DNC War Room: Previous RNC convention speakers are not supporting Trump — including his former Vice President

As numerous former RNC convention speakers refuse to support Donald Trump (including his own former vice president, Mike Pence), DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“You won’t see Mike Pence taking the RNC stage with his former boss Donald Trump — or endorsing him at all, for that matter — because three and a half years ago, Trump put Pence’s life and our democracy at risk on January 6. Pence isn’t the only former convention speaker refusing to support Trump’s dangerous, out-of-touch, and unpopular 2024 campaign. As the MAGA GOP gears up to nominate a convicted felon, prominent Republicans are disavowing him — and the American people will do the same at the ballot box this November.”

Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, spoke at the last two RNC conventions but has refused to endorse Trump’s 2024 campaign. 

NBC News: “Mike Pence said Friday that he would not endorse former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race… ‘It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year,’ Pence said of his former running mate during a Fox News interview this afternoon. … ‘I cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump in this campaign.’”

Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, a three–time RNC convention speaker, has said he would “absolutely not” vote for Trump. 

NBC News: “Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, on Sunday said he won’t be supporting former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election… Romney, a frequent critic of Trump, heavily rebuked the former president in an exclusive interview on NBC News’ ‘Meet the Press.’ He said Trump is ‘dangerous for the country’ because he carries ‘authoritarian rulings and interests,’ and called him ‘a human gumball machine’ that spouts out unfiltered thoughts to the public.”

The Hill: “Romney on voting for Trump over Biden: ‘No, no, no, absolutely not’”

Former GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan spoke at the RNC convention in 2012 and 2016 but will not be voting for Trump in November. 

The Hill: “Paul Ryan says he won’t vote for Trump: ‘I’m gonna write in a Republican’”

“‘Character is too important to me,’ Ryan, who left Congress in 2019, told Yahoo Finance at the Milken Global Institute Conference. ‘And it’s a job that requires the kind of character that he just doesn’t have.’”

Chris Christie spoke at the 2012 and 2016 RNC conventions but now says he will not support Trump “under any circumstances.” 

The Hill: “Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) reiterated his opposition to former President Trump on Thursday, saying he won’t vote for Trump ‘under any circumstances.’”

Former Ohio governor John Kasich spoke at the 2012 RNC convention but has now repeatedly rebuked Trump and his MAGA extremism. 

The Hill: “Former Ohio governor and 2016 Republican presidential candidate John Kasich said Tuesday he’s ‘proud’ of decisions he’s made to publicly disavow former President Trump in the past and called on 2024 GOP presidential candidates to have the courage to do the same.”

MSNBC: “Kasich: ‘When it comes to Trump and his rhetoric there’s no bounds’”

Former House GOP member Barbara Comstock was the co-chair of the 2012 RNC convention and now says Trump is a “horrible misogynist.” 

National Press Foundation: “Barbara Comstock Calls Trump ‘Horrible Misogynist’”

U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman spoke at the 2008 RNC convention and has since blasted Trump as a “dishonest demagogue.” 

New York Times: “Using remarkably blunt language, [Whitman] argued that the election of Mr. Trump, whom she called ‘a dishonest demagogue,’ could lead the country ‘on a very dangerous journey.’ She noted that democracies had seldom lasted longer than a few hundred years and warned that those who say that ‘it can’t happen here’ are being naïve.”