Top Jeb Bush donor announces he's voting for Hillary Clinton

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published 1 September 2016

After donating $3 million to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) during the Republican primary, businessman Mike Fernandez is giving up on the Republican Party — at least for this presidential election. In an op-ed published in the Miami Herald late Wednesday, the Republican megadonor wrote that he'll be voting for Hillary Clinton in November because, although he is still a "firm believer in the fundamental tenets of the Republican Party," he doesn't think Trump is "representative" of those values or "qualified to lead the nation."

In an election like this, Fernandez wrote, our nation must come before "blind loyalty" to a political party:

No longer can we seek solace in wishful thinking or the illusion that this is just an election cycle and that by divine intervention all will be better after we vote. There is no basis in thinking that our democracy is so strong, our checks and balances so finely hedged, that no single person can lead us off the precipice. Trump can.No longer can we hide behind the excuse that party loyalty is paramount, and that a bad candidate of our own is always better than any candidate of theirs. Blind loyalty in this case is the ultimate definition of disloyalty to our beliefs. Loyalty to our nation must be the ultimate arbiter of our choice. [Miami Herald]