Cheneys show path toward a coalition of patriotic Americans who can defeat Trump | Opinion

Please read the following post issued by Trump last week on Truth Social, his social media platform. Never in my lifetime did I think I would hear a Republican presidential candidate threaten the use of force and imprisonment for those administering our election laws.

“Therefore, the 2024 Election, where Votes have just started being cast, will be under the closest professional scrutiny and, WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again. We cannot let our Country further devolve into a Third World Nation, AND WE WON’T! Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials. Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.”

Although Trump says it’s about “When I Win,” this latest blast stokes the fires of his MAGA crowd, already blaming election officials for his possible November loss and once again setting up another violent attack on the peaceful transfer of power. That is the very reason why former Vice President Dick Cheney pledges his vote for Kamala Harris. It was an historic moment when his daughter, Liz Cheney, told the Texas Tribune that she and her father would do just that.

No matter your politics, this endorsement of the Democratic candidate for president by a conservative Republican whom liberals considered the Darth Vader of American politics is a big deal, a moment when other Republicans and Independents not enamored with either Trump or Harris might just heed the warning of the Cheney’s that this not about what party wins the presidency nor is it necessarily about Harris. It’s a referendum on whether the rule of law will prevail in our democracy, or will the White House be occupied once again by a vengeful hatemonger who will apply his own despotic calculus to anyone who differs with him or does something as straightforward as follow the law.

Cheney must be thinking that his own personal endorsement of Harris and his denunciation of Trump is required at a moment when the nation’s national media seems to have gone to work for Donald Trump. Too often, the mainstream media has given Trump a break and failed to report on Trump’s outlandish claims and threats. But this latest one is the last straw and, finally, the New York Times and others stepped up and reported it.

Over 200 Republicans who worked for Bush, Romney and McCain have also announced their support for Harris, which is more a vote against an aging and unpredictable Trump. But it is still troubling that more moderate and well-respected Republicans with name recognition are reluctant to announce their support for Harris.

Former President George W. Bush comes to mind. He will go down in history responsible for the deaths of over 4,000 service members killed in the Iraq War and over 32,000 Americans wounded in the conflict. It was a war sold to Congress and the American people by Dick Cheney who wrongfully believed Saddam Hussein’s claim that he had weapons of mass destruction he was prepared to use. At least, Cheney adds an important footnote to his tarnished place in history with this courageous move deserting the party he called home for his entire life. No matter how you feel about his past actions, credit must be given to someone who in the closing chapters of his life chooses to part company with his Republican Party for one reason and one reason only — to save the Republic.

Bush could learn a thing or two from former President Jimmy Carter, whose presidency suffered both on the domestic and international fronts, before being defeated for a second term by President Ronald Reagan. Carter fashioned a post-presidency that is the gold standard for how former presidents can continue to contribute both at home and abroad. Bush just might be able to muster a more favorable footnote in history as his vice president has done if he could put down his painter’s brush and take a stand for democracy and the rule of law by endorsing Harris.

It is not an exaggeration to say just from reading those latest comments of Trump that America is headed for autocratic mayhem if Trump’s imbecilic and unintelligible take on America were ever allowed in the White House again. Yet, I’ve heard some Republican voters who can’t stomach Trump say they will sit out the presidential race. It’s usually well-educated men holding on to their investments for dear life and somehow assuming that they are safe with Trump, the man who wants to slap tariffs on most consumer products arriving in America. How about a lesson on what that will do to the pocketbooks of consumers?

If you dig deeply into their thinking, I am convinced we are dealing with men who know how dangerous a second Trump term will be, but they also hear his talk of cutting taxes and think, “well, that can’t be so bad.” But listen to the Cheney’s of this world who have spent their lives representing the monied class of America. Listen to the Dick Cheney of today who has watched his Republican Party wither away and be replaced by a gang of right-wing radicals who even the Republican Party of his day did not allow to overwhelm and capture Republican primaries. The Dick Cheney of today fears for America’s international leadership against totalitarian and autocratic states with Trump having already demonstrated his adoration for autocratic rulers like Putin and Kim Jong Il.

What a wasted vote. To pass on voting for president is a vote for Trump. That is exactly why Liz Cheney is all in, crisscrossing the country and admonishing anyone who will listen to her message--voters cannot sit this one out. If he and her father can vote for Harris, then I cannot imagine any moderate Republican voter not understanding the gravity of this election and its impact on our democracy.

What is underway in America at this moment resembles the way parliamentary governments work in other countries. It’s called coalition government, when parties cannot by themselves muster a majority or a winning plurality, but together, in what is sometimes nothing more than an unholy alliance, they put together a new majority for the purpose of governing their nation.

America broke from the parliamentary government of its colonial past and created the presidential election system much different than the parliamentary government of Britain. Although the United States Constitution is not written to accommodate the principles and structure of parliamentary government, Trump’s recent remarks give Republican voters license to join a coalition of Americans that has the power and strength to not only to elect Kamala Harris, but also to reconfigure how America’s political parties will forever again be constituted.

Before we get to what happens after the November election, it is imperative that Republican and Independent voters rethink their decisions to stay on the sidelines of the most important presidential election of our lifetimes. This year, voters who support Harris and Tim Walz stand shoulder to shoulder with the delegates in Philadelphia in 1787 who gave birth to this great nation and signed their approval of the United States Constitution. In 2024, voters can assure that the flame of liberty ignited on that day in Philadelphia and embodied in our Constitution is not extinguished by a ruthless autocrat.

Bob Kustra served as president of Boise State University from 2003 to 2018. He is host of Readers Corner on Boise State Public Radio, and he writes a biweekly column for the Idaho Statesman. He served two terms as Illinois lieutenant governor and 10 years as a state legislator.