After three decades, Republican strategist Steve Schmidt will no longer have the "R" in his title. In fact, his dislike of President Trump has even sent him to the Democratic camp.
On Twitter, he shared his exit strategy for the party he once called home.
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. Today I renounce my membership in the Republican Party. It is fully the party of Trump.
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) June 20, 2018
Schmidt had long been a vocal critic of Trump. Yet recent reports about the White House's zero tolerance policy at the border pushed him over the edge. The separation of illegal immigrant families, he suggested, is comparable to slavery.
It is corrupt, indecent and immoral. With the exception of a few Governors like Baker, Hogan and Kasich it is filled with feckless cowards who disgrace and dishonor the legacies of the party’s greatest leaders. This child separation policy is connected to the worst abuses of
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) June 20, 2018
Humanity in our history. It is connected by the same evil that separated families during slavery and dislocated tribes and broke up Native American families. It is immoral and must be repudiated. Our country is in trouble. Our politics are badly broken. The first step to a
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) June 20, 2018
Schmidt's diatribe was not only targeted at Trump, but Republican leadership on Capitol Hill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) are just as guilty for allowing the U.S. government to establish “internment camps for babies,” Schmidt wrote.
The GOP turning into "the Trump party" is a line that has been used by other disenchanted Republicans like former Speaker John Boehner.
