Lindsey Graham, who ran against Trump for president, have already said they won’t vote for Trump.
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Although no former secretaries of state signed the letter, it carries the signatures of Michael Chertoff and Tom Ridge, former secretaries of homeland security; Michael Hayden, a former director of the CIA and the National Security Agency; John Negroponte, a former director of national intelligence and deputy secretary of state; Robert Zoellick, who also was a deputy secretary of state and president of the World Bank and the USA trade representative under George W. Bush; Carla Hills, the US trade representative under George H.W. Bush; and William H. Taft IV, a former deputy secretary of defense and ambassador to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation under the elder Bush. For example, certainly most Republicans that I know, whether in Maine or at the national level, want to see our party grow, not constrict.
The idea of writing such a letter had been discussed by GOP national security officials for a while, but gained momentum when Trump called on Russian Federation to share Clinton emails it potentially hacked and when he took a position many saw as legitimizing Russia’s claim to Ukraine’s Crimea region.
In response, Mr Trump said they were part of a “failed Washington elite” looking to hold on to power.
Now, she says, she isn’t sure how she’ll vote.
Some will say that as a Republican I have an obligation to support my party’s nominee. Several of the signatories did play key policymaking roles during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq and the initial phases of the war.
The New York real estate mogul also has shown no willingness to learn about foreign affairs or national security threats, “acts impetuously” and lacks self control, the statement said.
It could also be good politics. “He weakens USA moral authority as the leader of the free world”.
“People were in different places about whether they want to endorse Clinton and their doubts about her, but we settled on a statement that recognizes many people have concerns about Clinton”, he said.
Claiming that Trump lacks the temperament to be the President, the statement alleged he has demonstrated repeatedly that he has little understanding of America’s vital national interests, its complex diplomatic challenges, its indispensable alliances and the democratic values on which the U.S. foreign policy must be based.
Collins does say that Trump’s temperament would be unsafe in a president because his “tendency to lash out when challenged further escalates the possibility of disputes spinning dangerously out of control”.
That’s a far cry from the language in the new Trump statement about pursuing a policy that “stands up to foreign dictators instead of taking money from them” or “seeks peace over war”. He uses both phrases to contrast his positions with those of Clinton, as well as of the letter writers.
“Every four years since my 18th birthday, I have pulled the lever in support of the Republican nominee for president of the United States”. Mr. Trump did not stop with shedding the stilted campaign dialogue that often frustrates voters.
And while the US public may not recognize former deputy secretaries of state, the names it does know are Bush and Clinton.
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“I will not be voting for Donald Trump for president”.
