Several prominent Republicans who worked for former President Donald Trump took the stage. Democratic National Convention In Chicago, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
Former Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan, former Pence homeland security adviser Olivia Troye and former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham have all endorsed the Democratic nominee, arguing that Trump lacks the moral character to lead the country again. Former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger is also expected to speak.
They all had one message for Republicans and independents: Do the right thing and vote for Harris in November.
“To my fellow Republicans here at home who want to pivot again on policy, empathy, and tone, you know what’s right. Let’s have the courage to do it now in November,” Duncan said, summarizing the speeches of other Republican speakers and his own.
Duncan knows what it takes to be brave. After the 2020 election, Duncan faced serious threats from Trump supporters while defending the election results in Georgia, requiring law enforcement to protect his home.
“My family, my wife Brooke and I, we have three sons, and we have a family motto,” Duncan said at the DNC Wednesday night. “And it says, ‘It’s never wrong to do the right thing.’ In 2020, when we had armed police outside our house protecting us from other Republicans, and Donald Trump was targeting us at the worst possible time, my son came downstairs and handed me a coaster that I had given him years ago at a father-son retreat at our church. And he said, ‘Dad, it’s never wrong to do the right thing. Hang in there.’ To my fellow Republicans here in the country who want to get back to policy, empathy, and tone, we know we have to do the right thing. Let’s have the courage to do it now in November.”
J. Scott Applewhite / AP
“I grew up in a working-class family where Trump pretended he cared,” said Troy, a former senior official under Vice President Pence.
“I’m a conservative, a Catholic, a Texan,” she said. “The Fourth of July is our most sacred holiday. Those values are what made me a Republican. And those values are what make me proud to support Kamala Harris.”
Troy described working in the Trump White House as “scary.”
“But what keeps me up at night is what happens when he comes back,” she said. “The guardrails are gone, and some of the adults who were there first have resigned or been fired.”
Grisham, who was criticized for not holding a single press briefing during her term, resigned on January 6, 2021, as rioters stormed the Capitol and President Trump took no action.
“I was not only a Trump supporter, I was a true believer,” Grisham told the DNC crowd. “I was one of his closest advisers. The Trump family became my family. I spent Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s at Mar-a-Lago. I saw him when the cameras were off. Trump taunts his supporters behind closed doors. He calls them basement dwellers.”
Grisham recalled being upset that cameras weren’t on her when she visited hospitals where Americans were dying in intensive care units.
“He has no empathy, no morality, no fidelity to the truth,” she said. “He would say to me, ‘Stephanie, it doesn’t matter what you say. If you say it enough, people will believe it.’ But the truth is, what you say matters. What you say matters. And what you don’t say matters. On January 6th, I asked Melania if she could tweet at least once that peaceful protest is the right of every American, but lawlessness and violence will not be tolerated. Her answer was a resounding, ‘No.’
“I couldn’t stand the madness any longer,” Grisham said.
“When I was press secretary, I was criticized for never holding a White House briefing,” she said. “Unlike my boss, I didn’t want to stand on the podium and lie. Now I stand behind the podium and defend the Democratic Party because I love my country more than my party. Kamala Harris tells the truth. She respects the American people. And she earned my vote.”
Anna Navarro, a former Republican, is a Nicaraguan political commentator and co-host of “The View,” and has spoken out against Trump on the DNC stage. She decided not to support the Republican Party because of the 2016 “Access Hollywood” tape. Navarro has criticized Trump for calling Harris a “communist.”
“Let’s be serious,” Navarro said. “Donald Trump and his cronies are calling Kamala a communist. I know communism. I escaped communism in Nicaragua when I was 8. I don’t take it lightly.”
Kinzinger, a former Republican congressman from Illinois who has long been a vocal critic of Trump, is expected to speak Thursday night.
