Donald Trump’s positions expressed in recent days with NATO leaders and Vladimir Putin show a complete lack of understanding of the office of president of the United States. The consequences of his limitations are enormous for the entire world. What can we do? Who better to ask than our living presidents—those who best grasp the complex and extraordinary burden and responsibility of the office—to make a public statement.
We request that, together, in their experienced judgment, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama say that Trump’s limitations and the ways that he continues to demean and undermine our intelligence agencies make him unfit to hold this office. As defenders of the Constitution and our democracy, they know this responsibility never ends. Trump’s abdication to the judgment of the Russian president about what is best for our country betrays his responsibility to us all.
Alan Harwood and Margot Welch
Cambridge
Linda Vogel and Kelly Vogel
Easthampton
Note from KBJ: Because five failed presidents have a lot to say to one successful one.
