[Skybird]

From FOCUS. I bet this woman is not alone:

Linda Rawles has been a staunch Republican all her life. But now the woman from the US state of Arizona is fighting her president Donald Trump - she is far from alone with this effort. a. By Ines Pohl.

"Careful here with this stone, do you see these holes? There is a rattlesnake here," warns Linda Rawles. It was better to make a lot of noise in order to drive away the fatal animal.

Make a lot of noise. That is Rawle's motto in the remaining months before the presidential election. Make a lot of noise to prevent bad, worse in November.

The 61-year-old lawyer is fighting, like so many Americans in her age group, by all means against a second term of Donald Trump.

She fights against a president she is ashamed of. For his racism, his misogyny, his immigration policy and the ludicrous manner with which he stuns decades-old allies, she says.

But above all, she fights against the man who destroyed her political home.

Linda Rawles is a Republican. Whole blood Republican. The woman, who lives with her husband in Carefree, part of Phoenix, Arizona, has been involved in this party since she was 13.

Has repeatedly campaigned for party friends at local and regional level, and fought for a seat in Congress in 1994. It wasn't enough for a win. There is still a mixture of pride and melancholy in her voice when she bends over the old campaign brochures.

"I still stand for the same values," she says. The United States of America was finally founded for a free market. And for individual responsibility. "In my opinion, the government should leave your wallet and bedroom alone."

But none of this left Donald Trump after four years: "He has turned the party from a party of freedom into a party that pays homage to dictators and destroys the legal foundations." Rawles finds hard words for the president, speaks of a "psychologically disturbed sociopath."

Arizona was a safe bank for the Republicans in the presidential election for decades. Election researchers say that this can change this year. Especially women like Linda Rawles, who live in the well-off suburbs, are crucial for who ultimately wins the fight for the White House.

One factor here: the corona virus. The state of deserts and cacti in the southwestern United States is severely affected by COVID-19. According to official information, more than 2400 people have already died of the virus here. Republican governor Doug Ducey followed Trump's announcement early and eased short-term security measures again.

Now the new infections are exploding, and more and more hospitals are lacking beds to enable adequate treatment. COVID-19 patients are released far too early and infect other people. The morgues are no longer enough to cool the dead before they can be buried in the desert heat.

"Donald Trump has blood on his hands, he ignored the virus because he was politically embarrassed," says Rawles. "He convinced our governor to reopen everything too soon - and now people are dying." Because good economic figures are more important to him than hundreds of thousands or more deaths. It was not possible to separate the pandemic and the economy. "One is closely related to the other," says the lawyer.

Republicans are increasingly dissatisfied with government crisis management, Rawles said. And yet it was almost impossible for many to turn away from Trump openly. "If you were so firmly convinced of something, it is difficult to make this mental change happen," she explains. "It is difficult to say: I was wrong there. It takes a lot of courage."

As proud as she is of the former Trump supporters, who are now openly speaking out against her former candidate, she despises the party leadership, which continues to keep the president in line.

She is convinced that the Republicans will only have one chance to survive as a party and to regain their core values ​​if the entire leadership team is exchanged. Anyone who continues to be a fan of Donald Trump also shares his moral compass, and she no longer has trust in these people.

"I want my party back," says Rawles. In the end, it is about what kind of person you wanted to be: someone who obeyed the law and respected his counterpart, or someone who caged children at the border.

Even though Linda Rawles largely rejects Joe Biden's politics, she will vote for him this fall. He was at least a decent and mentally healthy person. And everything is better than Trump. In the long run, however, she wants her own political home again. A more traditional party that represents its economic ideas and is not as far left as the Democrats are.

But can the Republicans overcome their existential crisis even if Trump loses the November election? Linda Rawles has great doubts. Maybe in the end you have to change the whole party system, she says - or even found a new party.

But all of this is something for the future. Now you have to fight with all your strength. And make a lot of noise. Like the big stone in her front yard.