NEW YORK: Former US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has called PresidentDonald Trump “an embarrassment” and said he “is doing great damage to ourcountry internationally”. in an interview with the Lincoln Journal Star.
In an interview published in the Lincoln Journal Star, Hagel, a formerNebraska Republican senator, said the United States and the world haveentered “a defining year, a year of volatility and uncertainty and greatdanger.”
His criticism of Trump on numerous fronts comes amid continued fallout fromthe president reportedly referring to Haiti and African countries as“shitholes” during a closed-door immigration meeting with congressmen.
The former defence chief expressed disgust at Trump’s attacks on theintelligence community, saying the country has “a president who minimizeshis own intelligence community, and that is quite astounding.”
He also accused the president of “intentionally dividing the country andthe world,” pulling away from alliances that have benefited the U.S. andwithdrawing from trade agreements that have been in American interests.
“I was philosophically a Republican with a conservative voting record, butthat did not mean I would always go along with the party,” Hagel said.
He stressed that politicians “take an oath of office not to a president,not to a party, not to a philosophy, but to the Constitution of the UnitedStates,” and that in the end every person must “make a decision based onthe right thing for the country.”
Hagel was also critical of Trump in other areas, saying that “‘my button isbigger than yours’ is irresponsible kind of talk,” referring to a tweetthat Trump aimed at North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The former defence secretary said the United States should initiatenegotiations with Pyongyang, because “engagement is not surrender. Greatpowers are not afraid of talking to people, and it’s up to us to take thefirst step.”
Hagel has criticized Trump’s leadership before. Last May, he said Trumpdidn’t understand governing and needed to “listen and learn” but was “doingjust the opposite.”
“I hope he will take a different tack soon, before it’s too late, before heloses the credibility and the confidence to govern,” he told the OmahaWorld-Herald.
Months later, Hagel, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, said he was“offended” by Trump’s handling of a call to a widow of a soldier killed inNiger and the president’s accusations that Obama had not called thefamilies of fallen soldiers when he was in office.
“I’m offended by the way he’s handled it,” Hagel told USA Today at thetime. “You just don’t use the families of the fallen to score politicalpoints, especially to take jabs at your predecessor. “I’m very unhappyabout this.”