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"Not up to the challenge": 500 ex-military alarmed by Trump comments

2020-09-24T23:05:54.276Z


The fact that the president does not commit to a peaceful transition if he loses worries the authors of this letter. Two of them told Noticias Telemundo that, contrary to what the Republicans allege, "Biden is not a socialist" nor would he put the country's priorities at risk.


WASHINGTON.— President Donald Trump “is not up to the challenges” facing the country and does not deserve re-election, a group of about 500 former military personnel and intelligence and national security officials warned on Thursday. after the president refused to support a peaceful transfer of power.

In an unprecedented act,

the group published an open letter online, in English and Spanish, in which it endorsed the Democratic presidential hopeful, Joe Biden

, and outlines the reasons why, in its opinion, Trump does not deserve the re-election on November 3.  

[Follow our coverage of the general election]

Trump has shown that he is incapable of assuming the responsibilities of his office and that "

he cannot rise to the challenges facing our country,

" said the group of retirees, made up of 489 ex-military personnel, ambassadors, and experts in intelligence matters. and national security.

"Get him out with the vote!": Trump booed in tribute to Ginsburg in Supreme Court

Sept.

24, 202000: 40

"Our allies no longer trust us or respect us, and our enemies no longer fear us ... Biden would never betray our allies to appease despots," added the National Security Leaders for Biden group.

They warn of a possible constitutional crisis

In telephone interviews with Noticias Telemundo, two of the signatories of the letter, retired Brigadier General Ricardo Aponte, and the former head of a division of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Martha E Duncan,

warned of a possible constitutional crisis if Trump refuses to leave power in January 2021.

“I am alarmed by statements by any politician who says that he will not accept what the people decide;

In this nation, votes are free from any kind of blackmail.

The crisis that would occur with very close results would be a bad thing for the nation ”, warned Aponte.

“We are 489 men and women of all classes, who work on national security issues, who have never publicly endorsed a candidate…

I prefer a leader who is not impulsive, who accepts different points of view, and who acts with compassion, "he

said.

For his part, Duncan described as "worrying that (Trump) says he does not want to leave the White House", even if it is a strategy to mobilize his base.

"For him,

fear means power,

and he does not want to accept the democratic process of our Constitution", something more typical of dictators, according to Duncan.

During the Bush Administration, Duncan was part of the team that in 1989 hunted down the “strong man” of Panama, Manuel Noriega (1983-1989), who ruled that country under a dictatorship, the official said.

Senate report reveals ties between Trump campaign and Russia.

The president denies it

Aug. 19, 202000: 22

“I was born in Panama, I saw the results of what a dictatorship was, under (Omar) Torrijos and then Noriega, and how the country was slowly changing with the propaganda, the threats…

I make a little comparison of those times to what we are living now ”

under the Trump Administration, he argued.

[Republicans warn of Joe Biden's "socialism"]

Both Aponte and Duncan affirmed that "Biden is not a socialist" and it is just the narrative that Trump uses to get the vote of Cuban and Venezuelan exiles in Florida.

"Socialism is propaganda mainly for Cubans ... it

is a false narrative to scare the population

," Duncan said.

The letter accused Trump of losing leadership on issues such as fighting climate change and North Korea's nuclear program, and of a trade war with China that has hurt US agriculture and manufacturing. 

In addition, Trump "has ceded his influence to a Russian adversary who awards bounties on the head of US military personnel," the letter said.

FILE - In this Sept. 23, 2020, file photo, President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at the White House in Washington.

(AP Photo / Evan Vucci, File) AP / AP

Condemnation of Trump statements 

Trump suggested on Wednesday that if he loses reelection, he would not commit to a peaceful transfer of power, which would unleash a political and constitutional crisis, because laws require a sitting president to step down if he loses at the polls.

His words have been condemned by the Democratic leadership in Congress and related groups, while some Republican senators have played down the issue.

Without mentioning him by name, the leader of the Republican majority, Mitch McConnell, affirmed today on his Twitter account that there will be a peaceful transfer of power.

Trump plans to appoint a woman this coming Saturday to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and together with his Republican allies in the Senate, promotes her early confirmation in office before the general elections.

Is that, in the face of such a close contest,

Trump anticipates that the Supreme Court will be the one to rule on the results, 

as happened in 2000 when he gave the presidency to the Republican George W. Bush against the Democrat Al Gore.

[Debate intensifies to replace the life seat on the Supreme Court, who will replace Ginsburg?]

Although the judicial system is supposed to have legal independence, Trump has secured the confirmation of 300 conservative justices, two of them on the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch, in 2017, and Brett Kavanaugh, in 2018,

in the belief that this will help push the conservative agenda.

This is the trajectory of Judge Bárbara Lagoa, a possible Trump candidate for the Supreme Court

Sept.

22, 202002: 12

Trump's campaign communications director, Tim Murtaugh, said Thursday that it is Biden who is held accountable for "obstructing the peaceful transfer of power" by promoting Trump's alleged collusion with Russia for the 2016 elections.

Trump's response also highlights "the enormous potential for fraud by Democrats who conspire to mail ballot papers" to voters without their asking, Murtaugh explained.

For most experts, however,

there is no evidence of massive fraud on the ballot-by-mail ballots,

and in any case, state authorities - not parties - send ballots only to voters on the registration lists.

[Five keys to avoid having your ballot annulled in the November elections ... or you end up in jail]

Currently, most polls give Biden a clear advantage over Trump, criticized for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans and shot the unemployment rate to 8, 4%.

Only the Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945), during the "Great Depression," and the Republican, Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865), during the Civil War, assumed the presidency amid a crisis similar to the one he will inherit. the winner of the elections.

Senate Majority Leader, Republican Mitch McConnel on Capitol Hill;

in Washington DC on September 23, 2020. Getty Images

According to the group, although there are disagreements with some of Biden's policies, he has everything that Trump lacks: He is compassionate, he takes responsibility, and he will “always put the needs of our country before his own.

A plural "resistance" movement

The letter was released within the framework of an incipient Republican “resistance” movement against Trump, which has sounded alarms about the impact of his rhetoric and policies, in a country already convulsed by protests against racism and police brutality, and complaints of mistreatment of immigrants.

[A massive march in Washington DC condemns police violence and calls for a vote against Trump]

Last July, hundreds of Republican officials who worked for the George W. Bush Administration formed the political action committee, "43 Alumni for Biden," with the idea of ​​defeating Trump at the polls.

Bush is not associated with the group, but he has earned the praise of progressives by supporting peaceful protests against police brutality in the wake of the death of African American George Floyd last May.

Biden leads Trump in numerous key states of the race,

where, in addition, the vote of young people, immigrants and women, could catapult him to the White House.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2020-09-24

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