“I think that Donald Trump is the most grave threat we will face to our democracy in our lifetime, and potentially in American history.”
That warning comes not from Joe Biden or Kamala Harris — or any Democrat, for that matter. It comes from Cassidy Hutchinson, who served as a top aide to Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and closely observed the president from her post near the Oval Office. She is only one of many former Trump aides and advisers who now despise the former president and view his possible return to the White House with grave alarm.
“These are folks who saw him up close and personal and saw his leadership style,” Sarah Matthews, a former deputy White House press secretary, told The Associated Press. “The American people should listen to what these folks are saying because it should be alarming that the people that Trump hired to work for him a first term are saying that he’s unfit to serve for a second term.”
Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said in USA Today that this level of resentment and rejection among a White House staff is totally unprecedented: “To see this many people coming out of an administration they worked for saying, ‘danger, don’t let that guy anywhere near the White House again, it will put our democracy in peril,’ it’s a stunning thing.”
Of course, the vast majority of Republicans remain deeply loyal to Trump. During the GOP primaries, he received more than 17 million votes — almost 77% of the total.
Still, the primaries revealed some of the dismay now being expressed by disillusioned staff members. Trump’s main rival, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, won 4.4 million votes — almost 20%.
Those are the voters Democrats are aiming at with a new campaign organization, Republicans for Harris, that is backed by a roster of anti-Trump defectors like Denver Riggleman, a former Virginia congressman.
“I’ve seen with my own eyes,” he said in a statement, “how Trump’s thirst for power, revenge and retribution is his real motivation, and that’s why I cannot stand by while he tries to destroy our country.”
Riggleman’s words echo the most common complaint GOP apostates have about Trump. Their denunciations are based far more on personality than policy. They simply don’t trust his character or his judgment.
“I think that he is erratic,” Trump’s former communications director, Stephanie Grisham, told ABC. “I think that he can be delusional. I think that he is a narcissist and cares about himself first and foremost.”
Military advisers seem particularly perturbed, even offended, by Trump’s behavior. His first secretary of the Navy, Richard Spencer, spoke for many defense professionals when he wrote in the Washington Post: “The president has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices.”
John F. Kelly, a former Marine general who served as White House chief of staff, told CNN that Trump “admires autocrats and murderous dictators” and “has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about.”
Previous legal advisers also seem especially fearful of another Trump term. Some point out he is a convicted felon, like former special counsel Ty Cobb, who told the Washington Post: “His divisive lies, as well as from his unrestrained contempt for the rule of law and his related crimes, his conduct and mere existence have hastened the demise of democracy and of the nation.”
Trump’s second attorney general, Bill Barr, emphasized Trump’s election lies and said on CNN, “Someone who engaged in that kind of bullying about a process that is fundamental to our system and to our self-government shouldn’t be anywhere near the Oval Office.”
Yet another vociferous faction argues that Trump is not a true conservative, but a radical foe of established order and tradition. His own vice president, Mike Pence, who defied Trump’s attempt to subvert the counting of election results, told Fox News: “Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years. That’s why I cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump in this campaign.”
Sure, many Democrats thought Biden was too old and infirm to seek another term. But none denounced him as a moral reprobate completely unfit for public office. Now some of the advisers who know Trump the best are warning voters: Stop him. Now.
Steven Roberts teaches politics and journalism at George Washington University.
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