4-Star General Who Slighted Biden Picks a Candidate

'I can trust Joe Biden,' says Stanley McChrystal
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 1, 2020 11:30 AM CDT
4-Star General Who Slighted Biden Picks a Candidate
In this Sept. 5, 2009, file photo, US Gen. Stanley McChrystal, right, then commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and German Col. Georg Klein, left, commander of the German base in Kunduz, Afghanistan, visit the site where villagers reportedly died when American jets bombed fuel tankers hijacked...   (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, file)

There were times when Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal was critical of Vice President Joe Biden while overseeing US operations in Afghanistan under the Obama administration. Indeed, he resigned in 2010 after Rolling Stone aired his mocking of Biden, whom he'd described as "shortsighted." But the retired four-star general holds no resentment, as evidenced by his endorsement of Biden on Thursday, per CNBC. "I think my willingness to endorse him now should signal to people that there was a respectful relationship then and just how important I think it is to replicate that kind of respectful relationship between senior military and leaders now," McChrystal told MSNBC. He said the country needs a commander in chief who is "humble enough to understand that they are a servant."

"We just need an honest person who is willing to listen," McChrystal said. "We need someone who will take in information, surround themselves with talented people, and lead the country the best they can. ... You have to believe that your commander in chief at the end of the day is someone that you can trust. And I can trust Joe Biden." Now a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, McChrystal said he expected Biden to "set a tone in which he would bring out the best of people," per the Hill. The general joins nearly 500 retired top military and national security officials in backing Biden, per USA Today. (McChrystal previously described President Trump as immoral and a liar, which Trump clearly didn't like.)

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