What Some GOP Appointees Said About Donald Trump

Trump and his supporters would like you to believe that all of his critics are Democrats or left-wingers. That is not true. The New York Times reminds us of what some of Trump's own appointees had to say about him:

Mark Milley

Sept. 29, 2023

We don’t take an oath to a country. We don’t take an oath to a tribe. We don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king or a queen, or to a tyrant or a dictator. And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator.”

Richard Spencer

Nov. 27, 2019

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.”

H.R. McMaster

Jan. 7, 2021

President Trump and other officials have repeatedly compromised our principles in pursuit of partisan advantage and personal gain.”

James Mattis

June 3, 2020

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. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society.”

Mark Esper

Oct. 1, 2023

I have a lot of concerns about Donald Trump. I have said that he’s a threat to democracy. I think the last year, certainly the last few months of Donald Trump’s presidency, will look like the first few months of the next one if that were to occur.”

John Kelly

Oct. 2, 2023

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.”

Elaine Chao

Aug. 4. 2022

I think the events at the Capitol, however they occurred, were shocking. And it was something that, as I mentioned in my statement, that I could not put aside.”

Alex Azar

Jan. 12, 2021

Unfortunately, the actions and rhetoric following the election, especially during this past week, threaten to tarnish these and other historic legacies of this administration. The attacks on the Capitol were an assault on our democracy and on the tradition of peaceful transitions of power that the United States of America first brought to the world.”

Rex Tillerson

July 20, 2017

Moron,” Mr. Tillerson reportedly said of Mr. Trump.

Dan Coats

July 27, 2023

It’s more than just a bunch of papers and what big deal is this and so forth. Lives can be lost.”

Betsy DeVos

Oct. 13, 2022

I didn’t feel he did what he needed to do to stop what was happening.”

Mick Mulvaney

Jan. 7, 2021

It will always be, ‘Oh, yeah, you work for the guy who tried to overtake the government.’”

William Barr

June 18, 2023

The fact of the matter is he is a consummate narcissist and he constantly engages in reckless conduct that puts his political followers at risk and the conservative and Republican agenda at risk. … He will always put his own interest and gratifying his own ego ahead of everything else, including the country’s interest. There’s no question about it. … He’s like a 9-year-old, a defiant 9-year-old kid, who’s always pushing the glass toward the edge of the table defying his parents to stop him from doing it.”

John Bolton

June 22, 2023

By the time I left the White House, 
I was convinced he was not fit to be president. … I think it is a danger for the United States if he gets a second term.”

Mike Pompeo

Nov. 15, 2022

We need more seriousness, less noise, and leaders who are looking forward, not staring in the rearview mirror claiming victimhood.”

Mike Pence

Aug. 23, 2023

He asked me to put him over the Constitution and I chose the Constitution, and I always will.”

Nikki Haley

Jan. 8, 2021

He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again.”