These 8 Republicans Took The Stage At The DNC To Warn America About Trump

Earlier than Vice President Kamala Harris took the stage for her huge second on the Democratic Nationwide Conference on Thursday, the lineup was peppered with some unlikely audio system: a bevy of Republicans, together with some who labored in former President Donald Trump’s administration.

Many stated they don’t agree with Harris on every part, however that they’re selecting a candidate who at the least is aware of proper from incorrect. A number of shared their journey from diehard Trump supporter to DNC speaker, pleading with Individuals to not vote for him.

Right here’s what all of them needed to say.

Former White Home press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who by no means held a press convention whereas working for Trump, instructed the DNC crowd that in contrast to her boss, she “never wanted to stand at that podium and lie.”

“Now here I am behind a podium advocating for a Democrat, and that’s because I love my country more than my party,” she continued, saying she as soon as was a “true believer” in Trump’s politics who spent main holidays with him and his household.

She went on to explain Trump as somebody who has “no empathy, no morals, and no fidelity to the truth. When the cameras are off, she continued, he “mocks his supporters. He calls them basement-dwellers.”

Grisham additionally shared a textual content dialog she’d had with former first girl Melania Trump. When Grisham requested the primary girl if she’d prefer to say one thing to assist quell the violence on Jan. 6, 2021, Melania Trump merely replied, “No,” in response to Grisham.

Former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger had a primetime slot on the DNC schedule, and he got here out strongly for Harris.

“I’ve learned something about the Democratic Party, and I want to let my fellow Republicans in on the secret: The Democrats are as patriotic as us. They love this country just as much as we do,” the previous Illinois congressman stated.

“The Republican Party is no longer conservative,” he continued. “It has switched its allegiance from the principles that gave it purpose to a man whose only purpose is himself.”

Harris, he emphasised, “shares my allegiance to the rule of law, the Constitution and democracy.”

John Giles, the Republican mayor of Mesa, Ariz., instructed GOP voters they shouldn’t really feel any loyalty to Trump.

“I have an urgent message for the majority of Americans who, like me, are in the political middle: John McCain’s Republican party is gone and we don’t owe a damn thing to what’s been left behind,” he stated, referencing the late Arizona senator who was additionally a fierce critic of Trump.

Mesa is a metropolis of greater than half one million those that reliably votes Republican, and Arizona is a key battleground state within the presidential election.

Olivia Troye, as soon as a counterterrorism advisor to former Vice President Mike Pence, stated that “being inside Trump’s White House was terrifying.”

“But what keeps me up at night is what’ll happen if he gets back there,” she stated. “The guardrails are gone, the adults that were in the room the first time resigned or were fired.”

“I saw how Donald Trump undermined our intelligence community, our military leaders and ultimately our democratic process,” she continued, including that the USA’ international adversaries are rooting for a Trump victory.

She stated she’s supporting Harris “not because we agree on every issue, but because we agree on the most important issue: protecting our freedom.”

Former Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan stated he “realized Trump was a direct threat to democracy, and his actions disqualified him from ever, ever, ever stepping foot into the Oval Office again.”

His message was for Republicans and independents at residence, he stated, who’re “sick and tired of making excuses for Donald Trump.”

“Our party is not civil and conservative. It’s chaotic and crazy,” he stated to huge applause. “And the only thing left to do is dump Trump. These days our party acts more like a cult ― a cult worshipping a felonious thug.”

Wealthy Logis, the Florida co-chair for Republicans for Harris, stated in a video look that he “made a grave mistake” when he turned a diehard Trump supporter. “But it’s never too late to change your mind,” he continued.

“I finally stepped outside the MAGA echo chamber, I stopped listening to what Trump said and looked around with my own eyes,” he stated. “And I realized he had been lying about pretty much everything.”

Kyle Sweetser, a former Trump voter from Cellular, Alabama, stated he “held his nose” when he voted for Trump once more in 2016, despite the fact that his administration’s tariffs had harm his job as a development employee and raised enterprise prices.

When Trump tried to thwart the 2020 election outcomes, Sweetser stated he made a vow to himself. “I decided from that point, if this guy runs again, I’m going to vote Democrat for the first time in my life. So that’s when I started speaking out against Trump.”

Tv commentator Ana Navarro, a Republican who’s lengthy criticized Trump, hosted the primetime portion of Tuesday’s night time’s DNC occasion.

Harris is “legitimately a joyful, optimistic leader. She cares about policy, yes, but she also cares about people an about how that policy affects real people, not just the members of Mar-a-Lago.”

She additionally spoke about how a lot her Instagram-famous canine, ChaCha, likes Harris and vice versa, and reminded the viewers about how Trump broke a longstanding custom by not bringing any pets to the White Home.

“We cannot elect a president who does not like dogs or hangs around with people who shoot them,” she stated, referencing Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who admitted to deliberately taking pictures considered one of her canine in a memoir revealed earlier this 12 months.