Steve Schmidt, John McCain’s Presidential Campaign Manager, Announces He’s Leaving Republican Party

After 29 years of membership, Republican strategist Steve Schmidt has declared his departure from the GOP, denouncing it as nothing more than “the party of Trump.”

On Wednesday, Schmidt announced his withdrawal through a string of tweets, emphasizing his disgust with what the party has become.

29 years and nine months ago I registered to vote and became a member of The Republican Party which was founded in 1854 to oppose slavery and stand for the dignity of human life. Today I renounce my membership in the Republican Party. It is fully the party of Trump.

— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) June 20, 2018

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In his tweets, Schmidt accused President Donald Trump‘s administration of creating “internment camps for babies” with its recent zero-tolerance immigration policy.

“This child separation policy is connected to the worst abuses of humanity in our history. It is connected by the same evil that separated families during slavery and dislocated tribes and broke up Native American families. It is immoral and must be repudiated,” tweeted Schmidt.

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Schmidt has a long history of service to the GOP, previously working as top campaign adviser to Republican president George W. Bush in 2004 and presidential candidate John McCain in 2008.

Since Trump’s election in 2016, the strategist has become a prominent critic of the Trump administration, one of the few within his party. Events within the past month, however, have driven the party-member to the breaking point. He cites Trump’s support of North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, attacks on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the new immigration policy as key factors.

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The Republican figure also came down on party members for being “complicit” in the administration’s immoral behavior, including Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.

He concluded that while he will become an independent voter, he encourages everyone to support the Democratic party come midterm elections. In his eyes, it is “the only party left in America that stands for what is right and decent.”