More former Cabinet officials from the White House of President George W. Bush said Wednesday that they cannot support Donald Trump.
The 13 officials, in a memo sent to Politico, include former Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, former Federal Railroad Administrator and Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman and Emil Frankel, former assistant secretary for policy in the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Trump has promised to invest heavily in infrastructure, but the former Bush administration officials questioned how he would pay for the improvements and said his policy couldn’t overcome their concerns about his ability to govern effectively.
Mr. Trump’s support for greater infrastructure investment is not sufficient to overcome our concerns about his capacity to govern fairly and effectively.
13 former Bush administration Cabinet officials
“While Mr. Trump has discussed the relationship of strong, safe, and resilient infrastructure to economic growth and prosperity, and he has called for greatly increased infrastructure spending,” the officials wrote, “he has not been clear about the sources of new or additional revenues to support such an investment beyond substantially expanded federal borrowing.”
“Moreover, Mr. Trump’s support for greater infrastructure investment is not sufficient to overcome our concerns about his capacity to govern fairly and effectively,” they added.
The group said that none had before opposed a Republican nominee for president, but expressing similar concerns as more than 50 Republican national security and foreign policy experts, they said they were “united” against Trump.
They named Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan as exemplars of Republican tradition. All are associated with infrastructure improvements.
They named Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan as exemplars of Republican tradition. All are associated with infrastructure improvements: Lincoln with the transcontinental railroad, Roosevelt with the Panama Canal, Eisenhower with the interstate highway system and Reagan with dedicated funding for mass transit.
“Republican presidents and, for that matter, Republican nominees for president, have been committed to seeking effective government and finding common purpose to address significant societal problems,” they wrote. “Donald Trump stands for none of these Republican principles and for none of these public values.”
Curtis Tate: 202-383-6018, @tatecurtis
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