Former Kansas colleague pleads with Moran to take a stand to rein in Trump | Opinion

I first met Jerry Moran in the Kansas Legislature in the 1980s and 1990s, when I was the rare Johnson County Democrat elected to the state House, and he served as a Republican state senator from Hays.

I have been an advocate for people with disabilities my entire life. I’ve worked with both Republicans and Democrats to achieve positive outcomes. Jerry Moran was one of the individuals, in the other party, whom other legislators and I found easy to work with.

He earned my respect when families of people with intellectual disabilities, associated with Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas, based in Hays, told me how he listened to their concerns, followed up on their questions and helped secure whatever funding he could to support their efforts.

He was a fiscal conservative, but he was willing to vote fairly for education and human service funding if you sat down with him and explained how the dollars would be used, how many people would be supported, and then followed up with timely reports based on fair measurements.

In other words, he was not an ideologue; he was just someone with common sense who happened to get elected. That’s how I remember Sen. Jerry Moran.

On more than a few occasions, I’ve contacted his office and urged his support on major disability issues. I’ve generally been impressed by his response and that of his staff.

There have been times when I have been greatly disappointed in some of his party line votes. But I console myself thinking: “He knows better; there must have been tremendous pressure exerted on his office to support the way he voted.”

I saw Moran as a decent public servant. He has never appeared as a die-hard ideologue or a childlike attention seeker like the junior senator from Kansas, Roger Marshall.

Jerry’s governing style has been defined as dignified and deliberate. He does not compete with his colleagues for face time on cable news nor does he dial into talk radio to shout at those who have a different opinion than his.

Jerry has often spoken of former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole as a mentor and role model, praising Dole’s commitment to service, bipartisanship and commonsense solutions over partisan posturing. He has also spoken admiringly of the era when Dole served alongside Nancy Kassebaum, known for her intelligence, independence and integrity rather than ideological theatrics. As a disability advocate and a public official, I often sought help from both Dole and Kassebaum. Neither they nor their staff members refused my calls because I was a member of the opposite political party.

For generations, that tradition of Midwest common sense, now considered obsolete, served Kansas and the nation well.

At a turning point in history

Today, we face a critical moment in American history when Republicans must understand that loyalty to the Constitution must come before loyalty to party.

During the darkest days of McCarthyism, Margaret Chase Smith stood on the Senate floor and condemned Sen. Joseph McCarthy for his cruelty, fearmongering and reckless accusations that were destroying lives and poisoning the nation. She spoke publicly, at great political risk, because the country needed it.

Two decades later, when the Watergate scandal threatened the constitutional order, leading Republicans Barry Goldwater and Hugh Scott went to the White House and told President Richard Nixon that for the good of the nation, it was time to resign. They did not do it to protect their careers or to ensure their hold on power. They did it to protect the country and out of respect for the Constitution.

That is the Republican tradition that Jerry Moran has invoked and benefited from.

Which is why this moment is so troubling.

Today, I hope the decent public servant I served with in Topeka will sever any continued support, direct or indirect, for the current president who embodies the polar opposite of those values.

There are millions of Republicans who know that Donald Trump is immoral, corrupt and inept. Despite that, Republican elected officials continue to embrace Trump and rationalize that they need to “stay in the process,” telling themselves they might prevent something worse if they call out Trump, jump ship, or give up and leave office.

Maybe that’s what you believed, Jerry. Maybe, in smaller ways, you even succeeded.

But Trump is now so unhinged, so erratic and so incompetent that those rationalizations no longer hold.

We are living through an extended period of an American crisis. Trump is not a kind, caring, or decent human being. He is a convicted felon, a habitual liar, and a man who has shown contempt for the rule of law and democratic norms. He governs and campaigns through cruelty, grievance and division, and the nation is suffering for it.

Time to speak truth out loud

Jerry, you’ve had a great life serving the people of Kansas.

Serving in the U.S. Senate is an extraordinary honor — but so is being trusted by voters to serve on a city council, a state legislature, Congress or even a homeowners association board. The level of office doesn’t matter. What matters is that people put their trust in you. That trust is an honor and a legacy to pass on to your children and grandchildren.

Jerry, it isn’t worth serving in office if you have to sacrifice your principles for your party at the expense of a nation.

Truly, it’s time to leave office if the price of that service is abandoning the values you once stood for.

I don’t have it in my heart to believe your character or any other person’s character can change that much over a lifetime. And that is why I appeal to you to reconsider this moment in American history.

I pray you will become the Republican who speaks the truth out loud. Be the leader Kansas — and the country — will remember for choosing principle over party.

It is time to renounce Donald J. Trump and his betrayal of his oath to the American people.

I still believe you know what the right thing is. Now is the time to do it.

— Gary Blumenthal is a former Kansas state legislator and former senior federal disability official. He served in the Clinton and Obama administrations and lives in Pennsylvania.

This story was originally published January 7, 2026 at 5:17 AM with the headline "Former Kansas colleague pleads with Moran to take a stand to rein in Trump | Opinion."