Elections are a specialized type of job interview, and voters play the role of the harried Human Resources specialist.

As the election campaign nears its end, now might be a good time to review what many of Donald Trump’s former colleagues and other Republican officials think of him. While Trump’s first term earned him the dubious distinction of being named the worst president in US history by a panel of historians, those folks were obviously denizens of the deep state who can’t be trusted.

So, let’s hear what former Trump cabinet members, administration officials and members of Congress have to say about Trump.

John Bolton, Former National Security Adviser under Trump:

• “He’s fundamentally ignorant, and he really doesn’t care about the facts. He thinks international relations are about personal relations, which is a line and approach that I can tell you, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping are eagerly looking forward to.”

• Trump “can’t tell the difference between what’s true and what’s false.”

• “Trump is unfit to be president.”

• “I believe (foreign leaders) think he is a laughing fool.”

Marine General John F. Kelly, Former chief of staff under Trump:

• “The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it’s more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life.”

• In an interview Kelly confirmed that Trump called American service members “suckers” and “losers,” refused to visit their graves, and that he didn’t want to be seen with amputee veterans because “it doesn’t look good for me”

• “He’s a very, very flawed man…who has some serious character issues.”

• “[Trump is] A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. 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.”

Republican Robert M. Gates, former CIA director and defense secretary who served in the administrations of both George W. Bush and Barack Obama:

• “[Trump’s] disdain for allies, fondness for authoritarian leaders, and erratic behavior undermined his credibility.”

Mike Pence, Vice-President under Trump:

• “President Trump asked me to put him over the Constitution… I really do believe that…Anyone who asks someone else to put themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the US again.”

• “It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year.”

Rex Tillerson, Former Secretary of State under Trump:

• “An (effing) moron.”

• “(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.”

William Barr, Former Attorney General under Trump:

• “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.”

• “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.”

Marine General James Mathis, Former Secretary of Defense under Trump:

• “He’s dangerous. He’s unfit.”

• “The president has no moral compass.”

• “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.”

General Mark A. Miley, Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump:

• “A wannabe dictator.”

Mark Esper, Former Secretary of Defense under Trump:

• “[Trump] was suggesting that…we should bring in the troops and shoot the protesters.”

• “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.”

• “I do regard him as a threat to democracy, democracy as we know it.”

• “I’m not sure we can survive another four years of Donald Trump.”

Richard Spencer, Former Secretary of the Navy under Trump :

• “…the president 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.”

Dan Coats, Former Director of National Intelligence under Trump:

• “He doesn’t know the difference between the truth and a lie.”

HR McMaster, Trump’s second national security adviser:

• “We saw the absence of leadership, really anti-leadership, and what that can do to our country.”

• “After over a year in this job, I cannot understand Putin’s hold on Trump,”

Mike Mulvaney, Former acting Chief of Staff under Trump:

• “I quit because I think he failed at being the president when we needed him to be that.”

Deborah Birx, Former White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator under Trump:

• “With these words the leader of the United States began encouraging protestors to take back their states and ignore local public health guidance…His words also signaled an end to the sense of our ‘all being in this thing together,’ to seeing our sacrifices as a shared burden we shouldered to produce a shared benefit. Rather than uniting us around a collective cause, the president was exploiting the differences and divisions between us.”

Paul Ryan (R), Former Speaker of the House:

• “I think it really is just character at the end of the day, and the fact that if you’re willing to put yourself above the Constitution ― an oath you swear when you take federal office, whether as president or a member of Congress, you swear an oath to the Constitution ― and you’re willing to suborn it to yourself, I think that makes you unfit for office.”

• “Character is too important to me—and the presidency is a job that requires the kind of character that he just doesn’t have…

Mitch McConnell (R), Former Senate Majority Leader:

• “The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people. And they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government, which they did not like.”

• “This was an intensifying crescendo of conspiracy theories, orchestrated by an outgoing president who seemed determined to either overturn the voters’ decision or else torch our institutions on the way out.”

• “Former President Trump’s actions preceding the riot were a disgraceful dereliction of duty.”

Chris Christie, Former New Jersey governor and member of Trump’s 2016 transition team:

• “Someone who I would argue now is just out for himself.”

• “This is a billionaire who refused to pay his lawyers with his own personal money, and instead, men and women out there who believe in him and wanted [him] to be elected president are donating money to try to forward his candidacy … and he’s diverting that money to pay his own legal fees.”

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney:

• “I’m not going to be voting for Donald Trump…When someone has been determined by a jury to have committed sexual assault, that is not someone who I want my kids and grandkids to see as president of the United States.”

• “His is not the temperament of a stable, thoughtful leader. His imagination must not be married to real power.”

Nikki Haley, Former ambassador to the United Nations during Trump administration:

• “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

Alyssa Farah Griffin, Former Special Assistant to Trump (Director of Strategic Communications):

• “We worked with him, we knew him, and we are telling you America, this man is unfit to be president.”

• “Every living former standard bearer for the GOP, everyone who’s been on a GOP presidential ticket, with the exception of Sarah Palin, is not backing Donald Trump.”

• “Despite publicly praising the military and claiming to be the most pro-military president, there’s a demonstrable record of Trump bashing the most decorated service members in our country, from Gen. Mattis to Kelly to Milley, to criticizing the wounded or deceased like John McCain.

• “Donald Trump will fundamentally never understand service the way those who have actually served in uniform will, and it’s one of the countless reasons he’s unfit to be commander in chief.”

Stephanie Grisham, Former Spokesperson for Trump:

• “Behind closed doors, Trump mocks his supporters. He calls them ‘basement dwellers… ‘  He has no empathy, no morals, and no fidelity to the truth.”

• “He used to tell me, ‘It doesn’t matter what you say, Stephanie. Say it enough and people will believe you.”

Tom Bossert, Former Homeland Security Adviser to Trump:

• “The President undermined American democracy baselessly for months. As a result, he’s culpable for this siege, and an utter disgrace.”

Olivia Troye, Former Homeland Security and Counterterrorism advisor to Vice President Mike Pence:

• “As someone who served in the Trump White House, I witnessed the destruction & chaos firsthand. A second Trump term will bring more turmoil.”

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer:

•   “Donald’s an idiot.”

Ty Cobb, Trump’s former White House lawyer:

• “Trump relentlessly puts forth claims that are not true.”

J.D. Vance, Ohio Republican Senator and Trump VP pick:

• “Does any dad (or future dad) want to look his daughter in the eye and explain why he voted for Trump?”
• “One of USA’s most hated, villainous, douchey celebs.”
• “Monster”
• “Nemesis of the GOP”
• “My god what an idiot.”
• “Noxious.”
• “Reprehensible”

(Those are all things Vance has either posted or liked on Twitter/X.)

Geoff Duncan, Former Republican Lieutenant Governor of Georgia:

• “We have to call him out for what he is. He’s a felonious thug who walks down the street & throws sucker punches at people like Brian Kemp, like African American journalists … the GOP is content watching it happen & not calling him out.”

Christine Todd Whitman, Former Republican Gov. of New Jersey:

• “Republicans have always believed in the rule of law and the Constitution. That’s what makes this country great. Donald Trump has no respect for either of those things.”

Richard Cheney, Former Vice President under George W. Bush

• “In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.” 

Lynn Cheney, Former Republican member of Congress:

• “Trump didn’t just negotiate with terrorists; he invited the Taliban to Camp David on the anniversary of 9/11 and had his Secretary of State sign a surrender agreement with them.”

Jim Greenwood, Former Republican Congressman from PA

• “I observed him to be a man who is not mentally fit for the job…He’s a narcissist, and he’s a pathological liar.”

Alberto Gonzalez (R), Former United States Attorney General (2005 – 2007):

• “Donald Trump — perhaps the most serious threat to the rule of law in a generation.”

• “There is little evidence that he has the integrity and character to responsibly wield the power of the presidency within the limits of the law.“

• “And no amount of rationalization to support Trump because of his policies can overcome the disqualification of this man based on his lack of integrity.”

Tim Miller, Former Spokesman for Republican National Committee:

• “He contained not a single attribute they would want their child to emulate.”

• “He had an empty set of virtues. Throughout his life, at every opportunity, he had screwed the people who worked with him. He had bilked the innocent victims who had signed up for his myriad scams, only to be left bankrupt. And he did it in order to fill the bottomless black hole within him that required boundless validation and indulgence for sustenance.”

• “He was constitutionally incapable of shame or self-reflection. Even his biggest apologists admitted that the best way to get him to do the right thing was to prey on his insecurities.”

John Giles (R), Mesa Arizona Mayor:

• “I think the time has come for us as AZ Republicans to admit the obvious…which is that our party’s nominee is not qualified for office

Michael Luttig (R), Former Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit:

• “Because of the former president’s continued, knowingly false claims that he won the 2020 election, millions of Americans no longer have faith and confidence in our national elections, and many never will again.”

Twelve former White House lawyers from Reagan,  GHW Bush, and GW Bush administrations:

• “We believe that returning former President Trump to office would threaten American democracy and undermine the rule of law in our country.“

• Trump “was guilty of grave wrongdoing to our Constitution, democracy, and rule of law, and who remains unfit, dangerous, and detached from reality.”

And a few comments from senior military officers who did not serve directly under Trump

Admiral William McRaven, ninth commander of the United States Special Operations Command (2011 – 2014)

• “Now, a former president has been convicted by a jury in New York, and we have a choice to make. We can show the world that we are still exceptional and continue to lead the international community with integrity and pride, or we can prolong the onslaught of crassness, vulgarity, pettiness and righteous indignation and descend into national mediocrity, where there is nothing of value worth emulating.”

General Barry McCaffery who commanded the 24^th Infantry Division during Operation Desert Storm and later served as served as Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy during the Clinton administration:

• “Trump sounds like a 12-year-pld – a willful and abusive braggart. He is remarkably ignorant and uneducated about the world that we face and the means we may use to defend ourselves. At retirement I was a four-star joint theater commander. In my considered opinion, Trump is unqualified to be the president of the United States and fulfill the role of commander in chief of the 2.2 million men and women of the armed forces.”

October 7, 2024