I’m trying to remember the last time a major party presidential nominee suffered the embarrassments that have fallen all over Donald J. Trump.
They’re coming in the form of leaders within his own party who are saying the same thing: They cannot support his presidential candidacy.
I guess you have to go back to, say, 1972, when Democrats abandoned the candidacy of anti-Vietnam War insurgent Sen. George McGovern.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine has joined the growing ranks of Republicans who are tossing Trump aside.
She writes of her opposition to Trump in a Washington Post essay:
Collins writes: “My conclusion about Mr. Trump’s unsuitability for office is based on his disregard for the precept of treating others with respect, an idea that should transcend politics. Instead, he opts to mock the vulnerable and inflame prejudices by attacking ethnic and religious minorities. Three incidents in particular have led me to the inescapable conclusion that Mr. Trump lacks the temperament, self-discipline and judgment required to be president. ”
The incidents were Trump’s mocking of a New York Times reporter’s physical disability, his suggestion that a judge couldn’t preside over a case involving Trump University because of his ethnic heritage and his ridiculous feud with the parents of a slain U.S. Army soldier.
Collins has concluded, along with others within the party, that Trump is not fit for the office he seeks.
Will she support Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton? Collins calls herself a “lifelong Republican,” which makes me believe she won’t cast her ballot for Clinton.
Still, she is denying her own party’s nominee her ultimate endorsement.
If I were a betting man, I’d bet we’ll see more of the same in the weeks to come.