Top US General Calls Trump Immoral and Dishonest

Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal says he’d refuse a job in the Trump administration if offered one

Retired U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal speaks at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass., March 11, 2013. Steven Senne/AP

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Retired four-star General Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of US forces in Afghanistan, called President Donald Trump immoral and dishonest in an interview on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” on Sunday.

“Do you think he’s a liar?” co-anchor Martha Raddatz asked the former top general.

“I don’t think he tells the truth,” McChrystal responded.

“Is Trump immoral, in your view?” Raddatz asked.

“I think he is,” he said.

McChrystal praised outgoing Defense Secretary Jim Mattis for criticizing Trump in his resignation letter and said he would refuse to join the Trump administration if offered a job. “It’s important for me to work with people who are basically honestly, who tell the truth as best they know,” he said.

McChrystal blasted Trump’s campaign-style speech to US troops in Iraq last week, saying “you don’t use that as a time to tout your politics.”

He also said the president’s decision to abruptly pull US troops out of Syria would strengthen Russia and Iran. “If you pull American influence out, you’re likely to have greater instability and of course it’ll be much more difficult for the United States to try to push events in any direction,” he said.

And he belittled Trump’s assertion that “We have defeated ISIS in Syria.”

“I don’t believe ISIS is defeated,” McChrystal said. “I think ISIS is as much an idea as it is a number of ISIS fighters. There’s a lot of intelligence that says there are actually more ISIS fighters around the world now than there were a couple of years ago.”

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“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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