Trump's Insiders

Under Trump, the federal debt held by the public went up, from $14.4 trillion to $21.6 trillion. He favors a 10% import tax across the board.

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Trump's Insiders

There are so many problems facing the U.S.--and the free world--this election year. And the U.S. has so many advantages. We are food-independent, domestically sufficient in energy, and we have a large, isolated land mass with a growing population defended by the world's only global deep-water navy.

Yet our politics defy logic and reality. Our president is mentally impaired, our vice president is silly, our news is dominated by strange preoccupations with deference to the peripheral, and the electorate is furious. We are in wars, have ignored crime, have lost control of our border, are close to the tipping point in social program debt, and have evidence of a lack of social cohesion (encouraged by the government) with pockets of despair.

In short, we have tremendous international advantages powered by an extraordinary constitutional advantage yet we are suffering a myriad of self-inflicted wounds.

Yet...yet...the current president, head-to-head, has a voting advantage against his major opponent, Trump. It looks as if Biden will win and, as his decline continues, we will get Harris as president, Obama will get his fourth term and we will get more of the same incompetence.

It is easy to oppose the current administration but finding a standard-bearer who can win against it is not a slam-dunk. Image and a biased press make these elections difficult. So far it is not obvious that the well-founded opposition can coalesce around Trump.

I have collected a few comments on Trump from responsible men who have worked with him when he was president. These opinions seep into the public debate and will influence the discussion and the election.

John Kelly

John Kelly, the longest-serving White House chief of staff for Donald Trump was interviewed by CNN.
“What can I add that has not already been said?” Kelly said, when asked if he wanted to weigh in on his former boss in light of recent comments made by other former Trump officials. “A person that 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.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.

“A person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women,” Kelly continued. “A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason – in expectation that someone will take action. 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,” Kelly concluded. “God help us.”

Mark Milley

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley wrote a resignation letter--which he did not send, but appeared in a book.

"I regret to inform you that I intend to resign as your Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Thank you for the honor of appointing me as senior ranking officer. The events of the last couple weeks have caused me to do deep soul-searching, and I can no longer faithfully support and execute your orders as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It is my belief that you were doing great and irreparable harm to my country. I believe that you have made a concerted effort over time to politicize the United States military. I thought that I could change that. I’ve come to the realization that I cannot, and I need to step aside and let someone else try to do that.

Second, you are using the military to create fear in the minds of the people—and we are trying to protect the American people. I cannot stand idly by and participate in that attack, verbally or otherwise, on the American people. The American people trust their military and they trust us to protect them against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and our military will do just that. We will not turn our back on the American people.

Third, I swore an oath to the Constitution of the United States and embodied within that Constitution is the idea that says that all men and women are created equal. All men and women are created equal, no matter who you are, whether you are white or Black, Asian, Indian, no matter the color of your skin, no matter if you’re gay, straight or something in between. It doesn’t matter if you’re Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jew, or choose not to believe. None of that matters. It doesn’t matter what country you came from, what your last name is—what matters is we’re Americans. We’re all Americans. That under these colors of red, white, and blue—the colors that my parents fought for in World War II—means something around the world. It’s obvious to me that you don’t think of those colors the same way I do. It’s obvious to me that you don’t hold those values dear and the cause that I serve.

And lastly it is my deeply held belief that you’re ruining the international order, and causing significant damage to our country overseas, that was fought for so hard by the Greatest Generation that they instituted in 1945. Between 1914 and 1945, 150 million people were slaughtered in the conduct of war. They were slaughtered because of tyrannies and dictatorships. That generation, like every generation, has fought against that, has fought against fascism, has fought against Nazism, has fought against extremism. It’s now obvious to me that you don’t understand that world order. You don’t understand what the war was all about. In fact, you subscribe to many of the principles that we fought against. And I cannot be a party to that. It is with deep regret that I hereby submit my letter of resignation."

(In fairness, instead of resigning, Milley reportedly decided to fight his battle from inside the government, allegedly saying, “If they want to court-martial me, or put me in prison, have at it. But I will fight from the inside.”)

Mark Esper

Trump's former secretary of defense, Mark Esper, told CNN in November 2022, “I think he’s unfit for office. … He puts himself before country. His actions are all about him and not about the country. And then, of course, I believe he has integrity and character issues as well.”


Bill Barr

Trump’s former attorney general, Bill Barr, told CBS in June that “he is a consummate narcissist. And he constantly engages in reckless conduct. … He will always put his own interests, and gratifying his own ego, ahead of everything else, including the country’s interests. Our country can’t, you know, can’t be a therapy session for you know, a troubled man like this.”