Steve Schmidt advised two of the most influential Republicans in recent history, President George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), but now the veteran strategist says he is leaving the GOP. His reason: President Trump.
In an early-morning Twitter thread on Wednesday, Schmidt lamented that the party he joined almost three decades ago “is fully the party of Trump. It is corrupt, indecent and immoral.”
Schmidt, an MSNBC political analyst, is hardly the first prominent Republican to bolt, citing Trump. But GOP expats, united in opposition to the direction of their former party, are divided over what to do next.
Schmidt said he is throwing his support behind Democratic candidates in this year’s midterm elections.
“The first step to a season of renewal in our land is the absolute and utter repudiation of Trump and his vile enablers in the 2018 election by electing Democratic majorities,” Schmidt tweeted. “I do not say this as an advocate of a progressive agenda. I say it as someone who retains belief in DEMOCRACY and decency. . . . This Independent voter will be aligned with the only party left in America that stands for what is right and decent and remains fidelitous to our Republic, objective truth, the rule of law and our Allies. That party is the Democratic Party.”
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