Friends,

The consequences of this election will last for generations.

That’s why I’m reaching out to you to personally ask you to chip in $5 to elect Joe Biden today.

I have been in politics for decades, and you can believe me when I tell you that the stakes have never been higher than the ones we face in this election. I’ll tell you why.

American foreign policy under President Trump has been defined by a relentless effort to dismantle the system that the United States helped create after World War II to solve global problems.

Since the day he took office, Trump has abandoned vital diplomatic agreements, insulted our allies, and hurt our ability to work with other nations to address common threats.

At home, Trump has put our governing institutions at risk by undermining Congress, the courts, and his own federal agencies. He has disregarded science and twisted facts to suit his political agenda, while demonstrating an open disdain for democratic values.

With the spread of COVID-19, the folly of this approach is even more apparent. Trump fumbled his response to the pandemic so severely that the United States now leads the world in COVID-19 cases, and he has shown no leadership in trying to get the virus under control.

Our country is in desperate need of a leader whose word can be trusted, whose ideals lift people up, and whose actions bring people together rather than driving them apart.

That leader is Joe Biden. And if you’re able to give anything at all to make him our next President, I hope you’ll give $5 today.

I have been privileged to know Joe for many years. When I served as the United States’ ambassador to the United Nations and as Secretary of State, he was one of the Senate’s leading voices on foreign policy, and his instincts on diplomacy often mirrored and reinforced my own.

At the time, one of the most challenging situations the world faced was in the Balkans, where Bosnia-Herzegovina was being ripped apart by aggression, women were being systematically raped, children were being killed by snipers, and whole villages were being ethnically cleansed.

Instead of acting, the world community had tied itself into knots.

One of the few leaders who stood up and said, “This is wrong,” was then-Sen. Joe Biden. He said, “Let us put power on the side of justice. Let us put an end to the hate and violence. Let us create a new Europe and a new century in which bigotry and ethnic cleansing have no place.”

Joe Biden’s leadership during the Bosnian War was exceptional, but it was also no exception.

In that moment, I saw the measure of a man who, throughout his career, has said what needed to be said, regardless of whether people of power wanted to hear it.

As a senator, he fought to ensure that our diplomats and service members had what they needed to succeed in their missions, leading the effort to procure life-saving mine-resistant vehicles for our troops in Iraq.

As Vice President, he secured ratification of a landmark nuclear arms treaty with Russia, strengthened relations with our partners throughout the Western Hemisphere, and helped bring China into a major international climate agreement.

Throughout his career, Joe Biden has fiercely defended America’s interests, but he has always understood that our interests cannot be protected if we sacrifice our values. He will not make excuses for dictators in Cuba, Russia, or anywhere else. He is also a stalwart defender of U.S. allies, including Israel.

I know Joe Biden will be ready on Day One to lead as our commander in chief. That’s why Barack Obama chose him as his Vice President. Joe has the energy, the experience, and the moral courage that our nation deserves and the future demands.

But he cannot do this alone. It’s up to all of us to take a stand and do our part to support his fight in any way we can. I pledge to do everything in my power to help Joe defeat Donald Trump, and I’m asking you to do the same today.

So I have to ask you one last time, if you want to see America represented on the world stage by a man who will restore our reputation and lead with compassion, honesty, and integrity, will you pitch in $5 before Joe Biden’s end-of-month deadline?

Thank you for standing up for American values.

Madeleine Albright