The son of late president Gerald Ford has said that his father would have backed fellow Republican Donald Trump in the election after his sister proudly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
Susan Ford Bales, Ford’s daughter, issued a statement earlier this week announcing her backing of Harris.
“Vice President Harris and I likely disagree on some policy matters, but her integrity and commitment to those same principles that guided Dad have led me to conclude that Kamala Harris should be elected 47th President of the United States,” she said in a Monday statement.
But her brother, Jack Ford, said his father “would definitely be a Republican voter and vote for Trump.”
“I don’t know if he would step out and endorse because as ex-presidents, you know, you’re trying to be a little bit above the fray,” he added according to The Detroit News.
Jack Ford said his sister’s endorsement doesn’t represent the whole family.
“I know my dad, President Gerald Ford, as a lifelong member of the Republican Party who would typically not vote for a Democrat as president and certainly not Kamala Harris,” he said in a statement.
Jack Ford said he was “a bit surprised” at his sister assuming how their father would have voted.
“Everyone’s entitled to their own perspective. It was somewhat played, it seemed, in the media as if this was a Ford family statement, which it wasn’t,” he said. “Susan spoke for herself and not for me or my siblings, as none of us have really discussed it. I wouldn’t want people to get the impression that she was speaking for the family.”
Jack Ford argued that his father put country over party, which is what would have prompted him to vote for Trump.
“Whether it’s the border, inflation, or foreign policy, I could never support Kamala Harris’ policies, and I am certain my father would agree,” he said, according to The News.
Ford, who lives in San Diego, said one of the main issues that would have concerned his father would have been the southern border.
“I don’t think in his wildest imagination my father could have ever envisioned millions of people crossing the border and being released in the country without thorough vetting,” he said. “I have lived the border nightmare.”
He added that his father would have been deeply concerned at what he sees as the political use of federal law enforcement.
“He played a role when J Edgar Hoover passed away, structuring the FBI in a way that he hoped we’d never have the problems or conflicts that existed under Hoover,” Ford said, according to The News. “He worked very hard to say it’s important this agency not be political and I think he would be shocked at some of the politicization of the FBI and the DOJ.”
Ford also shared his concerns with the removal of President Joe Biden from atop the Democratic ticket.
“Kicking Joe Biden out and putting Kamala in – That’s such a throwback to the old party bosses, smoke-filled rooms, and whatnot. I think he would be flabbergasted,” Ford said of his father.
President Ford pardoned his predecessor Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal, which sealed his political fate, losing the 1976 election to Democrat Jimmy Carter.
“Of course, I’m prejudiced,” Jack Ford added. “But there was a certain specialness about those leaders who had served in World War II. A combination of the Depression, the war — when times are tough, I think people pull together. And so I think having gone through that crucible of those two events did make those leaders obviously devoted to the country and country above politics.”