Another Texan and George W. Bush Republican backs Harris over Trump. Will it matter? | Opinion

The most surprising presidential endorsement of the week was not from Taylor Swift, America’s favorite “childless cat lady,” or her beloved Ragdoll cat, Benjamin.

The shock of the week — or maybe not — came from Texan Alberto Gonzales, a Houston Republican and one of the highest-ranking Hispanic officials in American history.

Gonzales rose from a family of nine packed into a two-bedroom house to become Texas’ secretary of state, a Texas Supreme Court justice and U.S. attorney general, all under George W. Bush.

When Donald Trump first ran for president in 2016, Gonzales wrote a commentary in The Washington Post defending Trump’s harsh comments about judges.

But at some point after the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot — maybe before — Gonzales had seen enough.

He now has endorsed Kamala Harris for president.

Gonzales joined former Vice President Dick Cheney in the trickle of Republicans with Texas and Bush administration roots crossing over to support Harris, not Trump.

“This talk about the United States being in decline, becoming a Third World country — that we’re a disgrace — was an embarrassment,” Gonzales told CNN anchor John Berman, who was almost incredulous at the news.

In a year when Republicans hope to flip U.S. and state House seats in South Texas, Gonzales wrote in a Politico commentary that the Democratic nominee is the “best suited, able and committed to unite us in a manner consistent with the rule of law.”

Texas Republicans now boo and hiss former Bush administration officials and nearly every Republican who came before Trump.

So, even if it’s not a surprise that Gonzales sides with Harris, it’s a surprise that he is so emphatic.

“I can’t sit quietly as Donald Trump — perhaps the most serious threat to the rule of law in a generation — eyes a return to the White House,” Gonzales wrote in Politico.

Gonzales wrote that Trump’s rhetoric and conduct show “little evidence that he has the integrity and character to responsibly wield the power of the presidency within the limits of the law.”

More than a year ago, Gonzales was interviewed by the Post in his role as dean and professor at the Belmont University School of Law in Nashville.

He called Trump’s bashing of grand jurors, prosecutors and judges “extremely dangerous” and said that the Jan. 6 riot is a perfect example.

“You know, for the longest time, because there has been sort of crazy rhetoric out there for many, many years surrounding former President Trump, and for the longest time I just sort of ignored it as silly,” Gonzales said.

“But for quite some time now I have come to the conclusion that it is too dangerous to ignore it.”

Texas political experts who remember Gonzales doubted his backing will make much difference.

For one thing, Gonzales isn’t well-known among traditional Republicans in the seven telling states that will decide the next president.

For another, his support may remind not only Republicans but also anti-police Democrats that Harris is a 27-year prosecutor, district attorney and California attorney general.

Then there was Gonzales’ own record as attorney general.

“This is one of those endorsements that is quite likely a net-negative,” Mark P. Jones wrote by email. He is a political science professor at Gonzales’ alma mater Rice University and also a chair in Latin American Studies.

Democrats who remember Gonzales remember him for defending the waterboarding of detainees under Bush during the Iraq War and the use of the PATRIOT Act to spy on U.S. citizens, Jones wrote.

Weatherford College professor Darrell Castillo worked in the White House under President Ronald Reagan. He wrote by email that Gonzales “is viewed as a neocon and RINO,” referring to a “Republican in name only” and comparing Gonzales to Republicans who opposed Reagan.

Gonzales’ and Cheney’s Harris endorsements are both part of a longstanding split between Bush and Trump supporters.

Gonzales’ endorsement doesn’t carry much weight, SMU professor Cal Jillson wrote by email.

“But it will draw some attention to former President Bush’s determined silence on this election,” Jillson wrote. “Probably busy painting.”

TCU professor Jim Riddlesperger wrote that endorsements late in the race don’t make much difference.

But they can spur disinterested voters to get involved.

“I don’t think Gonzales’ endorsement will have this effect,” Riddlesperger wrote.

“But Taylor Swift’s does!”

If only Gonzales had a cat.

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