WHAT THEY ARE SAYING:

Republican Officials View Donald Trump as a Major Threat to National Security

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In his first term, Donald Trump retreated from the world stage, undermined the intelligence and law enforcement agencies that keep us safe, gutted the diplomacy that prevents wars, routinely insulted our allies, cozied up to dictators, and disrespected our military. Under his leadership, America was less safe and less respected on the world stage.

But don’t just take our word for it. Many of Trump’s former allies and trusted advisors – including Cabinet Secretaries, national security officials and his own chief of staff – are using their voices to ensure that the American people understand the unique threat posed byTrump’s second term as president. And these Republican leaders are giving us a preview of what we can expect for the next four years.

Here’s what they’re saying: 

General John F. Kelly, Former White House Chief of Staff during the Trump Administration: “[Trump is] 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.” [10/3/2023]

“[Trump is 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 P.O.W.s are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ [Trump is] a person that has no idea what America stands for, and no idea what America is all about.” [10/3/2023]

General James Mattis, Former Secretary of Defense during the Trump Administration: “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. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society.” [6/3/2020]

“His use of the Presidency to destroy trust in our election and to poison our respect for fellow citizens has been enabled by pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice.” [1/6/2021]

Bill Barr, Former Attorney General during the Trump Administration: “If he was in the White House again, he will always put his own interests and gratifying his own ego ahead of everything else, including the country’s interests. There’s no question about it.” [6/18/2023]

“[Trump] does not have the discipline, he does not have the ability for strategic thinking and linear thinking or setting priorities or how to get things done in the system. It is a horror show when he is left to his own devices.” [5/7/2023]

John Bolton, Former National Security Advisor during the Trump Administration:

 “Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, and others, they think he's a laughing fool, and they're fully prepared to take advantage of him. Perhaps self-absorption makes it impossible for him to understand that…He just doesn't know limits. What he cares about is the greater glory of Donald Trump; the concept of the national interest or American national security are things he doesn't comprehend.” [1/30/2024]

“In truth, Trump’s purported affinity for the military is purely transactional, a pose he strikes when he wants, and which he will unhesitantly abandon. Trump is no friend of the military.” [1/30/2024]

“Indeed, it is a close contest between Putin and Xi Jinping, who would be happiest to see Trump back in office.” [1/30/2024]

“There is the even greater danger that Trump, in office, will implement his desire to withdraw America from NATO. He came precariously close to doing so in 2018 and his subsequent criticism has been unrelenting.” [1/30/2024]

Mark Esper, Former Secretary of Defense during the Trump Administration: “I do regard him as a threat to democracy, democracy as we know it, our institutions, our political culture, all those things that make America great and have defined us as, you know, the oldest democracy on this planet.” [1/6/2024]

“ … In my view, any elected leader needs to meet some basic criteria: they need to be able to put country over self, they need to have a certain amount of integrity and principle, they need to be able to reach across the aisle and bring people together and unite the country. Look, Donald Trump doesn’t meet those marks for me.” [5/10/2022]

Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, Former White House National Security Advisor during the Trump Administration: “President Trump and other officials have repeatedly compromised our principles in pursuit of partisan advantage and personal gain. Those who engaged in disinformation and demagoguery in pursuit of self-interest abdicated their responsibility to the American people. It was, in every sense of the phrase, a dereliction of duty.” [1/7/2021]

Rex Tillerson, Former Secretary of State during the Trump Administration: “[Trump’s] understanding of global events, his understanding of global history, his understanding of U.S. 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.” [1/11/2021]

Mike Pompeo, Former Secretary of State during the Trump Administration: “Trump had classified docs when he shouldn’t have had them, and when given the opportunity to return them he chose not to do that …  That’s inconsistent with protecting America’s soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines ... if these allegations are true, some of these were pretty serious, important documents.” [6/13/2023]

Richard Spencer, Secretary of the Navy during the Trump Administration: “The president [Trump] has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices.” [11/27/2019]

Mike Pence, Former Vice President: “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.” [8/2/2023]

Mitt Romney, U.S. Senator (R-UT): “There's no question [Trump] has authoritarian rulings, and interests, and notions which he will try and impose. That's dangerous for the country.” [12/10/2023]

Adam Kinzinger, Former U.S. Representative (R - IL): “The problem is, the consequences of a Donald Trump victory are so dire that I think you have to hold your nose and vote for somebody maybe you don’t like because we can survive four more years of Joe Biden. I’m not sure we can survive four more years of Donald Trump.” [11/20/2023]

Will Hurd, Former United States Representative (R-TX): “Donald Trump is a national security threat to the United States.” [8/11/2023]

Cassidy Hutchinson, Former White House Aide during the Trump Administration: “[Trump is] the most grave threat we will face to our democracy in our lifetime, and potentially in American history.” [9/26/2023]

Alyssa Farah Griffin, Former White House Communications Director during the Trump Administration: "Fundamentally, a second Trump term could mean the end of American democracy as we know it, and I don't say that lightly.We all witnessed him trying to steal a democratic election before and go to historic and unconstitutional lengths to do so." [12/30/2023]

Chris Christie, Former Governor of New Jersey and Trump’s Presidential Transition Vice Chairman: “We have folks in this race who have called Vladimir Putin brilliant, a great leader. Just yesterday, Donald Trump [said he] was the apple of Putin’s eye. I have to tell you the truth: I don’t want to be the apple of Vladimir Putin’s eye.” [08/19/2023]

Nikki Haley, GOP Presidential Candidate and Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. during the Trump Administration: “He was thin-skinned and easily distracted. He didn’t do anything on fiscal policy and really spent a lot of money, and we’re paying the price for it. 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.” [9/21/2023]

“[Trump] would talk about love letters going back and forth with Kim Jong Un … I remember at the United Nations I had to sit him down and tell him to stop this bromance with Putin. You can't have someone who's trying to buddy up with dictators who want to kill us.” [1/21/2024]

“They’re saying he got confused, that he was talking about something else, he’s talking about Nancy Pelosi…He mentioned me multiple times in that scenario. The concern I have is — I’m not saying anything derogatory — but when you’re dealing with the pressures of the presidency, we can’t have someone else that we question whether they’re mentally fit to do this.” [1/21/2024]

Liz Cheney, Former United States Representative (R-WY): “Have we forgotten how a depraved Donald Trump sat and watched the violent mob attack our Capitol and refused for multiple hours to instruct them to stand down and disperse? He showed us his character on Jan. 6. He is the same exceptionally dangerous and flawed man today. And if Mr. Trump fears he might face future prosecution, you can bet he won’t voluntarily leave office. Our nation can endure bad policies for four or eight years. But once our constitutional system unravels, the damage is irreversible, and our republic fails just as so many others have throughout history. The framers understood this. We should too. The risk is far too great to elect Mr. Trump ever again.” [12/13/2023]

Robert Gates, Former Defense Secretary and CIA Director: “It’s quite clear that being a unifying president is pretty low on the priority of [Trump]. I think he is a divider, and I think he does so quite consciously.” [6/17/2020]

Sarah Matthews, Former Deputy Press Secretary during the Trump Administration: “To this day, he still doubles down on the fact that he thinks that the election was stolen and fraudulent. And then his rhetoric has just gotten increasingly erratic. I mean, he has literally called for things like doing away with parts of the Constitution, wanting to weaponize the DOJ to enact revenge on his political enemies.” [12/20/2023]

Paul Ryan, Former U.S. Representative (R-WI) and Speaker of the House: “He’s an authoritarian narcissist…He’s a populist, authoritarian narcissist…All of his tendencies are basically where narcissism takes him, which is whatever makes him popular, makes him feel good at any given moment.” [12/14/2023]

Ty Cobb, Former White House Counsel during the Trump Administration: “I think you have to take Trump seriously, because he poses the gravest threat to democracy that we’ve ever seen.” [1/09/24]

Published: February 2024

Updated: November 2024