Can GOP defectors help get Harris elected?

Republicans like Cheney might persuade others who hate Trump to vote Democrat

- ERIC TUCKER AND WILL WEISSERT

Long reviled by Democrats, former Republican vice-president Dick Cheney has endorsed Kamala Harris for president in an effort to keep Donald Trump from winning a second term.

Dick Cheney is a career Republican still vilified by Democrats for his bullish defence of the Iraq War as vice-president. But his partisan loyalties were cast aside in extraordinary fashion last week when he endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris for the White House.

Alberto Gonzales’ service in George W. Bush’s administration was roiled by debates over intrusive government eavesdropping and an abrupt purging of U.S. attorneys that Democrats regarded with intense suspicion. Yet the former attorney general is also opting for Harris over Republican Donald Trump.

The endorsements crystalized the remarkable evolution of the Republican party’s establishment wing, which ruled Washington during the Bush years only to be sidelined once Trump wrested control of the party. These figures, once reviled by Democrats, are so alarmed by the prospect of the former president’s return to power that they are prepared to oppose their own party’s nominee for the White House.

In the process, they are giving Harris a critical opening to broaden her base of support.