An Open Letter to Senator Bob Corker and Senator Lamar Alexander

February 29, 2016

The Honorable Bob Corker
Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Lamar Alexander
Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Corker and Senator Alexander,

I have never before written my political representative. Not my President, not my house member, not my senators. Not after 9/11, not during the Iraq war, not during the financial crisis, not during the health care debate and not after Justice Scalia passed away.

I can’t believe it’s come to this, but the man who finally got me to write to you, my representatives, is Donald Trump.

Presumably you, and the rest of the Republican party, will ask me to support the Republican nominee for president, even if that nominee is Donald Trump. I want to ask you today not to do that.

I have two daughters. Is the GOP really going to ask me to support the owner of a strip club?

I have a son. Is the GOP really going to ask me to support a man who would order our soldiers to commit war crimes?

I am a Christian. Is the GOP really going to ask me to support a man who would designate as “loser” every class of person mentioned in the Beatitudes?

Mr. Trump is applying for the job of President of the United States, and, as a Republican, the job of head of the Republican Party.

Is this your Republican Party? Is the GOP the party of racism? Is the GOP the party of misogyny? Is the GOP the party that denigrates the service of war heroes or the party that belittles the disabled? Is the GOP the party of war crimes? Is it the party that stands by as supporters give the Nazi salute, or wear the costume of the Ku Klux Klan? Is it the party that labels entire ethnic groups rapists and criminals? Is it the party that tears up the Constitution to deny rights to entire religious groups?

I am but one small voice whose reach charitably measures in the tens of people. A handful of people may read this. Probably no one will change their mind because of it. I am not David Brooks or Robert Kagan; I am not a pastor like Max Lucado or Thomas McKenzie; I am not Matthew Lee Anderson or Senator Ben Sasse. But I am heartened by the small but growing group of conservative leaders who have declared they will never support Donald Trump. I am convicted by the stands they are taking and believe evil triumphs when good men remain silent.

It is not enough to endorse someone else for president. Every leader in the Republican party has an obligation to denounce Trump’s hateful rhetoric and declare that, nominee or not, he will never have their support for President.

Your party is the party of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. Will you stand by as it becomes the party of Trump?

Sincerely,

John Graeber
Chattanooga, Tennessee