Liz Cheney’s endorsement of Kamala Harris, despite their apparent political differences, is another in a long line of Republicans denouncing their nominee and the path the party has taken under the control of Donald Trump.

Cheney, who was a Republican member of the House from 2017 to 2023, said she would be voting for Harris because of the danger posed by Trump.

“I don’t believe we have the luxury of writing in candidates names, particularly in swing states,” she said.

“As a conservative and as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this.”

Cheney is the daughter of Dick Cheney, George W Bush’s vice-president from 2001-2009, who has also denounced Trump.

She was a Republican member of the House from 2017 to 2023 and chaired the January 6 committee and has been described as royalty within the Republican Party.

Dick Cheney (left) also denounced Trump and his role in the January 6 riot. Photo: Getty

RINOs

Trump has attacked Republicans who oppose his nomination, politics and conduct as RINOs, Republicans in name only, throughout his time in American politics.

But Cheney isn’t the first or the last to denounce the former president.

Pat Toomey, the former Republican senator for Pennsylvania, said this week that despite voting for Trump twice in 2016 and 2020, he would not again because of the efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

When you lose an election and you try to overturn the result so that you can stay in power, you lose,” he said.

“You lose me at that point.”

Others, including former House representative Adam Kinzinger, have denounced the Republican candidate as a threat to democracy and are making it known.

On Monday, more than 200 Republicans, including George HW Bush’s chief of staff, the finance chair of Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign and two of John McCain’s chiefs of staff, signed an open letter denouncing Trump.

“We have plenty of honest, ideological disagreements with Vice President Harris and Gov Walz,” the letter said.

“That’s to be expected. The alternative, however, is simply untenable.”

Never Trump

The letter focused on Trump’s connection to the controversial Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for the future of America that was penned by several of his closest advisers, that the former The Apprentice host has tried to distance himself from, and the potential damage to America’s foreign policy if he is re-elected.

“Another four years of Donald Trump’s chaotic leadership, this time focused on advancing the dangerous goals of Project 2025, will hurt real, everyday people and weaken our sacred institutions,” it said.

“Abroad, democratic movements will be irreparably jeopardised as Trump and his acolyte JD Vance kowtow to dictators like Vladimir Putin while turning their backs on our allies. We can’t let that happen.”

Many of the signatories are members of the moderate conservative movement that sprung up after Trump was elected president, called the Never Trump movement.

Although members have attempted to challenge for the leadership and future control of the party, including an unsuccessful primary run by Bill Weld in 2020, the movement has failed to make inroads with voters who control the nomination and are enthralled with Trump.

The nominee has also successfully installed loyalists into key party positions, including his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who is now the head of the Republican National Convention.