, one that might have prevented the Islamic State from gaining a foothold in Syria.

I never saw her bring politics into the Situation Room. In fact, I saw the opposite. When some wanted to delay the Bin Laden raid by one day because the White House Correspondents Dinner might be disrupted, she said, ?Screw the White House Correspondents Dinner.?

In sharp contrast to Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump has no experience on national security. Even more important, the character traits he has exhibited during the primary season suggest he would be a poor, even dangerous, commander in chief.

These traits include his obvious need for self-aggrandizement, his overreaction to perceived slights, his tendency to make decisions based on intuition, his refusal to change his views based on new information, his routine carelessness with the facts, his unwillingness to listen to others and his lack of respect for the rule of law.

The dangers that flow from Mr. Trump?s character are not just risks that would emerge if he became president. It is already damaging our national security.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was a career intelligence officer, trained to identify vulnerabilities in an individual and to exploit them. That is exactly what he did early in the primaries. Mr. Putin played upon Mr. Trump?s vulnerabilities by complimenting him. He responded just as Mr. Putin had calculated.

Mr. Putin is a great leader, Mr. Trump says, ignoring that he has killed and jailed journalists and political opponents, has invaded two of his neighbors and is driving his economy to ruin. Mr. Trump has also taken policy positions consistent with Russian, not American, interests ? endorsing Russian espionage against the United States, supporting Russia?s annexation of Crimea and giving a green light to a possible Russian invasion of the Baltic States.

In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.

Mr. Trump has also undermined security with his call for barring Muslims from entering the country. This position, which so clearly contradicts the foundational values of our nation, plays into the hands of the jihadist narrative that our fight against terrorism is a war between religions.

In fact, many Muslim Americans play critical roles in protecting our country, including the man, whom I cannot identify, who ran the C.I.A.?s Counterterrorism Center for nearly a decade and who I believe is most responsible for keeping America safe since the Sept. 11 attacks.

My training as an intelligence officer taught me to call it as I see it. This is what I did for the C.I.A. This is what I am doing now. Our nation will be much safer with Hillary Clinton as president.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/05/opinion/campaign-stops/i-ran-the-cia-now-im-endorsing-hillary-clinton.html