CNN military analyst Lt. General Mark Hurtling blasted Donald Trump’s strategy for handling ISIS, saying “he’s sophomoric in his approach.”
Appearing on CNN’s “Wolf” Monday, Hurtling further criticized Trump, saying the idea to “take the wealth away [from ISIS] and then feed that wealth to veterans is just, it’s more than troubling; it’s almost laughable; his lack of understanding.”
Hurtling further ridiculed Trump’s approach to military strategy, indicating “he does not have that depth of knowledge and he’s not willing to listen to other people.”
Wolf Blitzer: In response to your criticism, Trump told Anderson Cooper, he said “I’m a better…” in his words “I’m a better general than the general you’re talking about? Okay? I’m a better general.” Does that suggest to you he understands the complexities that this kind of military action, launching air strikes to destroy potentially ISIS controlled oil fields in Iraq could complicate, could cause, if you will?
Lt. General Mark Hurtling (Ret.): Well, Wolf, Mr. Trump is a very strong entrepreneur and he is a great business man, he’s made billions of dollars which he repeatedly tells all of us. But from the standpoint of national security strategy or in fact military campaigning or military campaign strategy, he’s sophomoric in his approach. This is very simple stuff. If you were to ask a guy on the street and they gave you some of answers Mr. Trump has given you, you would think they were crazy, but because he has a lot of money this suddenly generates interest. That the suggestion he’s going to bomb things, which is a violation of international law in some cases, take the wealth away and then feed that wealth to veterans is just, it’s more than troubling, it’s almost laughable, his lack of understanding. And the president of the United States has to have a lot of understanding of a wide degree of issues. It repeatedly tells me some of the things he’s saying that he does not have that depth of knowledge and he’s not willing to listen to other people.