To the editor: I was proud to serve as a co-chair of Nikki Haley’s California leadership team. I endorsed her for president because I believed that she had the experience and vision to lead the free world. I also believed our country was ready for a new generation of leadership.
Now that we face a general election, I will vote for another leader with a positive vision of America’s leadership in the world: Vice President Kamala Harris. Let me offer three reasons why.
First and foremost, I cannot support former President Trump because he demonstrated on Jan. 6, 2021, that he will put himself before our Constitution. We must not elect someone who does not respect the peaceful transfer of power.
Second, international trade underpins our prosperity. Globally, 95% of consumers live outside our borders. Trump has embraced protectionist policies, including across-the-board tariffs that will cost every U.S. taxpayer about $4,000 per year. He wants to close doors; every other Republican president in my lifetime wanted to open doors in an orderly fashion.
Third, Trump appeases dictators, while Harris has rallied our allies against adversaries. Trump has made excuses for inaction against Russian aggression and even denounced Ukraine. Like the New Left in the 1960s and ’70s, Trump is quick to denigrate America’’s friends and to embrace its enemies.
I am a lifelong conservative. I am proud to have worked for Ronald Reagan and both Bush administrations, and to have supported Republican presidential candidates from Phill Gramm to John McCain to Mitt Romney. This November, I will be casting my vote for Harris. I ask other Haley voters to do the same.
Frank Lavin, San Francisco
The writer was U.S. ambassador to Singapore and undersecretary of Commerce during the George W. Bush administration.
