Tuesday, August 09, 2016
By Jaclyn Reiss
Senator Susan Collins of Maine. JOHN BOAL FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE
Add one more person to the growing list of Republicans who won’t be voting for Donald Trump.
Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, wrote in a scathing Washington Post column that she will not be voting for the GOP nominee due to “his constant stream of cruel comments and his inability to admit error or apologize.”
“This is not a decision I make lightly, for I am a lifelong Republican,” Collins wrote. “But Donald Trump does not reflect historical Republican values nor the inclusive approach to governing that is critical to healing the divisions in our country.”
Collins specifically cited Trump’s treatment of Senator John McCain, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, federal judge Gonzalo Curiel, and the parents of a Muslim-American slain in Iraq — among others — in what led her to the decision.
“With the passage of time, I have become increasingly dismayed by his constant stream of cruel comments and his inability to admit error or apologize,” she wrote.
Collins previously has been critical of Trump, including last week, after the real estate mogul suggested Somali refugees in Maine have brought crime and fostered terrorists.
“Mr. Trump’s statements disparaging immigrants who have come to this country legally are particularly unhelpful,” Collins previously said.
Despite her criticisms, Collins has not said that she outright rejects his candidacy — until now.
“I had hoped that we would see a ‘new’ Donald Trump as a general-election candidate,” she wrote in her Post column. “But the unpleasant reality that I have had to accept is that there will be no ‘new’ Donald Trump.”
Collins is not alone in her dislike of Trump. Fifty of the nation’s most senior Republican national security officials have signed a letter declaring that the GOP nominee would be the most reckless president in American history,” warning that he “lacks the character, values and experience” to be president and “would put at risk our country’s national security and well-being.”