Senate Republican Basically Says She Won't Vote for Trump Because He's an Asshole
In an op-ed published by The Washington Post Monday night, Republican Senator Susan Collins said she will not be voting for Donald Trump in November due to his “complete disregard for common decency” and “constant stream of cruel comments.” Or, as Mother Jones reporter Tim Murphy more succinctly put it, because he’s a complete asshole.
The essence of Collins' rejection of Trump is that he's an irredeemable asshole. pic.twitter.com/bA3BdyO3G2
— DENALI (@timothypmurphy) August 9, 2016
Collins—a moderate Republican who said in June that it was possible (although unlikely) that she might back Hillary Clinton—cited three specific examples of Trump’s assholishness to make her case. From The Hill:
The first was his mocking of a reporter with disabilities, which is now featured prominently in a Clinton campaign ad knocking Trump.
The second incident was the dustup with Judge Gonzalo Curiel, an Indiana-born federal judge presiding over a case involving Trump University. Trump alleged he couldn’t be impartial because if his Mexican heritage, which Collins said “demonstrated a profound lack of respect not only for the judge but also for our constitutional separation of powers, the very foundation of our form of government.”
The final straw that cost Trump her support was the his feud with the parents of a Muslim-American solider killed in the Iraq War.
“I revere the history of my party, most particularly the value it has always placed on the worth and dignity of the individual, and I will continue to work across the country for Republican candidates,” wrote Collins. “It is because of Mr. Trump’s inability and unwillingness to honor that legacy that I am unable to support his candidacy.”
If Collins looked more closely, however, she’d see that that legacy is exactly what made the ascension of this particular asshole possible.