FT.com, Louisville, KY :
Several dozen Republican foreign policy experts have accused Donald Trump of being “fundamentally dishonest” and “unfit” to be president, as the property developer closes in on the party’s nomination.
The 60 signatories to a blistering letter published on Wednesday evening pledged to “work energetically to prevent the election” of Mr Trump. One signatory was Robert Zoellick, the former deputy secretary of state who has been advising Jeb Bush.
“As committed and loyal Republicans, we are unable to support a party ticket with Mr Trump at its head,” they wrote. The existence of the letter, which was published on the foreign policy website War on the Rocks, was first reported by the Financial Times. Others who have put their name to the letter include former homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff, former senior Pentagon officials Eric Edelman and Dov Zakheim, former senior state department official Philip Zelikow, and Peter Feaver, now at Duke University, who worked at the White House under George W Bush and Bill Clinton. According to the letter, Mr Trump has a vision of America that is “wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle”. It argues that the clear favourite for the Republican nomination “swings from isolationism to military adventurism within the space of one sentence”.
Mr Trump’s call for trade wars was a “recipe for economic disaster” and his support for “expansive” use of torture
was “inexcusable”, the letter said. His attempt to get Mexico to pay for a border wall “rests on an utter misreading of, and contempt for, our southern neighbour” and his call for allies such as Japan to pay more on security represented “the sentiment of a racketeer”.
“Trump needs to be stopped,” said Mr Zakheim. “His words are being taken seriously overseas. He has upset our allies in Central America, Europe, East Asia and the Middle East. That is not a recipe for American leadership.” The letter comes just days after Michael Hayden, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, warned that US military commanders might refuse to follow orders if, as commander-in-chief, Mr Trump followed through on some of the policies he has floated. Mr Hayden cited the example of Mr Trump saying he would kill the family members of terrorists, which would contravene international law. Mr Zakheim said he believed the military would continue to accept civilian control even if Mr Trump became president. But he added that “many of our most talented top officers are certain to resign or retire” if the New York tycoon claims the Oval Office.
Mr Trump’s endorsement by Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor, has brought a senior Republican with security policy credentials into his small core team. However, Mr Trump’s rise has sparked concern in the US foreign policy community, particularly among those who feel that he would try to implement the isolationist stance associated with Robert Taft, the conservative senator who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination during and after the second world war.
The push to highlight concerns about Mr Trump and his foreign policy statements is being spearheaded by Eliot Cohen, a former top state department official in George W Bush’s administration, and Bryan McGrath, a retired navy officer who advised Mitt Romney during his 2012 run for the White House.
Mr Cohen wrote in the American Interest last week that “the Republican Party as we know it may die of Trump”. He criticised other Republicans who were considering working for the Trump campaign.
“Like French bureaucrats in the age of Vichy, or Italian aristocrats in the age of Mussolini, they are already saying things like: ‘I can make it less bad’.” Donald Trump now looks highly likely to secure the Republican nomination for the US presidency.
Writing in Politico last month, Thomas Wright, a scholar at the Brookings Institution, said Mr Trump’s world view was one “that makes a great leap backward in history, embracing antiquated notions of power that haven’t been prevalent since before the second world war”. But some Republicans who share the sentiments in the letter expressed reservation about publishing the attack. They said it would just fuel Mr Trump’s campaign by giving him more ammunition to argue that he is the only candidate willing to take on the status quo in Washington. “The people signing that letter will be the establishment – the very people that Trump is running against. It will make Trump’s day,” said one influential Republican.
Several dozen Republican foreign policy experts have accused Donald Trump of being “fundamentally dishonest” and “unfit” to be president, as the property developer closes in on the party’s nomination.
The 60 signatories to a blistering letter published on Wednesday evening pledged to “work energetically to prevent the election” of Mr Trump. One signatory was Robert Zoellick, the former deputy secretary of state who has been advising Jeb Bush.
“As committed and loyal Republicans, we are unable to support a party ticket with Mr Trump at its head,” they wrote. The existence of the letter, which was published on the foreign policy website War on the Rocks, was first reported by the Financial Times. Others who have put their name to the letter include former homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff, former senior Pentagon officials Eric Edelman and Dov Zakheim, former senior state department official Philip Zelikow, and Peter Feaver, now at Duke University, who worked at the White House under George W Bush and Bill Clinton. According to the letter, Mr Trump has a vision of America that is “wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle”. It argues that the clear favourite for the Republican nomination “swings from isolationism to military adventurism within the space of one sentence”.
Mr Trump’s call for trade wars was a “recipe for economic disaster” and his support for “expansive” use of torture
was “inexcusable”, the letter said. His attempt to get Mexico to pay for a border wall “rests on an utter misreading of, and contempt for, our southern neighbour” and his call for allies such as Japan to pay more on security represented “the sentiment of a racketeer”.
“Trump needs to be stopped,” said Mr Zakheim. “His words are being taken seriously overseas. He has upset our allies in Central America, Europe, East Asia and the Middle East. That is not a recipe for American leadership.” The letter comes just days after Michael Hayden, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, warned that US military commanders might refuse to follow orders if, as commander-in-chief, Mr Trump followed through on some of the policies he has floated. Mr Hayden cited the example of Mr Trump saying he would kill the family members of terrorists, which would contravene international law. Mr Zakheim said he believed the military would continue to accept civilian control even if Mr Trump became president. But he added that “many of our most talented top officers are certain to resign or retire” if the New York tycoon claims the Oval Office.
Mr Trump’s endorsement by Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor, has brought a senior Republican with security policy credentials into his small core team. However, Mr Trump’s rise has sparked concern in the US foreign policy community, particularly among those who feel that he would try to implement the isolationist stance associated with Robert Taft, the conservative senator who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination during and after the second world war.
The push to highlight concerns about Mr Trump and his foreign policy statements is being spearheaded by Eliot Cohen, a former top state department official in George W Bush’s administration, and Bryan McGrath, a retired navy officer who advised Mitt Romney during his 2012 run for the White House.
Mr Cohen wrote in the American Interest last week that “the Republican Party as we know it may die of Trump”. He criticised other Republicans who were considering working for the Trump campaign.
“Like French bureaucrats in the age of Vichy, or Italian aristocrats in the age of Mussolini, they are already saying things like: ‘I can make it less bad’.” Donald Trump now looks highly likely to secure the Republican nomination for the US presidency.
Writing in Politico last month, Thomas Wright, a scholar at the Brookings Institution, said Mr Trump’s world view was one “that makes a great leap backward in history, embracing antiquated notions of power that haven’t been prevalent since before the second world war”. But some Republicans who share the sentiments in the letter expressed reservation about publishing the attack. They said it would just fuel Mr Trump’s campaign by giving him more ammunition to argue that he is the only candidate willing to take on the status quo in Washington. “The people signing that letter will be the establishment – the very people that Trump is running against. It will make Trump’s day,” said one influential Republican.
