
A Repost from CNN: 24 Colleagues Who Turned against Trump
When you read what they say, you understand why he can never be president again.
A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.
CNN —
There is a long list of one-time allies and aides who have either turned against former President Donald Trump or whom he has turned against.
No person in US politics – certainly no recent president – has such an expansive list of high-profile allies turned enemies.
His longest-serving White House chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, delivered an incredible rebuke of Trump’s personality and leadership in an on-the-record statement to CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Given that Trump is the front-runner for the GOP nomination in 2024 and simultaneously facing multiple criminal cases, both the campaign and the court proceedings could prompt additional people to speak out.
What’s below is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but rather a catalog of the most notable turns by former aides and top officials whom Trump at one point chose to work for him at the White House. Some are now actively working against him. Three are running against him in the presidential primary. Others have stayed relatively quiet after resigning in protest. The link at each name includes more context.
1. His vice president, Mike Pence: “The American people deserve to know that President Trump asked me to put him over my oath to the Constitution. … Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.”
2. His second attorney general, Bill Barr: “Someone who engaged in that kind of bullying about a process that is fundamental to our system and to our self-government shouldn’t be anywhere near the Oval Office.”
3. His first secretary of defense, James Mattis: “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people – does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us.”
4. His second secretary of defense, Mark Esper: “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.”
5. His chairman of the joint chiefs, retired Gen. Mark Milley, seemed to invoke Trump: “We don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that is America – and we’re willing to die to protect it.”
6. His first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson: “(Trump’s) understanding of global events, his understanding of global history, his understanding of US history was really limited. It’s really hard to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t even understand the concept for why we’re talking about this.”
See the rest at:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/03/politics/donald-trump-former-allies-what-matters/index.html
Oh, Lordy!!!! We just can't get a break right now!! I can't wait to see what happens with the Georgia plea deals. There's going to be a lot of spaghetti on the walls at Mar-a-Lago in the coming months.
Following Tillerson’s statement about how little Trump understands international matters and lacks any basic understanding or knowledge of history Nikki Haley shows us with her words just how stupid she is about foreign policy.
7. His first ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley: “He used to be good on foreign policy and now he has started to walk it back and get weak in the knees when it comes to Ukraine. A terrible thing happened on January 6 and he called it a beautiful day.”