This is an update of that which follows – it is from 700
various retired high ranking military, political, and various other leadership
persons who signed a letter supporting Kamala Harris over Trump seen here in their publicly released letter with this headline:
“National Security Leaders for America (NSL4A) Endorses Kamala Harris
for President of the United States”
To the American People (September 22, 2024): We are former public servants who swore an oath to the Constitution. Many of us risked our lives for it. We are retired generals, admirals, senior noncommissioned officers, ambassadors, and senior civilian national security leaders.
We are Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. We are loyal to the ideals of our nation — like freedom, democracy, and the rule of law — not to any one individual or party.
We do not agree on everything, but we all adhere to two
fundamental principles. First, we believe America’s national security requires
a serious and capable Commander-in-Chief. Second, we believe American democracy
is invaluable. Each generation has a responsibility to defend it. That is why
we, the undersigned, proudly endorse Kamala Harris to be the next President of the
United States.
This election is a choice between serious leadership and
vengeful impulsiveness. It is a choice between democracy and authoritarianism.
Vice President Harris defends America’s democratic ideals, while former
President Donald Trump endangers them.
We do not make such an assessment lightly. We are trained to
make sober, rational decisions. That is how we know Vice President Harris would
make an excellent Commander-in-Chief, while Mr. Trump has proven he is not up
to the job. As leaders, we know effective leadership requires in-depth
knowledge, careful deliberation, and understanding of our adversaries and
empathy for those you lead. It requires listening to those with expertise and
not firing them when they disagree with you.
Vice President Harris has proven she is an effective leader
able to advance American national security interests. Her relentless diplomacy
with allies around the globe preserved a united front in support of Ukraine’s
fight against Russian aggression. She grasps the reality of American military
deterrence, promising to preserve the American military’s status as the most
“lethal” force in the world.
The contrast with
Mr. Trump is clear: Where Vice President Harris is prepared and
strategic, he is impulsive and ill-informed. He has heaped praise on
adversarial dictators like China’s Xi Jinping, North Korea’s Kim Jung Un, and
Russia’s Vladimir Putin, as well as the terrorist leaders of Hezbollah.
Conversely, he has publicly and privately excoriated the leaders of our most steadfast
allies, including the United Kingdom, Israel, Australia, Canada, and Germany.
He abandoned our Kurdish allies while ceding influence in the Middle East to
Russia, Iran, and China.
Further, Mr. Trump denigrates our great country and does not believe in the American ideal that our leaders should reflect the will of the people. While Vice President Harris follows the democratic norms we expect of any political leader — including promising to abide by the outcome of the pending election and respecting the rule of law..
Mr. Trump is the first president
in American history to actively undermine the peaceful transfer of power, the
bedrock of American democracy.
Mr. Trump threatens our democratic system; he has said so
himself. He has called for the “termination” of parts of the Constitution. He
said he wants to be a “dictator,” and his clarification that he would only be a
dictator for a day is not reassuring. He has undermined faith in our elections
by repeating lies, without evidence, of “millions” of fraudulent votes.
He has shown no remorse for trying to overturn the 2020 election
on January 6th promised to pardon the perpetrators and made it clear
he will not respect the results of the 2024 election should he lose again.
That alone proves Mr. Trump is unfit to be Commander-in-Chief.
We believe, as President Ronald Reagan said, that “America is a shining city on a hill.” Yet in this election, one of
President Reagan’s more ominous warnings is equally relevant. “Freedom,” he said, “is never more than
one generation away from extinction.”
Our endorsement of Vice President Harris is an endorsement
of freedom and an act of patriotism. It is an endorsement of democratic ideals,
of competence, and of relentless optimism in America’s future.
We hope you will join us in voting for her.
NOTE: The letter at the above link has the names.
The Original Post: Trump ex-staffers talk about Trump in this quite long and very accurate report here:
Olivia Troye worked at the homeland security counterterrorism, and then
later as COVID-19 advisor to Vice President Mike Pence. She resigned from her role in 2020 over
Trump's handling of the pandemic, claiming to have heard him say: “Maybe this COVID thing is a good thing. I
don't have to shake hands with these disgusting people.”
According to Troye:
“Trump has done a great job of sort of
marketing himself as the champion for all of these people who are behind him in
this movement, but in private he was so disparaging of them. What is so
frustrating and angering to me is the fact he has nothing in common with any of
his supporters and I detest the way he speaks about them. I think about my own
family members who, by the way, are very unhappy with me. I have a lot of family
members who are still Trump supporters. They're very upset that I'm a Trump
critic. I think about them and I'm like, I hate the way you speak about them
sometimes behind closed doors.”
Ret. Marine Gen. John Kelly, former Trump’s CofS, said on the record about Trumps speaking to CNN and confirmed damning reports that Trump repeatedly made controversial comments about wounded veterans such as: “What can I add that has not already been said? He is a person who thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them. He is a person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees when he said it doesn’t look good for me. He demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family on TV in 2016, He said those who gave their lives in America’s defense are losers and suckers” and would not visit graves in France.”
Trump, not unsurprisingly took Kelly's comments and made headlines, on
his social network Truth Social in a series of posts comprising more than 200
words writing: “John Kelly, by far
the dumbest of my Military people, just picked up the theme of the Radical
Left’s lying about Gold Star Families and Soldiers, in his hatred of me. He was
incapable of doing a good job, it was too much for him, and I couldn’t stand
the guy, so I fired him like a 'dog.' He had no heart or respect for people. He's
already on record defending me all over the place. Nobody loves the military
like I do! ... He's a Lowlife with a very small brain and a very big mouth.”
Despite his seemingly unfailing
loyalty, former Trump AG Bill Barr broke ranks when he refused to go along with
Trump's rigged election claims and resigned in December 2020. He went
on to rebuke Trump for inciting the January attack on the Capitol and the pair
have since entered into a war of words...
Barr released his
book: “One
Damn Thing After Another: Memoirs of an Attorney General in spring 2022.”
That is his tell-all exposé that became an instant bestseller.
In an article in
the NY Post Barr wrote: “Among the current crop of potential
nominees, Trump is the person least able to unite the party and the one most
likely to lose the general election.”
Barr also spoke out about Trump's second indictment, saying on Fox News: “I was shocked by the degree of sensitivity of [the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago] and how many there were... and I think the counts under the Espionage Act that he willfully retained those documents are solid counts. If even half of it is true, then he's toast. It's a very detailed indictment and it's very damning.”
Barr continued: “A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about... A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law. There is nothing more that can be said. God help us.”
Kelly's remarks corroborate various details included in a
2020 story in The Atlantic, written by Editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.
In his story, Goldberg claims, among other revelations, is that when Trump
described former Vietnam POW and the late Senator John McCain as a loser for “getting
captured,” injured, and being held as POW for nearly 6 years in the infamous Hanoi Hilton.”
My 2 Cents: Can only say I totally agree with the 700 signatories,
and would openly add my name to their letter.
Congrats to them and I
hope their words carry weight with any still undecided voters. I predict and
believe it will & VP Harris will win in a major landslide in both popular and
electoral votes.
Thanks for stopping by.
No comments:
Post a Comment