Trump According to Those Who Know Him
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The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists
whose views are informed by expertise,
research, debate, and certain longstanding values.
It is separate from the newsroom.
whose views are informed by expertise,
research, debate, and certain longstanding values.
It is separate from the newsroom.
In any election, it’s hard to know whose word to trust. And in a polarized country, many Americans distrust any information that comes from the other side of the political divide. That’s why the criticism of Donald Trump by those who served with him in the White House and by members of his own party is so striking. Dozens of people who know him well, including the 91 listed here, have raised alarms about his character and fitness for office — his family and friends, world leaders and business associates, his fellow conservatives and his political appointees — even though they had nothing to gain from doing so. Some have even spoken out at the expense of their own careers or political interests.
The New York Times editorial board has made its case that Mr. Trump is unfit to lead. But the strongest case against him may come from his own people. For those Americans who are still tempted to return him to the presidency or to not vote in November, it is worth considering the assessment of Mr. Trump by those who have seen him up close.
Administration insiders
The Trumps & Trump Inc.
Republican politicians
Conservative voices
World leaders
ADMINISTRATION INSIDERS
He will always put his own interests and gratifying his own ego ahead …”
Bill
Barr
He was extremely vulnerable to manipulation.”
Fiona
Hill
… he was getting input from people who were calling him up, I don’t know who ...”
Anthony
Fauci
… undermined American democracy baselessly …”
Thomas
P. Bossert
He doesn’t take responsibility for the bad news …”
David
Lapan
… says a whole lot more about him than it will ever say about Asian Americans.”
Elaine
Chao
… equality and freedom can never be equated with white supremacists …”
Gary
Cohn
His behavior had grown increasingly erratic and unnerving.”
Betsy
DeVos
The F.B.I. is under attack by the president of the United States.”
Andrew
McCabe
A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators.”
John
Kelly
Sometimes it’s just better to steer clear of him.”
Anthony
Scaramucci
… I do regard him as a threat to democracy …”
Mark
Esper
Trump’s temperament wasn’t rational …”
Cassidy
Hutchinson
… doesn’t know the difference between the truth and a lie …”
Dan
Coats
… he tries to divide us.”
James
Mattis
… loyalty was mostly a one-way street.”
Cliff
Sims
… I think he’s a terrible human being.”
Mick
Mulvaney
… caused direct harm …”
Deborah
Birx
… very little understanding of what it means to be in the military …”
Richard
Spencer
… the most reckless and deadly piece of information I have ever heard.”
Rick
Bright
Literally everything I’ve tried to do on cutting drug costs, you have killed it.”
Alex
Azar
… played to Trump’s ego and insecurities with flattery.”
H.R.
McMaster
… flashbacks to my earlier career as a prosecutor against the Mob.”
James
Comey
The turnover suggested instability and disorganization to our adversaries …”
Mike
Pompeo
… renders coherent foreign policy almost unattainable.”
John
Bolton
He is wholly unfit to be in office.”
Alyssa
Farah Griffin
… a huge violation of your most important oath …”
Marc
Short
He has built up a DNA of defensiveness.”
Sean
Spicer
You are using the military to create fear in the minds of the people …”
Mark
Milley
… Anyone that puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president …”
Mike
Pence
… not consistent with our national security objectives.”
Rex
Tillerson
Trump relentlessly … puts forth claims that simply are not true.”
Ty
Cobb
The root of the problem is the president’s amorality …”
Miles
Taylor
Do you think Trump wants a guy to win after him?”
Steve
Bannon
… He’s saying some crazy shit.”
Don
McGahn
… They are loyal to no one.”
Stephanie
Grisham
THE TRUMPS &
TRUMP INC.
You can’t trust him.”
Maryanne
Trump Barry
… a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully …”
Michael
Cohen
‘I wanna do what I wanna do’ … ”
Fred
Trump III
Trump does not have the temperament …”
Kwame
Jackson
He pushed me up against the wall …”
Jill
Harth
…actually a racist.”
Omarosa
Manigault Newman
Honest work was never demanded of him …”
Mary
L. Trump
… the competition reality show set about an American fraud …”
Bill
Pruitt
… the hint of menace beneath the surface …”
Gwenda
Blair
Our job was to make him look legitimate …”
Jonathon
Braun
If you disagreed with Donald, he put you out of his inner circle.”
Randal
Pinkett
REPUBLICAN
POLITICIANS
He is a coward.”
Dick
Cheney
This man is a pathological liar.”
Ted
Cruz
He's a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.”
Lindsey
Graham
There is nothing ‘conservative’ about Donald Trump.”
Adam
Kinzinger
The cheapest S.O.B. I’ve ever met in my life.”
Chris
Christie
He’s not loyal.”
Justin
Amash
He sought a coup by misleading people with lies.”
Arnold
Schwarzenegger
… Power, revenge and retribution is his real motivation …”
Denver
Riggleman
Reckless, outrageous and undignified behavior …”
Jeff
Flake
The healing of the Republican Party cannot begin with Trump as president …”
Geoff
Duncan
… taking advantage of the trust placed in him by his supporters …”
John
Boehner
He is a con artist.”
Marco
Rubio
… a weakening of our shared American values …”
John
Kasich
I think he’s toxic for the Republican Party and for the country.”
Larry
Hogan
He’s willing to significantly undermine them …”
Bob
Corker
There has never been a greater betrayal by a president …”
Liz
Cheney
… an intensifying crescendo of conspiracy theories …”
Mitch
McConnell
He should have immediately denounced the mob …”
Kevin
McCarthy
… the most expensive and least effective way to do border security …”
Will
Hurd
… not decency, not truth, not character, not integrity …”
Bill
Weld
He tried to violently overthrow our government.”
Joe
Walsh
… We shouldn’t have listened to him.”
Nikki
Haley
… bitterness, combativeness and self-interest.”
Charlie
Baker
Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud.”
Mitt
Romney
… will spend the entire campaign whining about his legal troubles …”
Chris
Sununu
… requires the kind of character he just doesn’t have.”
Paul
Ryan
CONSERVATIVE
VOICES
He built a wall of lies …”
Charlie
Sykes
If someone says something nice about him, they are our friend …”
Henry
Kissinger
He wasn’t motivated by what he didn’t know.”
Hugh
Hewitt
… corroded and corrupted American democracy …”
J. Michael
Luttig
This is not leadership our country needs.”
Bob
Vander Plaats
… We need a new standard-bearer.”
Erick
Erickson
Lying is Trump’s toxic superpower.”
Rich
Logis
… a floundering, inarticulate jumble of gnawing insecurities …”
George
Will
Trump might be the greatest charlatan of them all.”
L. Brent
Bozell III
WORLD
LEADERS
… I can't understand how Donald Trump can be on the side of Putin.”
Volodymyr
Zelensky
A frightened dog barks louder.”
Kim
Jong-un
… stands for a great division in the country.”
Olaf
Scholz
… If there is a second time, it won’t be easy …”
Justin
Trudeau
I deeply regret that President Trump has not conceded defeat …”
Angela
Merkel
Where has our role model for democracy gone?”
Kazuyoshi
Akaba
… clearly a threat.”
Christine
Lagarde
… President Trump radiates insecurity.”
Kim
Darroch
He’s a show-off.”
Mauricio
Macri
Photo illustration by Rebecca Chew/The New York Times; source photographs by Damon Winter/The New York Times and Michael Santiago/Getty
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