Montel Williams: I'm with Hillary Clinton
Montel Williams 6:17 p.m. EDT August 17, 2016
She wasn't my first choice. But given the need to stop Donald Trump, she's the only choice
I became a Republican because I agreed with what President Ronald Reagan said in his 1984 convention speech. “In the party of Lincoln,” he said, “there is no room for intolerance … or bigotry of any kind. Many people are welcome in our house, but not the bigots.” I became an independent about 20 years ago because, in my view, the Republican Party had left me.
During this year’s primaries, I finally found a candidate who embraced this unifying message, one for whom I said I’d return to the GOP: Ohio Gov. John Kasich. After his withdrawal, my instinct was to keep silent on my vote. But over the past three weeks, it’s become clear to me that I have an obligation to speak out — because I believe that Donald Trump represents a clear and present danger to our country.
I’ve written before about Trump: his bigotry, the cancerous effect of his reality-show-inspired campaign, and his reviling dog whistles to white supremacists. These are obviously serious problems but they are not an existential threat. Our country has endured bigoted leaders and carnival barkers before (although I struggle to recall any so despicable as to attack a Gold Star family or seemingly suggest an opponent’s assassination).
But Trump is worse than a clown or a bigot. He’s an existential threat to our republic who cannot be trusted to be commander in chief.
After graduating from the Naval Academy, I spent more than 15 years as a special duty intelligence officer focused primarily on Russia.
Former acting CIA director Michael Morell argued in a New York Times op-ed that Russian President Vladimir Putin had exploited Trump’s narcissism to recruit him as an unwitting agent for the Russian Federation. That is consistent with my experience.
more:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/08/17/montel-williams-endorses-hillary-clinton/88865918/
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