Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Sunday praised President Donald Trump for “robustly” funding the U.S. military, his “bold” outreach to North Korea, and for challenging China.
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet The Press” Gates concedes he was sharply critical of Trump in 2016 ahead of his election, when he called him “stubbornly uninformed about the world and how to lead our country and government.”
“First of all, unlike his three predecessors… at least he hasn’t started any new wars,” Gates said.
“And he has robustly funded the military,” he continued. “I supported his outreach to North Korea. It hasn't come to anything but I thought that was a bold move and everything else had failed in the previous 25 years. I thought he was challenging China was about time.”
He said he’s not pleased about Trump’s treatment of some military figures.
“There’s also the other side of the coin in terms of some of the things he says,” Gates said. “His treatment and words about military people and military heroes like John McCain that I admire a lot that are really troublesome.”
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