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Given that his loyalists are busy noisily bashing their keyboards and spouting increasingly ridiculous theories, it’s easy to forget that some Republicans are opposed to presidential nominee Donald Trump, but one mayor has offered us a welcome reminder.
John Giles, the Republican mayor of Mesa, Arizona, penned a scathing assessment of the former president and an endorsement of his opponent Kamala Harris in a new op-ed. Published on AZ Central on July 29, the piece sees the mayor denounce Trump for leading the Republican Party “down the path of political extremism [and] away from focusing on our fundamental freedoms.”
Giles went on to write that Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election goes against the GOP’s long-held “belief that every Arizonan, no matter their background or circumstances, should have the freedom, opportunity and security to live out their American Dream.”
The mayor later quoted the late Republican senator and 2008 presidential nominee John McCain, adopting the same mantra of putting his “country first” and calling on his constituents to do the same and “vote against Donald Trump.”
The scorching op-ed goes beyond just denouncing Trump — who Giles described as a “serious threat to our nation” — with the mayor even going as far as to sing praises for the Biden-Harris administration. He commended the current government for its infrastructure funding which created “thousands of jobs” in Arizona. Giles also described Harris as a candidate with a “high caliber of character and leadership.”
He’s not the only one to jump on the Kamala train, with everyone from George Clooney to Barack Obama and Charli XCX endorsing the presumptive Democratic nominee.
What makes Giles’ endorsement especially important is that it comes from Arizona, considered a key swing state in this year’s election given the Democrats’ win there in 2020. That itself was somewhat novel for the historically red state, and Giles’ cross-partisan endorsement — especially from Mesa, which was named the most conservative city in the U.S. in 2017 — might just continue the trend.
Of course, Giles is far from the only Republican to speak out against the party’s unshakable top dog. Former Vice President Mike Pence has described Trump’s election-denial as unconstitutional and declared he “should not be President”, while fellow high-profile Republicans Mitt Romney and William Barr have refused to endorse Trump.
For their part, Liz Cheney and Susan Collins were among those who were notably absent from this year’s Republican National Convention.