Donald Trump has faced a jolt from within the Republican party. More than 200 Republicans who previously worked for former US President George W Bush have written an open letter endorsing Kamala Harris for the top post instead of their own party candidate Donald Trump.

This comes weeks ahead of the US Presidential election scheduled in early November.

According to Fox News, a group of Republican officials, including several former aides to George HW Bush, has endorsed Kamala Harris, a Democrat and current Vice President, urging “moderate Republicans and conservative independents” to support her.

However, this is not the first time this has happened. In the previous US election, held in 2020, the same group had opposed Donald Trump.

“Four years ago, President George W Bush, the late Sen John McCain, and then-Gov Mitt Romney alumni came together to warn fellow Republicans that re-electing President Trump would be a disaster for our nation. In those declarations we stated the plain truth, each predicting that another four years of a Trump presidency would irreparably damage our beloved democracy,” the letter said, which was published on Monday by US-based news organisation USA Today.

“We reunite today, joined by new George HW Bush alumni, to reinforce our 2020 statements and, for the first time, jointly declare that we’re voting for Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov Tim Walz this November,” the letter added.

While acknowledging significant policy disagreements with Kamala Harris, the Republican officials emphasised that the alternative is untenable. “Of course, we have plenty of honest, ideological disagreements with Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz. That’s to be expected. The alternative, however, is simply untenable,” the letter said.