A letter from 50 GOP national security advisors blasting Donald Trump‘s temperament and judgment was published on Monday in The New York Times.
The damaging letter was unveiled to the public while Mr. Trump was delivering his economic speech, where he surprised the world by sticking to the teleprompter and did not threaten any of the protesters disrupting him.
Needless to say that the letter took all the steam away from the plans and policies that the presidential nominee laid out. The national security experts are all former advisers to a long list of former Republican presidents that include Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush.
The group stated that Trump is unfit to be the president of these United States because of his character, his lack of self-control and because he is not rational. They also cited his erratic behavior, utter ignorance, his non-interest to learn public policies as to why they will not vote for him in the fall.
John Negroponte, former Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, and former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson are among the signees of this document.
The officials did not advocate for a Hillary Clinton presidency, but they made it clear that they fear a Trump win. They went as far as calling the billionaire the most dangerous presidential candidate in American history.
For several months, the experts have been talking about writing this letter, but it became very urgent after Trump started to praise Vladimir Putin openly, called on Russia to hack Clinton’s emails, and changed the Republican Party platform’s language on policy towards Ukraine. The NYT report reads:
“Mr. Trump, the officials warn, “would be the most reckless president in American history.”
The letter says Mr. Trump would weaken the United States’ moral authority and questions his knowledge of and belief in the Constitution. It says he has “demonstrated repeatedly that he has little understanding” of the nation’s “vital national interests, its complex diplomatic challenges, its indispensable alliances and the democratic values” on which American policy should be based. And it laments that “Mr. Trump has shown no interest in educating himself.”
“None of us will vote for Donald Trump,” the letter states, though it notes later that many Americans “have doubts about Hillary Clinton, as do many of us.”
It went on to say:
“He is unable or unwilling to separate truth from falsehood. He does not encourage conflicting views. He lacks self-control and acts impetuously. He cannot tolerate personal criticism. He has alarmed our closest allies with his erratic behavior,” the letter claims. “All of these are dangerous qualities in an individual who aspires to be President and Commander-in-Chief, with command of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.”
It took Mr. Trump’s campaign several hours to respond, and he eventually released a statement where he slammed the 50 sponsors of the letter by calling them members of the establishment, who are angry that their candidate Jeb Bush did not get the nomination. Trump said:
“…one that is not run by a ruling family dynasty. It’s an America first vision that stands up to foreign dictators instead of taking money from them, seeks peace over war, rebuilds our military and makes other countries pay their fair share for their protection.”
The letter put an end to a few hours of positive media coverage for Mr. Trump.
