Elections

Another GOP Senator Pledges To Not Vote For Trump

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Alex Pfeiffer White House Correspondent
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Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins wrote Monday night that due to flaws in Donald Trump’s character she cannot support the GOP nominee for president.

“This is not a decision I make lightly, for I am a lifelong Republican. But Donald Trump does not reflect historical Republican values nor the inclusive approach to governing that is critical to healing the divisions in our country,” Collins wrote in a Washington Post editorial published Monday.

Collins acknowledged in the article that “Mr. Trump’s success reflects profound discontent in this country.” She wrote that both Trump and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders connected with “many Americans who felt that their voices were not being heard in Washington and who were tired of political correctness.”

“But rejecting the conventions of political correctness is different from showing complete disregard for common decency,” Collins added. The Maine senator listed out three events which led her to decide to not vote for Trump. These were Trump appearing to mock a reporter with a disability, his comments that Judge Gonzalo Curiel can’t be impartial towards him since Curiel is Mexican, and Trump’s “criticism of the grieving parents of Army Capt. Humayun Khan.”

Sen. Collins wrote that these incidents led her to “the inescapable conclusion that Mr. Trump lacks the temperament, self-discipline and judgment required to be president.” Collins wrote that she believed there would be a “‘new’ Donald Trump” but “he seems incapable of change or growth.”

Collins joins Republican Senators Ben Sasse, Lindsey Graham, and Mark Kirk in pledging to not vote for their party’s nominee.