The list of Republicans who vow to support a Biden presidency grows day by day. So much so that former Barack Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, the ex-mayor of Chicago, declared 2020 will be the year of the Biden Republican.
On the first morning of the Aug. 24 GOP convention, the Biden campaign released a list of 27 former GOP lawmakers who had endorsed him. Since then, the list has grown.
Biden has won the endorsements of four Republican cabinet secretaries: Obama administration Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Bush administration Secretary of State Colin Powell, and EPA Director Christine Whitman, Forbes reported.
Whitman heads a group called “Republicans and Independents for Biden,” that has become one of Trump’s loudest critics.
Add to this list the former Gov. John Kasich, who challenged Trump for the GOP nomination in 2016; Anthony Scaramucci, who served as Trump’s White House communications director for two weeks; former Homeland Security Chief of Staff Miles Taylor; Carly Fiorina, a former Hewlett Packard CEO and GOP presidential candidate; and Meg Whitman, another Hewlett Packard CEO, who said Trump “has no clue how to run a business, let alone an economy.”
On top of this, four former Republican Senators have come out for Biden — David Durenberger, Minnesota; Gordon J. Humphrey, New Hampshire; John Warner, Virginia and Jeff Flake, Arizona.
Former Rep representatives Susan Molinari of New York, Charles Djou of Hawaii and Joe Walsh of Illinois are voting and stumping for Biden.
“You know, I’m not asking all these Republicans — I don’t even know half of ’em they’re endorsing me,” Biden told WPXI. “Have you ever seen more Republicans endorse a Democratic challenger? Of their stature? Not just the Colin Powells but 76 national security advisors coming out. I don’t even know them.”
“This will be the year of the Biden Republican,” he said in a “Closing Bell” interview.
So it’s no wonder Emanuel called this the year of the Republican exodus of the GOP — at least for the election. But Emanuel thinks this could change.
“My view is you don’t want this to be a transactional election. You want this to be the opportunity of a transformational election,” Emanuel said.
The former vice president can win over disaffected Republicans with a platform that has moderate language, Emanuel said, citing appearances at the Democratic National Convention of former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Colin Powell, secretary of State under President George W. Bush and Cindy McCain, widow of Sen. John McCain, among other GOP members.
“This will be the year of the Biden Republican,” Emanuel said.
“Joe Biden will be a president we will all be proud to salute,” Powell said in his message. “With Joe Biden in the White House, you will never doubt that he will stand with our friends and stand up to our adversaries — never the other way around.”
Emanuel said the 2020 election reminds him of when Ronald Reagan attracted Democrats to his presidential campaign. The “Reagan Democrats” — white, traditional blue-collar voters — helped Reagan defeat then-Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter in a landslide.
“The impact of this unprecedented campaign by members of a political party to oppose one of their own running for re-election as president remains to be seen. Polls show that Trump still enjoys nearly 90 percent approval among the Republican rank file,” Reuters reported.
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 73: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin makes the case for why this is a multi-factor rebellion vs. just protests about George Floyd. He discusses the Democratic Party’s sneaky relationship with the police in cities and states under Dem control, and why Joe Biden is a cop and the Steve Jobs of mass incarceration.
Anti-Trump groups include The Lincoln Project, founded by Republican political operatives; 43 Alumni for Biden, comprised of hundreds of officials who worked for Bush, the 43rd president; and Former Republican National Security Officials for Biden.
With the Biden campaign looking to build a broad coalition of liberals, moderate Republicans, and independents, the question arises, should there be a new party created as Cornel West and Nina Turner recently discussed? West and Turner were exploring the possibility of a party for Progressive Democrats.
Election Day on Nov. 3 will tell the country if party jumping has helped Biden make it to the White House again — this time as president.
