Shutterstock
In a surprising twist of the election year, numerous Conservatives have come out to endorse Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Biden’s opponent, Donald Trump, has proven very divisive among Americans in general. Some Republicans have publicly split with Trump over a myriad of issues. One of the most prolific of such groups is the Lincoln Project.
Trump has been so divisve, in fact, that even among his own advisors, there is interfamily conflict. Kellyane Conway, one-time campaign manager for Trump, has been the center of a high-profile duel with her own husband, George. Next month, Conway will be departing the White House to tend to family matters. Conway’s 15-year-old daughter made headlines with viral tweets and TikToks about how she wanted to become emancipated from her parents.
A number of high-profile Republicans have now backed Biden. During the Democratic National Convention, four Republicans spoke and gave the candidate their endorsement. Now, former GOP lawmakers like Jeff Flake have explicitly endorsed the Democratic candidate. The Biden campaign has welcomed these conservative endorsements, showing their desire to unseat Trump.
“These former members of Congress cited Trump’s corruption, destruction of democracy, blatant disregard for moral decency, and urgent need to get the country back on course as a reason why they support Biden,” Biden’s campaign stated in an announcement of the GOP endorsements. “These former members of Congress are supporting Joe Biden because they know what’s at stake in this election and that Trump’s failures as president have superseded partisanship.”
Biden is betting big on these conservative endorsements to help endear him to moderate voters. Trump’s campaign strategy seemed to begin with an attempt to paint Biden as a “puppet” of the “radical left”. Trump’s claims don’t ring true when looking at Biden’s history. As the author of a crime bill loathed by progressives and a consistent compromiser, Biden is far from the leftist Trump describes.
In fact, many progressives are unhappy with the Biden campaign’s embrace of conservative endorsements. Many of them feel as though the Democratic Party is too eager to compromise and slide to the right. While the US is facing an historic pandemic, progressives want to see an expansion in government programs. With online searches for “COVID-19 symptoms” far outpacing the once-popular “Humira side effects,” Democrats know that they’re fighting a public health crisis as much as a political opponent.
