If strength is what they need, then there is strength in numbers.
I’m referring to former government officials, particularly national security officials, who worked for Donald Trump and who have refused to publicly and directly warn voters that Trump is unfit to be president, even though, as insiders know all too well, they feel that way.
Imagine a pre-election press conference with Trump’s senior advisors standing side by side delivering their message, each giving a direct example of dereliction of duty. What better way to tilt the few undecided voters against Trump than to have former military leaders testify on national television about Trump’s disregard for the Constitution, the rule of law, and America’s national interests? President George W. Bush, 2012 Republican candidate Mitt Romney, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and others should also be on board. We know how they feel about Trump. Now is the time to support Kamala Harris.
On Monday, 10 military veterans, including six former generals and two admirals, issued a statement not only condemning Trump but also endorsing Harris as “the best and only presidential candidate in this race and the person most fit to be Commander in Chief.” They wrote that Trump “is a danger to our national security and democracy. So have Trump’s former national security advisors, secretaries of defense and chiefs of staff.”
Harris’ campaign has taken advantage of unprecedented criticism from former Trump aides. Before the debate, Fox News aired clips of Vice President Mike Pence, former National Security Adviser John Bolton, former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, taunting Trump. Two outspoken Trump veterans, White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci and national security adviser and Pence aide Olivia Troye, participated in the debate. During the debate, she quipped, “If you really want an inside look at what the former president is like, ask someone who worked with him.”
The letters, the ads, the Harris provocations — these are all fine and good — but we need to hear clearly from the White House, Cabinet and military officials who actually met and spoke with Trump on a regular basis. As I’ve pointed out, no president in American history has been so reviled by so many of his former closest advisers.
Some, such as former White House National Security Advisor and retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, have written critical books but avoided explicitly saying, “Watch out, voters!” Others, such as Milley and former White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, have written critical books and articles but have largely remained silent. And those who suggest that Trump is in any way beholden to Russian President Vladimir Putin, such as former Director of National Intelligence and Senator Dan Coats, have remained entirely silent. (And Trump’s deplorable party-first critics, notably former Attorney General William P. Barr and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, have said they would vote for Trump even if he were the Republican candidate.)
McMaster is one of the most frustratingly reticent. Last month, while promoting his latest book, “At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House,” McMaster told CBS News that Trump was “nasty,” refused to prepare, made contrarian decisions “just to embarrass his advisers,” was “addicted to flattery” and fueled “an environment of competitive sycophancy.” He said that Secretaries of State Mattis and Rex Tillerson viewed Trump as a danger to U.S. interests. McMaster said he disagreed, but said himself that Trump sees “the qualities he wants others to see” in “authoritarian leaders,” especially Putin. Isn’t this dangerous?
McMaster said Trump’s encouragement of the January 6 attack on the Capitol and his disruption of the peaceful transition of power was an “abdication of his responsibility to the Constitution.” But when asked whether Trump was fit to serve again, he said, “That is a judgment for the American people to make.” McMaster acknowledged that the chaos he documented “presages what we can expect in a second Trump administration,” but did not specify how he would vote.
McMaster, the author of a book on leadership, should mobilize the SOS press conference. What is holding him and others back?
To be fair, the veterans among them are steeped in a culture that respects civilian government and the commander in chief, one that is largely opposed to politicized behavior. But they served in civilian positions and understood Trump in a way that most Americans don’t. It is their patriotic duty to speak out.
Another reason they’re keeping quiet is that attacking Trump notoriously makes him aggressive, which incites his most fervent supporters. Romney, the only Republican senator to vote twice to impeach Trump, said last year that Trump was spending $5,000 a day on security. Most people, including former government officials, probably couldn’t afford that.
Here’s another disturbing thing: Adam Kinzinger, a former congressman and Republican Never-Trump ally, has spoken to some of the people who remain behind the scenes. “Just letting you know,” he said on a recent Bulwark podcast. “A lot of them are making money now, OK?” — for example, consulting for private equity firms or defense contractors. If their employers fear that a vengeful Trump might soon become president, criticizing their former bosses would make them “liabilities.”
But Kinzinger added, as if speaking to the faint-hearted: “Look at this, do you really care about the future of our country? I mean, you have to speak up! This is of This is the most important moment.”
Kinzinger was hopeful for a last-minute surprise, and so should we all be.
