FP | A prominent neoconservative
intellectual and early promoter of the Iraq War is headlining an
official campaign fundraiser for Hillary Clinton next month, Foreign Policy
has learned. The move signals a shift in the Clinton campaign’s
willingness to associate with prominent Republicans and is the latest
sign of how far some GOP defectors are willing to go to block a Donald
Trump presidency.
Robert Kagan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a
co-founder of the Project for the New American Century, will speak at a
Hillary for America fundraiser in Washington’s Logan Circle neighborhood
on July 21. According to an invite obtained by FP,
the “event will include an off-the-record conversation on America’s
continued investment in NATO, key European allies and partners, and the
EU.”
Kagan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Clinton campaign has made clear it
believes Trump’s high unfavorable ratings and provocative comments have
created an opening for her candidacy among traditional GOP voters, and
will soon begin actively courting the Republican electorate.
The campaign has been careful about such overtures in the past as it
fended off criticisms from the left by her primary rival Bernie Sanders,
who highlighted her 2002 vote in favor of the Iraq War, ties to
controversial Republican figures like Henry Kissinger, and warm
relationship with Wall Street.
“In her book and in this last debate,
she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of
Henry Kissinger,” Sanders said
during a February debate. “Now, I find it rather amazing, because I
happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive
secretaries of state in the modern history of this country.”
While dozens of Republican foreign-policy insiders have publicly
renounced Trump, far fewer have announced their support for Clinton. But
cracks are beginning to emerge.
