111 Former GOP Officials Endorse Harris, Call Trump ‘Unfit for Duty’

The letter condemned Trump’s incitement of a mob to attack the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in order to maintain his grip on power after losing the election, saying he “has violated his oath of office and placed our country in danger.” It quoted Trump’s former Vice President, Mike Pence, as saying that “anyone who puts themselves above the Constitution should never be President of the United States.”

The letter came shortly after former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, both said they would vote for Harris. Democrats featured several anti-Trump Republicans at their nominating convention last month, including former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger. Pence has said he will not support Trump but has not endorsed Harris.

The 111 signatories included former officials who served under Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, or George W. Bush. Many of them had previously broken with Trump, including two former secretaries of defense, Chuck Hagel and William Cohen; Robert B. Zoellick, former president of the World Bank; former CIA directors Michael Hayden and William H. Webster; former Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte; and former Gov. William F. Weld of Massachusetts. Miles Taylor and Olivia Troye, two Trump administration officials who have become vocal critics, also signed.

But a number of Republicans who did not sign a similar letter on Biden’s behalf in 2020 signed a letter in support of Harris this time around, including former members of the House of Representatives such as Charles Boustany of Louisiana, Barbara Comstock of Virginia, Dan Miller of Florida and Bill Paxon of New York.

In their letter, the Republicans acknowledged concerns about “some of the positions espoused by the left wing of the Democratic Party,” some of whom have been quite critical of the Biden-Harris administration. Just last year, Zoellick wrote an essay for the paper criticizing Democratic economic policies. But the letter said that “any potential concerns” about Harris “pale in comparison” to those about Trump.

NEW YORK TIMES

Billie Eilish Endorses Harris, Joe Rogan Praises Her Debate

A celebrity pair whose views appeal to different groups of young Americans have boosted support for Kamala Harris as both the vice president and Donald Trump vie to attract first-time voters to their offices in the final weeks of an extremely close election race.

Pop star Billie Eilish posted an Instagram video with her brother encouraging her followers to register to vote, and the siblings revealed they planned to cast ballots for Harris. Podcaster Joe Rogan praised Harris’ political team for their messaging strategy and her recent debate performance, without directly endorsing her candidacy.

The celebrity comments — which aired after Taylor Swift endorsed Harris after last week’s debate — could prove to be a significant factor in winning over younger voters, who both campaigns are courting. Rogan’s compliments, while not a direct endorsement, offered implicit support for Harris. That’s a flaw in the Trump campaign’s strategy to appeal to younger men, who are a key part of Rogan’s listening base.

“They did an incredible job, from the moment Biden withdrew, forcing Biden to withdraw,” Rogan said of Harris’ team in an episode taped on Sept. 11 that aired Monday. “Whatever they’re doing, whoever’s writing these speeches” and coaching her, “she’s doing it.”

Rogan, a controversial figure for spreading misinformation and racist comments in the past, has been an outspoken critic of Trump. He has shown mixed political allegiances in the past, endorsing Bernie Sanders in the 2020 race while saying he would also favor Trump over Biden and previously expressing support for independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the 2024 cycle.

The Joe Rogan Experience is the No. 1 podcast on Spotify based on unique listeners and overall followers, and No. 5 on Apple Podcasts, which measures audience size, engagement, and episode completion. Eilish and her brother, who wrote and produced many of her songs, have a combined 123 million followers on Instagram.

“We are voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz because they are fighting to protect our reproductive freedom, our planet, and our democracy,” Billie Eilish, 22, said in a video. “Vote like your life depends on it, because it does.”

Harris’ campaign Instagram account commented on the post, referencing one of Eilish’s hits. “Birds of a feather,” they wrote, using a heart emoji.

Some of the biggest names in Democratic-leaning Hollywood have already endorsed Harris, including Swift and media mogul Oprah Winfrey, who is campaigning with Harris this week. Economists Craig Garthwaite and Timothy Moore, who assessed the impact of Winfrey’s support for Barack Obama in his first presidential race in 2008, found that her support helped add about 1 million votes to his victory.

While celebrity endorsements are rarely seen as game-changing, polls showing Harris and Trump essentially tied underscore the large role that efforts to encourage voting could play. Several celebrities encouraged their fans to register to vote on Tuesday, which was National Voter Registration Day in the United States.

BLOOMBERG

Sanders attacks Harris for not having biological children

Introducing former President Donald Trump at a town hall meeting in Michigan on Tuesday, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders extolled the virtue of humility in politics, telling a funny story: She once got emotional watching her daughter get ready for a father-daughter dance, and her daughter said, “It’s OK, Mommy, you can be pretty someday, too.”

“So my kids keep me humble,” Sanders said. Then, mispronouncing Vice President Kamala Harris’s name, she added: “Unfortunately, Kamala Harris has nothing that keeps her humble.”

The comment was widely interpreted as a reference to the fact that Harris has no biological children; she has two stepchildren. Sanders’s remarks, coming from a campaign surrogate whose vice presidential candidate, Senator J.D. Vance, Republican of Ohio, has been criticized for previously describing the Democratic leadership as “childless cat people,” quickly drew bipartisan backlash, including from Bryan Lanza, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign.

Lanza told CNN that the remark was “really offensive” and that he was “disappointed in Sarah.”

Several Democratic-leaning groups took note of the remark on social media, including the super political action committee American Bridge 21st Century, the Young Democrats of America and Republican Voters Against Trump. As did television commentators.

“Wow,” Mika Brzezinski said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “What is their obsession with women without children who have biological ties?”

A spokesman for Sanders did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did the Harris campaign.

Kerstin Emhoff — the ex-wife of Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, and the mother of Harris’ stepchildren — came to Harris’ defense.

“Cole and Ella inspire us to make the world a better place,” she said in a social media post, referring to her children. “I do that through storytelling. Kamala Harris has spent her entire career working for people, ALL families. That keeps you pretty humble.”

Vance has raised eyebrows on parenting before, saying in 2021 that perhaps parents “should have a greater voice in our democratic republic than people who don’t have children,” a comment he later called a “thought experiment” and not meant to be serious.

He also said he was not disparaging childless women but reiterated that Democrats are “anti-family.”

His “childless cat women” remark has become something of a cultural phenomenon among Harris supporters. One sign of its continuing resonance was when Taylor Swift used it to sign off on her support for Harris last week.

NEW YORK TIMES