Former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, a Republican who spearheaded legislation bailing out financial firms during the 2008 crisis under President George W. Bush, says he will vote for Hillary Clinton this fall.
Paulson said Republicans stand at a crossroads and must choose the country over the GOP’s presumptive nominee Donald Trump.
{mosads}“When it comes to the presidency, I will not vote for Donald Trump,” Paulson wrote in a Washington Post op-ed on Friday.
“I will not cast a write-in vote. I’ll be voting for Hillary Clinton, with the hope that she can bring Americans together to do the things necessary to strengthen our economy, our environment and our place in the world,” he wrote.
Paulson said that with Trump “we are witnessing a populist hijacking of one of the United States’ great political parties.”
“The GOP, in putting Trump at the top of the ticket, is endorsing a brand of populism rooted in ignorance, prejudice, fear and isolationism.”
Paulson said that with so much partisan divide in politics that the White House needs a leader who can bring people together and solve problems.
“Now is the time for a bipartisan approach to policy solutions that address our most difficult domestic problems,” he wrote.
“This requires a president who exhibits an ability to compromise — and basic civility — neither of which Trump displays.”
He said the next president must maintain the United States’ fiscal strength by reforming entitlements, and that the U.S. cannnot shrink from global trade.
Trump has taken anti-trade positions during his campaign.
Paulson joins a growing list of former Republican officials who say they will vote for Clinton. Brent Scowcroft, a former national security adviser under President George H.W. Bush, earlier this week said he would back Clinton.
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