More than 100 former national security officials from Republican administrations and former Republican members of Congress endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris on Wednesday after concluding that their party’s nominee, Donald J. Trump, is “unfit to serve again as President.”

In a letter to the public, the Republicans, including both vocal long-time Trump opponents and others who had not endorsed Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020, argued that while they might “disagree with Kamala Harris” on many issues, Trump had demonstrated “dangerous qualities”. Those include, they said, “unusual affinity” for dictators like President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and “contempt for the norms of decent, ethical and lawful behaviour”.

“As President,” the letter said, “he promoted daily chaos in government, praised our enemies and undermined our allies, politicised the military and disparaged our veterans, prioritised his personal interest above American interests and betrayed our values, democracy and this country’s founding documents.”

The letter condemned Trump’s incitement of the mob attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, aimed at allowing him to hold onto power after losing an election, saying that “he has violated his oath of office”. It quoted Trump’s own former vice-president, Mike Pence, who said that “anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the US”.

New York Times News Service