Former White House national security adviser John Bolton previously said he would write in former Vice President Dick Cheney for president in November’s election, but revealed Thursday that he is considering changing his mind after Cheney and his daughter, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), endorsed Vice President Harris.
“It’s caused me to reassess whether to vote for Dick. I’m looking to vote for a conservative Republican, and I certainly think Dick is a conservative Republican,” Bolton said during a CNN appearance. “If he were to win, you know, not much chance of that, I suppose, I don’t think he’d put Kamala Harris in his Cabinet.”
Dick Cheney called former President Trump a “threat to our republic” and encouraged citizens not to reelect him in a September statement, saying he would vote for Harris.
Bolton, however, remains unconvinced that either presidential candidate should hold the position.
“I am not going to vote for either Harris or Trump. Neither one are qualified to be president,” he argued.
He later added that the two choices were “unacceptable” and that he “didn’t want to see either of them” in the Situation Room handling the conflict in the Middle East.
“They’re both unacceptable to me. That’s a matter of conscience on my part. I’m not going to choose between two unacceptable alternatives on the grounds that one is less unacceptable than the other. Neither one meet the minimum test of whether they should be president to begin with. I understand, obviously, that one of them will win, but I’m going to cast a protest vote.”
Bolton, a hawk who served as Trump’s White House national security adviser before breaking with him, has frequently criticized the former president since leaving his administration. He previously said he cast his vote for Cheney in the 2020 election.
He said during the interview that he is now considering voting for former President Ronald Reagan.
“I had originally thought in 2020 that I’d write in Ronald Reagan to make the point even more effectively, and maybe that’s what I’ll do this time,” he said.
Harris maintains a 4.2 percentage point lead over Trump nationally, according to the polling average from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ. The race remains close in several key swing states, which are likely to ultimately determine the outcome.