Schmidt served as a top aide in the administration of President George W. Bush.
Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), announced early Wednesday that he is leaving the Republican Party, which he decried as “fully the party of Trump” and “a danger to our democracy and values.”
In early-morning tweets, Schmidt, a vocal Trump critic, urged voters to elect Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections and harshly criticized the administration’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the U.S. border, describing the government-run detention centers as “internment camps for babies.”
“29 years and nine months ago I registered to vote and became a member of The Republican Party which was founded in 1854 to oppose slavery and stand for the dignity of human life,” Schmidt wrote. “Today I renounce my membership in the Republican Party. It is fully the party of Trump.”
After Trump’s contentious appearance at the Group of Seven summit in Canada this month, Schmidt condemned Republican Party leaders for not being more critical of the president. On Wednesday, Schmidt doubled down on that criticism, saying that with the exception of Republican governors Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, Larry Hogan of Maryland and John Kasich of Ohio, the Republican Party is “filled with feckless cowards who disgrace and dishonor the legacies of the party’s greatest leaders.”
Our country is in trouble. Our politics are badly broken.”
“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 added.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...e’s-leaving-his-party/ar-AAyUg3y?ocid=spartandhp
