From the FT:
Several dozen Republican foreign policy experts have accused Donald Trump of being “fundamentally dishonest” and “unfit” to be president, as the property developer closes in on the party’s nomination.
The 60 signatories to a blistering letter published on Wednesday evening pledged to “work energetically to prevent the election” of Mr Trump. One signatory was Robert Zoellick, the former deputy secretary of state who has been advising Jeb Bush.
“As committed and loyal Republicans, we are unable to support a party ticket with Mr Trump at its head,” they wrote.
…Others who have put their name to the letter include former homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff, former senior Pentagon officials Eric Edelman and Dov Zakheim, former senior state department official Philip Zelikow, and Peter Feaver, now at Duke University, who worked at the White House under George W Bush and Bill Clinton.
According to the letter, Mr Trump has a vision of America that is “wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle”. It argues that the clear favourite for the Republican nomination “swings from isolationism to military adventurism within the space of one sentence”.
Mr Trump’s call for trade wars was a “recipe for economic disaster” and his support for “expansive” use of torture was “inexcusable”, the letter said. His attempt to get Mexico to pay for a border wall “rests on an utter misreading of, and contempt for, our southern neighbour” and his call for allies such as Japan to pay more on security represented “the sentiment of a racketeer”.
And from the BBC:
US presidential candidate Donald Trump has neither “the temperament nor the judgement to be president”, fellow Republican Mitt Romney says.
He accused Mr Trump of bullying, misogyny and dishonesty in a speech in Utah on Thursday.
“Prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished” if Mr Trump becomes the nominee, he added.
Mr Trump has meanwhile mocked Mr Romney on as a “failed candidate” and a “choke artist”.
“I backed Mitt Romney,” said Mr Trump, addressing a crowd in Maine. “You can see how loyal he is, he was begging for my endorsement.”
He said Mr Romney ran “the worst campaign ever” and should have beaten Barack Obama in 2012.
Many senior Republicans are alarmed at the prospect of Mr Trump securing the nomination for November’s election.
Given Mr Trump is basically the anti-candidate this will only lift him further.
