Former Republican presidential nominees cheered at Democratic convention

John McCain chatting with Tim Kaine, the Democrats&#039; 2016 vice presidential nominee.

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

published 28 July 2016

A lot has changed since 2012 — four years after he ran against President Obama, Mitt Romney received cheers at the Democratic National Convention.

Romney appeared in a video that featured prominent Republicans and conservatives commenting on their opposition to Trump. He wasn't the only one to get applause — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and former New York Gov. George Pataki were also well-received. After the video played, John Hutson, a retired rear admiral and former judge advocate general, came onstage, and announced, "Unlike Donald Trump, there are two things that I know an awful lot about: Law and order." He called Trump out for "endorsing torture at a minimum" and inviting Russia to hack a U.S. entity. "It's embarrassing enough that he's the face of one of our political parties," Hutson said. "The real disaster would be if we let Donald Trump become the face of the country we love."

Hutson urged people to listen to the more than 120 Republican national security leaders who have warned that Trump would "make America less safe," and brought up Trump's comments on Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). "I served in the same Navy as John McCain," he said. "I used to vote in the same party as John McCain. Donald, you're not fit to polish John McCain's boots." The room erupted in more unlikely cheers, this time not for McCain the Republican, but McCain the war hero. Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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