Some leading Florida Republicans continue to say they will not back Donald Trump in November.
South Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said this week that she would probably write in the name of former Governor Jeb Bush.
"I think I'll write in the name Jeb Bush," Ros-Lehtinen told the Miami Herald editorial board Tuesday. "A candidate should espouse optimism."
Ros-Lehtinen, who used to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said she could not back Trump on a host of grounds, including calling Mexican immigrants “rapists” and his response to the family of Humayun Khan, a Muslim soldier who was killed in Iraq.
Former Congressman Joe Scarborough, a Republican who represented the Panhandle in Congress, penned an op-ed for the Washington Post this week slamming Trump and the GOP leadership for backing him.
“The Muslim ban, the David Duke denial, the ‘Mexican’ judge flap, the draft dodger denigrating John McCain’s military service, the son of privilege attacking an immigrant Gold Star mother and the constant revisionism and lying about past political positions taken are but a few of the lowlights that have punctuated Donald Trump’s chaotic chase for the presidency,” Scarborough wrote. “Any one of these offenses would have disqualified any other candidate for president. But the Republican nominee remained competitive against a historically weak Democratic nominee on the promise of bringing radical change and dramatic disruption to Washington.”
Scarborough also pointed to Trump’s comments on Tuesday on Hillary Clinton and the Second Amendment.
“The political ride will only get rockier for Trump in the coming days after he suggested that one way to keep a conservative Supreme Court after Hillary Clinton got elected would be to assassinate her or federal judges,” Scarborough insisted. “Trump and his supporters have been scrambling wildly all day to explain away the inexplicable, but they can stop wasting their time. The GOP nominee was clearly suggesting that some of the ‘Second Amendment people’ among his supporters could kill his Democratic opponent were she to be elected.”
The former Florida congressman called on the GOP to remove Trump as its nominee.
“We are in uncharted waters but that does not mean that the way forward is not clear,” Scarborough wrote. “It is. The Secret Service should interview Donald Trump and ask him to explain his threatening comments. Paul Ryan and every Republican leader should denounce in the strongest terms their GOP nominee suggesting conservatives could find the Supreme Court more favorable to their desires if his political rival was assassinated. Paul Ryan and every Republican leader should revoke their endorsement of Donald Trump. At this point, what else could Trump do that would be worse than implying the positive impact of a political assassination? The Republican Party needs to start examining quickly their options for removing the Republican nominee.
“A bloody line has been crossed that cannot be ignored,” Scarborough added. “At long last, Donald Trump has left the Republican Party few options but to act decisively and get this political train wreck off the tracks before something terrible happens.”
On his “Morning Joe” MSNBC TV show on Wednesday morning, Scarborough said Trump is :"destroying the Republican Party.”
Trump appeared on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News on Tuesday to clarify the comment.
“You know, so obviously you’re saying that there’s a strong political movement within the Second Amendment, and if people mobilize and vote, they can stop Hillary from having this impact on the court,” Hannity said. “But that's not how the media is spinning it. What’s your reaction to it?”
“Well, I just heard about that, and it was amazing because nobody in that room thought anything other than what you just said,” Trump replied. “This is a political movement. This is a strong, powerful movement, the Second Amendment. You know, Hillary wants to take your guns away. She wants to leave you unprotected in your home. This is a tremendous political movement. The NRA, as you know, endorsed me. They’re terrific people. Wayne and Chris and all of the people over there. And by the way, they've already -- I just saw they tweeted out basically they agree 100 percent with what I said. And there can be no other interpretation. Even reporters have told me, I mean give me a break. But they're dishonest people. What it is is there's a tremendous power behind the Second Amendment. It’s a political power, and there are few things so powerful, I have to say, in terms of politics. There is few things. And I happen to think that if they actually did even bring this up, I think it's a good thing for me because it's going to tell people more about me with respect to the Second Amendment because Hillary Clinton wants to essentially abolish the Second Amendment. And if she puts Supreme Court justices on, she will decimate your Second Amendment.”
For her part, on Wednesday, Clinton launched “Together for America” to woo independents and Republicans who are concerned about Trump. The group includes former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, former U.S. Sen. Larry Pressler, R-SD, Congressman Richard Hanna, R-NY, former Congressman Chris Shays, R-Ct., former Governor Arnie Carlson, R-Minn., former Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft and businesswoman and GOP activist Meg Whitman. Cindy Guerra who chaired the Broward County Republican Executive Committee and was Florida regional deputy attorney general for five years under Bill McCollum and Pam Bondi is part of the group.
