2020 election: Hundreds of ex-national security officers endorse 'honest' Biden over 'disdainful' Trump

Hundreds of retired US generals, admirals, and other national security and defence officials have endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden over Donald Trump, including two four-star officers who served for years high up in the Trump administration.

More than 500 such former officials, who span the political spectrum and have served for in both Republican and Democratic administrations dating back decades, signed an open letter on Thursday disavowing Mr Trump’s leadership and backing Mr Biden as “the leader our nation needs.”

“While some of us may have different opinions on particular policy matters, we trust Joe Biden's positions are rooted in sound judgment, thorough understanding, and fundamental values,” the officials wrote in their letter.

“The current President has demonstrated he is not equal to the enormous responsibilities of his office; he cannot rise to meet challenges large or small. Thanks to his disdainful attitude and his failures, our allies no longer trust or respect us, and our enemies no longer fear us,” they wrote.

The letter does not mention Mr Trump by name, although it does make several allusions to him and his administration’s actions that the signatories believe have undermined national security.

Those include the president’s trade war with China, his coddling of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un despite securing no concessions to curtail that country’s nuclear weapons programme, and his equivocating response to the alleged bounties Russian intelligence agencies offered Taliban-linked fighters in Afghanistan for the lives of US soldiers.

Mr Trump has done little to address climate change, which will continue to cause geopolitical earthquakes in the coming decades, the letter suggests.

“The next president will have to address those challenges while struggling with an economy in a deep recession and a pandemic that has already claimed more than 200,000 of our fellow citizens. America, with 4% of the world's population, suffers with 25% of the world's COVID-19 cases. Only FDR and Abraham Lincoln came into office facing more monumental crises than the next president,” the ex-national security aides wrote.

Mr Biden has continued to lead Mr Trump in national polling this month, with his RealClearPolitics average support landing 7 percentage points above the president’s from 10 to 23 September.