Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates took the leading candidates for president of both major parties to task for failing to enunciate a clear foreign policy.
Gates said he believes the voters have no idea what either party’s presidential candidates would do as president because of the nature of the 2016 race.
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“One of the things that troubles me and one of the reasons, frankly, I’m speaking out a little bit is that on the Democrats’ side, you wouldn’t know we have a foreign policy because there’s been no discussion really at all about national security policies on the side of the Democrats,” Gates told MSNBC on Thursday. “And on the Republican side, pretty much what you hear is uninformed bluster and threats. So the American people at this stage in the campaign have no idea what either one of these front-runners would do if they were elected president.”
Gates argued that presidents must understand there are things that they do not know, and must have the temperament to respond to challenges in a presidential fashion.
“Sometimes you have the feeling that people, individuals want the job so much, they haven’t thought about what they’d do with it once they got it,” Gates said. “Once you catch the car, what are you going to do with it?”
The former Defense secretary told MSNBC he thinks there are some overseas who think the United States has lost its mind, regardless of who wins the election. But he noted that foreign observers have concerns about the “unpredictability and the threats of Mr. Trump.”
Gates said he thinks countries will begin to take precautionary measures before the November election in response to campaign rhetoric in a way that could distance them from the U.S.
The former secretary said he would not rule out serving in a future administration, but noted, “the word ‘inconceivable’ should always be in the sentence.”
