Former NSA Chief Michael Hayden Steps Up Attack on Trump

Michael Hayden, the former director of the CIA and the NSA, has stepped up his criticism of President Trump. According to the former intelligence chief, Trump’s attacks on the free media are downright dangerous:

If this is who we are or who we are becoming, I have wasted 40 years of my life. Until now it was not possible for me to conceive of an American President capable of such an outrageous assault on truth, a free press or the first amendment.

— Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) November 26, 2017

The general’s tweets were a response to a tweet by former CIA Deputy Director John McLaughlin, who called “the new normal” created by Trump “scary”:

If you favor CNN OR Fox and are not dismayed by this, you may now be numb and no longer capable of outrage. Scary if that’s our new normal. https://t.co/pvG71XvN6R

— john mclaughlin (@jmclaughlinSAIS) November 26, 2017

These tweets by the former spymasters were inspired by an angry Trump tweet in which the president blasted CNN for spreading “fake news” and argued that it’s a major problem for the United States that the mostly liberal network is one of the leading networks worldwide:

.@FoxNews is MUCH more important in the United States than CNN, but outside of the U.S., CNN International is still a major source of (Fake) news, and they represent our Nation to the WORLD very poorly. The outside world does not see the truth from them!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 25, 2017

Hayden later explained to reporters that he felt the need to speak (or tweet) out because “the First Amendment’s sacred, even when I think it’s being abused.” Supporting a free press, he said, is and has always been “a core element” of America’s foreign policy.

“This cannot be allowed to stand as just normal,” Hayden concluded. “This is not normal.”

It isn’t the first time that the general has taken a stand against President Trump, but it certainly is the first time that he has come out with guns blazing like this. From the looks of it, the general has truly had it with the president. And that does spell trouble for Trump. After all, Hayden still has many allies in the intelligence community. If they decide to actively undermine him, he has a very serious problem.