Harvard Republican Club says it will not endorse Donald Trump
"Donald Trump is a threat to the survival of the Republic."
The Harvard Republican Club will not endorse Republican nominee Donald Trump for president, saying his racism, misogyny, unwillingness to learn, authoritarianism, and lack of human decency make him a “threat to the survival of the Republic.”
In a harshly worded post on Facebook, the Harvard Republican Club announced that it was “ashamed” of Trump and would not support him in the November election.
“Donald Trump holds views that are antithetical to our values not only as Republicans, but as Americans,” the club wrote. “He isn’t eschewing political correctness. He is eschewing basic human decency.”
The decision not to endorse the Republican nominee comes as an immediate response to his attacks on the Muslim-American parents of a soldier who was killed in Iraq in 2004, which drew wide condemnation from both parties.
“The last week should have made obvious to all what has been obvious to most for more than a year. In response to any slight – perceived or real – Donald Trump lashes out viciously and irresponsibly,” the club writes. “In Trump’s eyes, disagreement with his actions or his policies warrants incessant name calling and derision: stupid, lying, fat, ugly, weak, failing, idiot –and that’s just his ‘fellow’ Republicans.”
This is the first time the club has not endorsed the GOP nominee in its 128 years of existence, according to the club. In a poll of Harvard seniors taken this May, just four percent of graduating students said they would vote for Trump.
Last year, the merry pranksters at The Harvard Lampoon took a photo with Trump and gave him their faux-endorsement, falsely saying they were with Harvard’s main newspaper, The Crimson. When the endorsement was revealed to be fake, a spokesperson for Trump ripped Harvard.
“The students who perpetrated this are fraudsters and liars, but frankly it was a waste of only a few minutes,” a spokesperson said then. “Mr. Trump attended the great Wharton School of Finance, a school that has more important things to do.”
But far from a joke, the Harvard Republican Club was particularly brutal in its assessment of Trump’s “flirtations with fascism” and his “vitriolic rhetoric” on the campaign trail:
Donald Trump is a threat to the survival of the Republic. His authoritarian tendencies and flirtations with fascism are unparalleled in the history of our democracy. He hopes to divide us by race, by class, and by religion, instilling enough fear and anxiety to propel himself to the White House. He is looking to pit neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend, American against American. We will not stand for this vitriolic rhetoric that is poisoning our country and our children.
You can read the full post below.
https://www.facebook.com/HarvardGOP/posts/1190758900944693
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com