The nation watches two of Donald Trump’s closest advisors with care. National Security Advisor John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have proven themselves to be war hawks. Plus, both former and current members of the military have serious concerns about Donald Trump. The temperature of the country shot way up when the president began insulting North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Then, there were rumors about military intervention in Venezuela. Recently, the commander-in-chief has been stirring up something that may easily get away from him.
CBS’s Face the Nation’s Margaret Brennan’s caught up with the presidential candidate and former Representative Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) in his hometown El Paso. She asked him who he thought was the country’s “greatest adversary right now.” He responded:
‘We face a number of adversaries on- on the world stage from ISIS to North Korea to Iran. And yet the adversary that has successfully invaded this country through our democracy, Russia, through their leader, Vladimir Putin, is the country and the person who this president holds closest.’
O’Rourke continued:
‘After the Mueller Report was released our president called Vladimir Putin, spent an hour on the phone with him, described the resulting report as a hoax giving Putin a green light to further interfere in our democracy. We’ve got the most dangerous person who’s ever held office in the White House right now who’s inviting the involvement of our greatest adversaries. And we’ve got to be able to stand up not as Democrats, but as Americans to this challenge. And so I want to make sure that we do that.’
Brennan then asked O’Rourke whether Trump should have sent “fifteen hundred troops to the Middle East to counter the Iran threat. The presidential candidate said:
‘No. President Trump is escalating tensions, is provoking yet another war in the Middle East where we find ourselves already engaged in war in so many countries – in Iraq in Syria in Yemen, not too far from there in Libya and in Afghanistan. So, we don’t need another war. We need to find a way to work with allies and partners and in some cases with our enemies.’
Next, the show’s host asked O’Rourke about “U.S. forces in Iraq:”
‘So do you doubt the U.S. intelligence that said there was a threat on the ground to U.S. forces in Iraq?’
Beto responded, saying that he is “suspicious of a national security team” that calls for war so much:
‘I have a really hard time believing this administration and believing a president who has so wantonly lied and misconstrued the facts at every single turn to his own gain. I’m suspicious of a national security team that has so often called for war. You have someone in– Bolton, who has publicly said that he wants regime change in Iran. The body count in- in that kind of war on- on both sides will not be measured in the hundreds or the thousands but the tens or hundreds of thousands.
The man who could bring Texas’ many Electoral College votes to the Democrats continued:
‘If there is a peaceful alternative to this- and I know that there is- then we must do everything within our power to pursue it. And that’s what I would do in my administration. I’d stick up for our values, make sure that we defend our allies, protect the lives of our fellow Americans. But do that peacefully where we can. Otherwise, we will produce more wars, more veterans coming back to this country seeking the care that they are being effectively and functionally denied today. I think we need to do far better going forward, and I know that we can.’
Brennan finished up with a question about troops in Afghanistan:
‘Lastly, there are 12,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. You hear almost no discussion of the war that continues to rage there. How do you handle that? Do you bring those troops home?’
The Texas native said that he did want troops home, so Brennan asked when and how? O’Rourke said we needed to bring those responsible for 9/11 to justice:
‘We’ve got to make sure that we satisfy the conditions that first led us to go to war in the first place. That those who perpetrated 9/11 are brought to justice. That Afghanistan is never again used to stage attacks on the United States of America or Americans. We have satisfied those conditions. Now it is time for us to work with the partners in the region to produce a lasting peace and stability and bring our U.S. service members back home.’
Check out the Face The Nation interview with O’Rourke below:
