Retired four-star Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal in an interview to The Week of NBC has criticized President Donald Trump’s handling of the presidency, expressing that the Commander in Chief is dishonest and immoral.
McChrystal, a seasoned veteran of the US Army, who had served as the head of the Joint Special Operations Command from 2003 to 2008 and later assumed command of all international forces in Afghanistan in June 2009, recently published a book.
In his recently published book on leadership, “Leaders: Myth and Reality,” McChrystal criticized Trump for not embodying effective leadership.
McChrystal addressed President Trump’s recent visit to Iraq, in which Trump politicized a typically non-partisan event. In addition to talking about domestic political issues in his speech to troops, Trump autographed troops’ “Make America Great Again” hats.
“If the US military becomes politicized, it will become something we’re not happy with,” said McChrystal.
McChrystal also disagreed with Trump’s announcement to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, warning it would lead to “greater instability” in the Middle East.
He also gave warning to anyone who might fill the vacancy left by former Defense Secretary James Mattis.
“I would ask [potential candidates] to look in the mirror and ask them if they can get comfortable enough with President Trump’s approach to governance, how he conducts himself with his values and with his worldview to be truly loyal to him as a commander in chief and going forward,” McChrystal said on This Week. “If there’s too much of a disconnect then I would tell him I think it’s -it would be a bad foundation upon which to try to build a successful partnership at that job.”
McChrystal said he would not take a job in the Trump administration if he were asked. “It’s important to me to work for people that I think are basically honest, and who tell the truth as best they know it.”
