A Republican golfing buddy of mine, whose opinions and integrity I respect, greeted me on a recent Friday morning with the news that he is now going to cast his vote for Kamala Harris. He had already told me a couple of weeks ago that he wasn’t going to vote for Trump, but that he was not enthusiastic about Harris and was not planning to vote for her. In my view, this signals a much broader sea change taking place among a huge swath of the electorate, who are decent and principled people with traditional “conservative” values like hard work, honesty, service, fiscal responsibility and devotion to family and neighbors.

Trump’s bullying, name-calling, lies, mean-spirited dishonesty, cheating, misogyny, narcissism, criminal behavior and totalitarian tendencies appeal to a different kind of person, for at this point no decent man or woman could possibly support him unless they have had the wool pulled over their eyes.

Harris’ Aug. 22 acceptance speech gave the lie to Trump’s hyperbolic characterizations of her as an extreme liberal who hates America. She is anything but. She is tough and she loves America. And, in stark contrast to Trump, she is decent, level-headed, pragmatic, honest and forward-looking. These are qualities that traditional Republicans can respect. When they vote for Harris and Walz, they do not suddenly become liberal Democrats. They prove themselves, instead, to be true patriots, whose love for the Constitution and the rule of law holds greater sway than any loyalty to a party whose presidential candidate does not share these values.

Peter Blachly
Bath