Former governor of Pennsylvania Tom Ridge (R) on Sunday delivered a scorching assessment of President Donald Trump and declared he” will cast his vote for Joe Biden on Nov. 3″ while urging his fellow Pennsylvanians to join him to defeat Trump.
“It will be my first vote for a Democratic candidate for president of the United States. But it is not the first time I have said “no” to Donald Trump,” Ridge wrote in a blistering Op-Ed for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“I actually consider it a point of personal pride that I’m recognized for being among the first Republicans to reject Donald Trump,” he wrote. “I could never support Trump,” he continued, calling the president “an embarrassment to the Republican Party and our country.”
“He belittles, demeans, and ridicules people who disagree with him, and that I’ve never thought that loud, obnoxious, and simpleminded solutions to complex problems are the kind of qualities we want in a president.”
Ridge went on to compare the global COVID-19 pandemic to the 9/11 terror attacks and decried Trump’s lack of leadership in the current situation.
“Many of us remember when President George W. Bush, with megaphone in hand, stood on the rubble in lower Manhattan and told his fellow citizens and the world that those responsible for the brutal carnage of 9/11 would be held accountable. His remarks unified the country and his appearance on the mound at Yankee Stadium days later put an exclamation point on the message that America was resilient and would overcome.”
“Donald Trump has proven over these last four years he is incapable of such leadership. It is not within him. He lacks the empathy, integrity, intellect and maturity to lead. He sows division along political, racial and religious lines. And he routinely dismisses the opinions of experts who know far more about the subject at hand than he does – intelligence, military, and public health. Our country has paid dearly in lives lost, social unrest, economic hardship and our standing in the world.”
“While I do not agree with many of Biden’s policies, I do know him to be a decent man who can begin to undo the damage President Trump has caused,” he concluded.
You can read the entire Op-Ed here.
