Donald Trump's Ex-Attorney Said Don't Vote Trump

Often, when someone runs for president, it feels like everyone from their kindergarten teacher to next-door neighbor has something positive to say about them. As for those who don't — well, they tend not to say anything at all. This has not been the case this election season. With Republicans penning op-eds left and right denouncing their presidential candidate, the in thing in D.C. seems to be writing less-than-glowing reviews of Donald Trump. It doesn't stop with politicians. Now, Trump's ex-attorney has spoken out, and his appraisal of the real estate tycoon and reality TV star makes you take pause. You know, if you weren't already.

Attorney Thomas M. Wells penned a takedown for The Huffington Post. According to the bio on his firm's website, Wells is a founding partner of Wells, Jaworski & Liebman LLP, and specializes in commercial and corporate law, working out of New Jersey. According to the op-ed, he and Trump worked together about 30 years ago on a shopping project that was going to be called "Trump Centre" (it never came to fruition). They didn't meet much, but Wells says that he was able to get a feel for Trump. His view is not very flattering:

Donald Trump was then, as he is now, larger than life, particularly in his own eyes, and at the same time frighteningly small, with very little moral grounding. He was then, and still is, all ego and show.

So Wells went to work writing down all the reasons one shouldn't vote for Trump. "Once I got going with my reasons why Donald would not be good for our country, it was hard to stop," he says. "I did stop, however, when I hit 20, about 4,000 words." The 20 points are an evisceration of Trump.

Wells starts with what he calls Trump's skills as a liar. He cited various times that he's lied, be it about people cheering the fall of the Twin Towers or the hugely inflated black-on-white crime numbers. Wells then comments, "You have to ponder whether yet another of Donald Trump’s oft made statements about the fervor of his Christianity and the Bible being his favorite book are also not grounded in truth. Clearly, 'thou shall not lie' is not his favorite of the Ten Commandments."

From there, Wells takes Trump to task for his ego — aka making the whole of election season all about him. He attacks Trump's plans, saying they have no substance or basis in reality. And then he goes in on The Donald for his dislike of reading, writing, "It is a special and unique form of arrogance to think you could even consider being literally the leader of the free world without doing the work to deeply understand the job."

From there, Wells attacks Trump's character, his thin skin, and his bullying. Plus, he points out that the GOP candidate's foreign policy views simply just don't add up. "Incoherent rants, often contradictory, does not a foreign policy make," the section header reads.

But point 20 is his strongest. Here, he gets to the meat of the issue. This election is about more than just Donald Trump; it's about what America stands for. Wells points out that Trump only believes in an America for people just like him — or "real Americans" as Sarah Palin said. Wells thinks we should have a future that includes everybody, and then he gets to his endorsement:

We can do so much better! For me, better comes easily in the form of former Senator and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. For those who do not come to that conclusion easily (I get it), this year it will have to be the lesser of two evils. No matter what, don’t even think about taking us into the abyss that is Donald Trump.

And of course, Wells is not alone. The list of Republicans opposing Trump grows by the day. But to have Trump's own former lawyer say this is something else entirely. I mean, you have to wonder when the people who've met him put it like that.