Republican Congressman E. Scott Rigell from Virginia believes Donald Trump is a “catastrophe” for the Republican party. Rigell genuinely seems surprised that the Republican party could let Trump happen. Rigell wrote an Open Letter to Virginia Republicans that mostly struck at Trump’s xenophobia and tacit racism. After saying “I reject Trump as our nominee based on his judgment, temperament and character, all of which point to a reckless, embarrassing and ultimately dangerous presidency,” Rigell pointed to specific instances where Trump failed “not once, not twice, but three times to denounce the KKK and its onetime leader, the infamous racist, David Duke.”
“What void must exist in the heart of a person who when asked about the KKK has to struggle for even a moment as to what his position is?” Rigell asks. “And what void must be present in the mind of a would-be president who is unapologetic in quoting Mussolini and states publicly that he admires Putin?” Rigell isn’t alone, of course, in wondering why and how Trump hijacked his Grand Old Party from the Bushes, et al. The charged atmosphere in which a Donald Trump can thrive may have something to do with why Rigell chose not to seek re-election. Rigell’s Open Letter appears at Hot Air.
