Though he feels both of the two-party candidates seeking to be Commander-in-Chief have flaws and have not fully addressed all of the security challenges the country faces, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in an op-ed he penned for the Wall Street Journal that GOP nominee Donald Trump is “beyond repair.”
Gates also writes in the article that Trump is far too “cavalier about the use of nuclear weapons” and has “a record of insults to servicemen, their families and the military.” Gates also asserts that Trump is:
“Willfully ignorant about the rest of the world, about our military and its capabilities, and about government itself.
“He has no clue about the difference between negotiating a business deal and negotiating with sovereign nations. A thin-skinned, temperamental, shoot-from-the-hip and lip, uninformed commander-in-chief is too great a risk for America.”
Trump reacted to the op-ed from Gates as you would expect, tweeting out:
“I never met former Defense Secretary Robert Gates. He knows nothing about me. But look at the results under his guidance – a total disaster!”
Will Gates formally endorse Clinton in the days ahead? He suggest he will and urges her to:
“Address forthrightly her trustworthiness, to reassure people about her judgment, to demonstrate her willingness to stake out one or more positions on national security at odds with her party’s conventional wisdom, and to speak beyond generalities about how she would deal with China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, the Middle East — and international trade. Whether and how she addresses these issues will, I believe, affect how many people vote — including me.”
As for Trump, Gates makes no secret of how strongly he feels that the real-estate mogul is not and never will be up to the job of President, calling him:
“Stubbornly uninformed about the world and how to lead our country and government, and temperamentally unsuited to lead our men and women in uniform. He is unqualified and unfit to be commander-in-chief.”
Featured Image Via CNN Screengrab
