NEW YORK _ When your dad is Rudy Giuliani, father definitely does not know best _ at least when it comes to politics, his daughter said Thursday in a surprise op-ed that urged Americans to vote for Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on Nov. 3.
In a piece for Vanity Fair, Caroline Rose Giuliani said that despite her father's close personal and professional ties with Republican President Donald Trump, "none of us can afford to be silent right now."
"As a child, I saw firsthand the kind of cruel, selfish politics that Donald Trump has now inflicted on our country. It made me want to run as far away from them as possible. But trust me when I tell you: Running away does not solve the problem. We have to stand and fight. The only way to end this nightmare is to vote. There is hope on the horizon, but we'll only grasp it if we elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris," she wrote.
Giuliani's daughter went on to divulge her tense relationship with her ex-New York City mayor dad, saying they have "butted heads" on everything from gay marriage to welfare programs to racism since she was a teen.
"He always found a way to justify his party line, whatever it was at the time," she wrote. "It felt important to speak my mind, and I'm glad we at least managed to communicate at all. But the chasm was painful nonetheless, and has gotten exponentially more so in Trump's era of chest-thumping partisan tribalism."
Giuliani said she publicly voiced her support for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, and started canvassing for congressional candidates after realizing she "wasn't getting anywhere" debating her famous Republican father at home.
"It's taken persistence and nerve to find my voice in politics, and I'm using it now to ask you to stand with me in the fight to end Donald Trump's reign of terror," she urged.
"If I, after decades of despair over politics, can engage in our democracy to meet this critical moment, I know you can too," she added.
