The Influential Men Who Disdain Trump—But Won’t Endorse Harris

In his 1963 “Letter From the Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King wrote that his generation would “have to repent … not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.” A similar sentiment is often attributed to Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”

Since Burke never actually said these words, allow me to rephrase them: The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for powerful people to lack courage. That’s where we are 11 days before an election that Donald Trump may win. Most of America’s leadership class understands that Trump’s re-election would be catastrophic in the manifold ways with which readers of this publication are well familiar. But a surprisingly large number of them are afraid to endorse Kamala Harris.

When I say “America’s leadership class” I don’t mean those Republican Party quislings, starting with Trump’s running mate JD Vance, who initially identified Trump as evil (“reprehensible,” “cultural heroin,” “America’s Hitler,” etc.) then later capitulated. For an appropriately pitiless roundup of key Republicans who surrendered their party to Trump, I refer you to Mark Leibovich in the September issue of The Atlantic.

I have in mind a different group of leaders who in most cases bear no particular allegiance to the Republican Party. It may be a stretch to call them “good men” (they’re all men), but they’re astute enough to recognize the danger Trump poses, even as they decline to give Harris their public support. If Trump wins, it will be an exaggeration to say they caused it. But history will record that at a moment in their lives—in most cases, the only moment in their lives—when circumstances required them to show courage, they failed the test. Indeed, that silence may be the only thing succeeding generations will know about them. Let’s call them the Fraidy Cats.

Jamie Dimon

Dimon is chief executive of J.P. Morgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States and the fifth largest in the world, with $3.9 trillion in assets. Dimon himself is worth, per Forbes, $2.4 billion. Hear him roar! As I’ve observed previously, Dimon treats the Fed’s chief banking regulator like a scullery maid and its chairman like a slow-witted subordinate. But even though Dimon is a Democrat (I can’t fathom why), he’s unwilling to endorse Harris, reportedly because inviting Trump’s wrath is too scary.