U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is in the national spotlight today for joining the list of prominent Republicans who say they will not support Donald Trump for president.
In an OpEd for the Washington Post, Collins says Trump “does not reflect historical Republican values.”
Collins says she simply cannot vote for Trump, because his actions and words show that he is unsuited to be president. She cites Trump’s increasingly strident campaign and ethnic attacks as reasons why she withheld her support even after he won the Republican Party nomination.
Collins says Trump’s attacks on the family of Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq while saving the lives of fellow soldiers, solidified her decision not to vote for him.
“To hear Donald Trump display absolutely no sympathy for a family who lost their son in combat in Iraq was just unthinkable to me,” she says.
Collins says as the daughter of a World War II veteran, she learned firsthand from her father about the sacrifices of war and service in the military, and she was personally offended at Trump’s comments about the Khan family.
“I feel a special obligation to the families who have sacrificed so much for our country. It was my father who taught me to respect our veterans and honor their sacrifice,” she says.
Collins does not believe that Trump is really a Republican, even though he won the party nomination. She says Trump does not represent the fiscal and social principles that most Republicans believe in.
“I don’t believe that he respects individuals. He acts like the schoolyard bully, who may not be the biggest or the fastest or the smartest, but has a knack at manipulating people,” she says.
And Collins says she fully expects to be criticized for her decision, particularly from the far right in her party that has long branded her a RINO: a Republican In Name Only. But Collins says she must put country above politics.
“This was a difficult decision for me because I have always backed our party’s nominee,” she says. “But there comes a point where one has to decide if the person is going to be good for our country.”
Collins says there is no doubt in her mind that Trump would be bad for the country. She says she hasn’t decided how she will vote this fall, but does say she will not support Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. She says she’s looking at Libertarian nominees Gary Johnson, the former Republican governor of New Mexico, and former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, for whom she served as deputy treasurer.
“If Bill Weld, the former governor from Massachusetts, whom I know well, were at the top of the Libertarian ticket, I would probably vote for him,” she says. “But I don’t know much about Gov. Johnson.”
Collins says she may choose to write in a candidate. In the meantime, she says she will be campaigning for other down-ticket Republicans in Maine this fall.
