Photo by David Gordon.
Speaker after Speaker and guest after guest all stressed the same themes at the Republicans and Independents for Harris Rally at the home of former State Legislator and Republicans for Harris Co-Chairperson Robin Shaw.
Country over Party
Character over Cult.
Unity over Division.
Kamala Harris will be a President for All Americans.
Get out the vote and make sure Donald Trump NEVER sits in the Oval Office again.
In all of their minds and hearts, Vice President Kamala Harris, unlike Donald Trump, is the one candidate in this Presidential race who has the character, would provide competent leadership, and would be a President for all Americans.
Photo by David Gordon.
Before the featured speakers Robin Shaw, Mesa Mayor John Giles, former Pence National Security Advisor Olivia Troye, and Representative/Democratic United States Senate Candidate Ruben Gallego spoke, several guests offered their perspectives on why they were supporting Harris over Trump.
John Martinson said he felt Harris, unlike Trump would provide "good leadership" if elected President this November.
Gail Smith called Trump:
"A terrible candidate who's a convicted felon and an adjudicated sexual assaulter." She reaffirmed "I'm not voting for someone like that. Character does matter...We cannot elect a man with no character, no morals, as President of the United States."
Saying why she was supporting Harris, Roberta Voss, a leading member of Republicans for Harris and former Arizona State Legislator, offered:
"She's the only one who is educated and capable whether it's on policy issues or actual demeanor. She is the only one capable and competent to represent the United States and capable of taking the country forward."
Another former State Legislator, Steve May said:
"Trump is a great danger to our Democracy. A danger to the country. A danger to our culture...I think Harris is developing a coalition that includes conservatives like me. I think after she gets elected, we can fight over policy differences but step one is we have to treat Trump and Trumpism."
Another former State Legislator Doug Coleman on why he was supporting Harris over Trump:
"Character counts and that's that's really my number one thing. The policy is temporary. It comes and goes. I may not agree with the Vice President on everything but I don't think she'll arrange to have the Capital stormed (like Trump on January 6, 2021,) So that's my concern. If you start attacking our institutions and the very foundation of our Republic, I can't support that."
Michelle Olsen on why she is supporting the Vice President:
"I believe that she is what our country needs right now. She is a good example for our young people, especially young women and girls. I think that she could be a good blend of both sides, both sides (Republicans and Democrats.)...I want to see her policies beyond abortion and immigration.
As a follow-up, I asked what she thought of Harris's plans for an Opportunity Economy with programs like an expanded child tax credit (and child care/Universal Pre-K) and additional opportunities for affordable housing. Ms. Olsen relayed:
"I think it's phenomenal. They're needed in every state in the Union. My children are 30 years old. When I was a young mother, we paid for daycare so that I could keep a career. And that would be helpful to young mothers everywhere so that they can do both."
Before the main speakers spoke, Ms. Shaw played a recording of the former New Jersey Governor and Bush II Environmental Protection Agency Director Christine Todd Whitman.
In her recorded remarks, Governor Whitman said there was no longer a Republican Party. She called it "A Cult of Trump" and stressed to all the attendees that "for this election cycle if you love our country, it's not about party. It's about patriotism."
In her remarks, Robin Shaw conveyed the urgency of Republicans and Independents banding together to support Harris, relaying:
"We need to come together and we really need to get the word out. We cannot endure another four years of Donald Trump...We have one job and that is to hand Harris Arizona's 11 electoral votes..."
"...Even if you don't agree with the policy, understand that her Administration will abide by the laws of the land. She will not try to gut the US Constitution. And let's face it. She's not a convicted criminal and sexual abuser..."
"...To cross party lines to vote for a Democrat and it's hard to believe me, I know. You know anyone who's been out there talking about this day and night night and day for weeks and weeks and weeks. Now we know the backlash. It hurts. It's painful. And sometimes it's scary. But you know why you're doing this? Because right here in Arizona, we have the ability to change the election. You sitting right here. Your votes and your friend's votes will hand those 11 electoral votes over to Kamala Harris and we have to do that. We have to do that. It is our job here. Nothing else. Right now, we need to focus on that and get as many people as we can to cross over and vote..."
Mesa Mayor and Republican for Harris Co-Chair John Giles spoke next and echoed many of his fellow co-chairs sentiments on why getting fellow Republicans and Independents to vote for Harris over Trump was a righteous mission, saying:
"I think silence is not an option when you're confronted with these types of moral dilemmas in life. If I were to be silent on this and I know, I think you feel the same way, how do I look my children in the eyes? How do I look my grandchildren in the eye and say sorry, good luck with that country? I think we all need to be reminded that there's a higher law, and that's really where, where our Allegiance lies, not in what used to be an admirable political party."
Probably the most important part of his comments was his assertion that on issues like the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, Border Security, and Infrastructure, "Kamala Harris was more of a Republican than Donald Trump."
On the Bipartisan Border Security Bill in the Senate, for example, Giles noted that:
"Republicans, love to talk about the Border, don't they? Did you hear that? Comes the answer a couple of nights ago when she (Harris) spelled out this bipartisan immigration and border control legislation that our Senator Sinema and the very conservative Senator Lankford from Oklahoma worked on for months and months that was greenlighted by both parties. There was a done deal until Donald Trump decided that he wanted that issue to be exploited for his own personal political gain and not be treated as a problem that could be solved and that is where we had consensus among both sides to make you know real progress on that... So which one of those candidates is the better Republican."
On legislation like the CHIPS Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Giles heaped a lot of praise on the Biden/Harris Administration, stating:
"These (measures) brought billions and billions of dollars of infrastructure from the Federal government to local cities and towns. And again, speaking as a mayor, I got to say that the Biden Administration has learned how to govern from the Middle. And Vice President Harris has already said that is going to be how she will govern. She has already said she will take that bipartisan immigration Bill, and start with it (after entering office.)"
Former Pence National Security Advisor Olivia Troye probably had the funniest line of the night, reminding people of the absurdity of Trump's claims that Haitian illegal immigrants were eating pets when she yelled "Protect the dog" as the Shaw dog came into the room. Towards the end of her comments, she said she might start a Pet Owners for Harris group.
In her remarks, Troye described an unhinged Trump who, when President, would come into the Situation Room more concerned with negative remarks Sean Hannity made about him on Fox than the national or international crisis of the moment.
She also mentioned that she, like many in the room, missed John McCain and his emphasis on country over party, commenting "This isn't the party that I grew up with... It certainly isn't the party of John McCain."
When talking about the war in Ukraine, Troye remarked that Trump would "do, whatever Putin wants him to do."
Furthermore, she was flabbergasted that Trump cited only one leader who he admired at the recent debate, Hungary's Authoritarian Viktor Orban.
On Harris, she said:
"I mean regardless of your political leanings or however you feel on the issues about Kamala Harris, she was Presidential up there (during the debate.) She was ready to lead. She was actually talking about policy issues and her vision for the future, which I think is greatly needed; A Better Way Forward for our Country."
On Trump, she added:
"What Donald Trump would do. He showed us exactly who he is and remains and I see that because as I watched it, You know, I reflected on it and I said, I'm glad actually that he's back on the debate stage and doing this right now even though I hate what it does to the Republican Party because it's exactly who he was when he was in the White House...I've watched his trajectory and he's gotten worse...he doesn't have a moral compass... He doesn't have a strong sense of being able other than, as long as it glorifies him. As long as he's in the spotlight. As long as he's making money off of it. As long as he looks good. That's good with him...They (Trumpists)want us to hate each other... They want us to be each other's enemies because that's how they win. I mean, they're going to exploit that. They want us to turn on each other..."
On supporting Harris in 2024, Troyes justified it by stating:
"I know she is going to protect our freedoms and she's going to represent those values. I don't have to agree with her on everything. I think that's healthy. It used to be healthy that we could do that in our politics."
After Troye's comments, the people gathered to take a group video clip. Please see below.
Representative and Democratic Senate Nominee Ruben Gallego was the surprise and final speaker of the night and he stressed the unity of purpose in putting country over party that the other speakers and guests relayed. He also made a point of framing how Trump Republicans could never understand or be like the McCain Republicans who put the nation first.
Among his remarks were:
"We are all here to protect the Constitution of the United States. We do that not as Democrats or Republicans, or as independents. We do it as Americans."
"The people in this room have done amazing things for this state and not because you're Republicans, because you are all great servants to Arizona."
"The people (MAGA Trumpists like Trump and Kari Lake) that dislike people like John McCain; Inherently inside their souls, they can't understand the idea of putting the country before the self. They cannot understand it. And if anything it frightens them, and there's a certain level of jealousy to it...it creates instant hard flashes because it makes them take reflection upon who they are, and what they've done for this country and they realize that they have fallen short...They should be better Americans. But they can't. It's not in them. And that's what you saw on the debate stage. You saw someone (Trump) who is a lesser American, could not be a better American, compared to Kamala Harris who was, at the core, really reflecting what the McCain family is..."
After Ms. Troye finished her comments, I was reminded of a similar political realignment that occurred when Ronald Reagan became President in 1981. Many hawkish Democrats, known historically as Scoop Jackson Democrats, named after the late Washington Senator who, like Reagan, was distrustful of the Russians and leery about Detente, felt their party had become too soft on national security and flocked to Reagan's banner following Jackson's death in 1983.
I asked Wes Gullett, a former aide to John McCain, who was at this evening's event if a similar realignment was possibly taking place in 2024 with McCain Republicans being today's Scoop Jackson Democrats with the Republican Party descending into a Cult of Personality over Trump. He said that was "an accurate" analogy.
With the help of Scoop Jackson Democrats, Reagan's political legacy lasted for close to 30 years.
Imagine the legacy a Harris Presidency can forge if she builds on President Joe Biden's dynamic centrism (and legislation like the CHIPS Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) that appeals to both the center-right and center-left.
A coalition that builds on what is right with America by adopting pragmatic progressive measures, strong law and order positions, and an internationalist global worldview that takes this country forward and lifts all the American People up.
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