Senior retired military don't like Trump

Nearly 500 retired military, diplomats and ex-administration officials have got together to sign a statement that supports Joe Biden for the presidency in November and warns against having another four years of Donald Trump. They'd rather have Biden in charge of the nuclear button than the present president. Well, it makes good headlines for the Democrats but I doubt it will have much impact on the average voter in the US. There is unquestionably a large masse of people who have served various administrations in either a military or civilian capacity who no longer or never did trust Trump as commander-in-chief. Many of the individuals on the list are not household names but there are a few big guns amidst the 500. The backing of the military is crucial for any president and Trump believes that the rank and file love him. To an extent that is true. He has given them big pay boosts and increased defence spending. But recent polls carried out among servicemen and women have shown that the president's popularity is waning, and judging by the number of resignations and sackings in Trump's administration since he came into office in January 2017, the top military are as about as wary as they could be whenever Trump gives them orders. James Mattis as defence secretary deliberately disobeyed some of Trump's orders if various memoirs are to be believed. Now we have a heap of retirees who have spoken out against Trump as commander-in-chief and praised Biden for being a decent chap who will woo back all the allies who have become disenchanted with both the president and the country he leads. Will Biden be the man to make all the allies happy again? I guess with his time as vice president under Barack Obama at least everyone knows him and will have made up their minds a long time ago whether they rate him as a leader. I think it's true to say that if Trump loses in November and does actually get round to leaving the White House with his luggage, there will be a great sigh of relief amonsgt the European allies at least. Biden would be so much easier to deal with. But Trump would say that's a weakness. Only his tough hit-em-hard approach to European allies had made them, or some of them, increase defence spending, he would argue. But still, Biden as president would be a helluva lot quieter and more gentlemanly. Whether, ultimately, that would be best for this challenging world we live in, that's another question. But 500 retired American military chiefs and diplomats have declared they have more faith in Biden than in Trump. So there.