H.R. McMaster grilled on why he won't endorse Harris given what he wrote about Trump
H.R. McMaster (screenshot)/Photo of Donald Trump by Flicker User Michael Vadon
August 30, 2024
Retired Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster was pressed on MSNBC on Friday afternoon on why he hasn't endorsed Kamala Harris for president given what he wrote about former President Donald Trump.
McMaster published his book about working in the White House as the short-lived National Security Advisor, which detailed Trump's recklessness. After walking through a number of questions about Trump, MSNBC's Katy Tur questioned why McMaster could give so many reasons that Trump should not be president but refuses to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris.
"You're writing about how he had a penchant for pitting people against each other. You talk about how his insecurity made him susceptible to foreign leaders," she said. "You also talk about how he had a difficult time distinguishing between sound analysis and hackney bromides."
McMaster said that Trump would always make up some "friend" who was an expert in one thing or another.
"You talk about self-worth, and I'm surprised, general, that you're not saying flatly that you don't think he should be president," said Tur.
McMaster explained he doesn't see it as his role.
"It's not my job to tell people how to vote, I don't think," he said.
"I hear you, I hear you," Tur said. "And I respect that, and given the moment we're living in, I definitely respect people trying to rise above it. At the same time, you talk about what a dangerous world this is and the complex set of issues and policies the next president will have to embrace, the role that he'll or she'll have to navigate. And because it's so dangerous, you know better than anyone, better than I do certainly, why would you not just be clear with the American public on the two candidates?"
She noted it seems like in interviews she's watched with him he's equating Vice President Kamala Harris to Donald Trump saying that both would be fine.
"What you write about in this book is a guy who's not stable, not making the best decisions all the time, who's susceptible to flattery," she continued. "And then you're going out and saying he'll have people that he'll surround himself with that will be good at steering him. I don't know how you can say that. Who's left?"
McMaster swore that he wasn't equating them.
"I think they're quite different candidates, you know, even though Vice President Harris now sounds a lot like Donald Trump, with the wall and everything," he said, prompting Tur to give a confused look.
Harris said she would support the bipartisan immigration bill that Trump asked Republican senators to kill. Within that legislation, there is funding for the fencing, which McMaster may have conflated with Harris saying she'd build a wall.
"Is she a candidate that can distinguish between fact and fiction?" Tur asked. "Is she a candidate that's susceptible to flattery? Is she a candidate that's going to put people around her that are qualified to be in the position? Donald Trump ended his last administration with a whole lot of people that were not qualified to be there."
She repeated that she was curious why he was so sanguine about another Trump administration and how he could remain so optimistic about Trump.
McMaster continued to promise he wasn't "sanguine" and began attacking President Joe Biden.
See the interview clip below or at the link here.
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