When it comes to disaster movies, my biggest pet peeve is the sex scene. As soon as a Diane Warren song starts playing in the background, the male and female leads will lock eyes and suddenly decide they have time to cuddle. “Saving the planet” loses all sense of urgency.
That’s what it feels like watching Republicans today refuse to endorse Kamala Harris because of the optics. They can see as well as anyone else that former President Trump is a threat to democracy. He says it openly. But apparently when members of the GOP look at their chances of holding on to power, the romantic music in their heads just sweeps them away.
Take Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. If anyone knows how far Trump will go to grab power, it’s him. Trump has been harassing him ever since losing the state to Joe Biden by 11,779 votes back in 2020. We heard Trump’s phone call with Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. We saw the indictment (though whether the Fulton County district attorney can continue to prosecute it remains in limbo). Trump’s allies tried to use fake electors to pretend he won the state.
Kemp followed the law and common sense and certified the real electors, which gave Biden the state’s 16 electoral votes.
We’re still hearing about Trump’s grudge, most recently at a campaign stop in Georgia. “He’s a bad guy. He’s a disloyal guy. And he’s a very average governor,” Trump said about Kemp, who has a 63 percent approval rating in his state — and who Trump endorsed for governor in 2018.
If anyone knows of the danger that Trump represents, it’s Kemp. And yet the governor responded to that latest barrage with a social media post supporting Trump’s campaign: “My focus is on winning this November and saving our country from Kamala Harris and the Democrats — not engaging in the petty personal insults, attacking fellow Republicans, or dwelling on the past.”
That’s how he characterized Trump’s attempt to overturn the election. Dwelling on the past.
Kemp is expected to run for Senate, so perhaps what we’re seeing is that his political future matters more to him than the country’s future does. He wouldn’t want to be seen endorsing a Democrat, even when the alternative is a felon who Kemp has personally seen attempting to overthrow American democracy.
The political maneuverings from folks who used to say “never Trump” — such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio — would not be possible without a healthy dose of cowardice.
We are not in ordinary times. Many conservatives know this firsthand. And yet despite understanding the urgency that the moment calls for, they continue to make time to play politics, like the romantic leads in a doomsday flick. At least most of them do.
Last week a new group launched, called Republicans for Harris. It’s an effort to make it OK for conservatives to do all that they can to stop someone who tried to overturn the election from having another crack at becoming king. Among the most important strategies, of course, is voting for Trump’s opponent. Many Americans who tend to vote Republican will be reluctant.
The Kemps of the world aren’t helping, but consider the record of Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah. He has waffled at moments but mostly seems to have seen Trump for what he is and been bold enough to say so.
Many Republicans knew the danger of Trump before he became president but chose party over country. Members of Republicans for Harris, and the half-dozen former Trump Cabinet members who refuse to endorse him, have decided not to make that mistake twice. Other politicians, such as Graham and Kemp, do not care what happens to democracy as long as their careers survive.
LZ Granderson is an Op-Ed columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
