It was supposed to be a good day for Donald Trump.
He was to unveil his economic plan that is supposed to make America great again when all of a sudden boom!
Fifty prominent, respected Republican security experts and foreign policy advisors all came together and signed an open letter saying they were not going to vote for him.
But that was just the beginning.
They went in hard on the Republican nominee by writing: “From a foreign policy perspective, Donald Trump is not qualified to be President and Commander-in-Chief. Indeed, we are convinced that he would be a dangerous President and would put at risk our country’s national security and well-being.”
And when I say major players, I mean major players like Michael Hayden, a former director of the C.I.A. and the National Security Agency, Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff, two former secretaries of Homeland Security, John Negroponte who served as the first director of national intelligence and then deputy secretary of state and on and on and on.
It should be noted that none of the living former secretaries of state in Republican administrations like Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, James Baker, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice joined in condemning Trump, but they have not endorsed him either.
Two Bush administration advisors Roger and Dov Zakheim, father and son, who did sign the letter against Trump said this to me on CNN last night:
Dov Zakheim -“Yes he’s erratic. He over reacts. And that’s compounded of course by his utter ignorance. The man seems to have no idea at all that Russia invaded Ukraine. That’s remarkable. So he doesn’t be seem to be interested in detail. He doesn’t want to learn. He doesn’t seem to want to listen and on top of it you’ve got the character problem and it all meshes together in a frightening mix.”
Roger Zakheim – “Well I think Donald Trump continues to raise the bar in exceeding our lowest expectations for him. He’s done a whole lot along the way, but I think taking on a gold star father and a gold star mother probably was the low watermark of his campaign, particularly for those who focus on service who focus on the men and women in uniform who focus on national security. This not the way a commander in chief should act.”
Trump released a statement which read, “The names on this letter are the ones the American people should look to for answers on why the world is a mess, and we thank them for coming forward so everyone in the country knows who deserves the blame for making the world such a dangerous place. They are nothing more than the failed Washington elite looking to hold onto their power, and it’s time they are held accountable for their actions.”
So he’s dismissing 50 of the most prominent Republican security experts in the world.
According to Trump, they’re all wrong and he’s right.
But unless he wins, they get the last work for now, or at least the last sentence – which in their letter simply states – “We are convinced that in the Oval Office, he would be the most reckless President in American history.
