88 to one
As the 2024 presidential election nears and Donald Trump continues dropping in the polls, his attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris are becoming more desperate. However, as Trump keeps spewing misinformation and faulty logic at the wall in the hope something sticks, experts are stepping in and grabbing their pens to shut him down.
Just recently, I wrote about how 88 corporate leaders wrote a letter dismantling Trump’s false claims about how the economy would fair under a Harris administration. Now, Trump’s latest tired line of attack on Harris’s role in the Afghanistan withdrawal a few years ago has been met with a powerful response from a group of top retired military officials.
In an open letter, first obtained by Axios, 10 former U.S. generals and admirals came out swinging against Trump, calling him a “danger to our national security and our democracy” and pointing out that even Trump’s “own former National Security Advisors, Defense Secretaries, and Chiefs of Staff have said so.” By contrast, the signers called Harris “a steadfast supporter of service members, veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors” who has “demonstrated her ability to take on the most difficult national security challenges in the Situation Room and on the international stage.”
The signers then explained that it was Trump who negotiated a deal with the Taliban (and without the Afghan government’s involvement) that freed 5,000 Taliban fighters and allowed them to return to the battlefield, leaving President Joe Biden and Harris no plans for a withdrawal, along with little time to complete it. It was Trump’s “chaotic approach” that put both U.S. service members and allies at risk. In other words, the damage was already done by Trump—well before the Biden-Harris administration took over.
As the letter concludes, “service members and their loved ones deserve a President with the temperament and track record to serve as commander-in-chief,” and Harris is the “leader” who “is willing to make tough decisions, who takes accountability, and who always has our back.” Trump, on the other hand, “continually disrespects those who serve in uniform, including wounded warriors, prisoners of war, and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.”
This new letter is yet another example of truth and reality pushing back hard against Trump’s selfish attempts to rewrite history and bend the facts to support his failing campaign. As more experts step up to set the record straight, Trump will have to work much harder to convince the growing number of doubting Americans that he deserves their vote. As Trump’s credibility continues getting chiseled away, a strong image of Kamala Harris behind the Resolute Desk comes into sharper focus.
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month