Trump Critics Open to Voting For Clinton

Some prominent Republicans are open to the idea of voting for Hillary Clinton for president, if they must, according to interviews conducted by The Hill. 

"You have a lot of people who are desperate to get anybody in there other than Trump," said Eliot A. Cohen, a former Jeb Bush adviser.

Cohen was one of the organizers of an open letter rebuking Trump's foreign policy plans, saying they are "wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle." The full transcript of that letter is at War on the Rocks.  

"Donald Trump is not a Republican. He is a caricature of classless wealth," and "a caricature of the ugly American," said Bryan McGrath, a Cruz campaign worker who is deputy director at the Center for American Seapower.

"If the only choice I'm offered is between Hillary and Trump, I'll go for Hillary," said Cohen.

McGrath said if he had to choose between Clinton and Trump, he'd vote for Clinton, if he had "a gun held to my head." However, he said, he'd be most likely to write in a candidate.
He also said, "On foreign and defense policy, I at least trust Hillary's judgment."

One Republican said Clinton's speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee could have been delivered by Rubio.

"For someone who is a George H.W. Bush Republican, this is a very uncomfortable choice," said George Drezner, a Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy professor who signed the open letter. "If it's between Trump and Clinton, I will vote for Clinton."

Max Boot, a Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow who also signed the letter, said he would choose Clinton over both Trump and Cruz.

"I would consider a conservative third party but would vote for Hillary over Trump — not a close call," he said. It's a closer call between Clinton and Cruz, he said, but "on foreign policy grounds I would probably vote for Hillary."

Half of Republican voters in a poll reported by The Guardian said they didn't know if they could vote for Trump if he won the nomination.

Hispanic Republicans would vote for Clinton or Bernie Sanders over Trump, according to a poll reported by the Washington Post.  

Iowa Republicans would be in favor of Clinton winning instead of Trump, according to a focus group in January reported by CBS News. 

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