CHICAGO (WGN) — Former United States Secretary of Defense and University of Chicago foreign policy specialist Chuck Hagel was in Chicago Thursday to break down the re-election of Donald Trump, with a focus on what’s happening stateside and around the world.
“We are dangerously off balance,” Hagel said. “We need leadership, a president to bring us back together.”
Hagel, a Vietnam War veteran and the first enlisted combat veteran to as Secretary of Defense, did so from February 2013 to February 2015 during Barack Obama’s second term in office. Before then, Hagel was a Republican US Senator who represented the State of Nebraska from 1997-2009.
His message for fellow Republican Donald Trump centered around talks during his campaign where the former president openly contemplated using the U.S. military against the American people, or directing the justice department to arrest political rivals.
“If he starts this, his administration will be ruined right from the beginning,” Hagel said. “He won’t be able to govern this country.”
The wide-ranging conversation held at the University of Chicago also featured a focus on urging the incoming president to not abandon Ukraine.
“We need to stay with the Ukrainians,” Hagel said. “We need to continue to support them, to help them.”
Another topic point was Hagel discussing the dangers of isolationism, and how certain actions could embolden Chinese aggression.
“China will be watching very closely what this incoming president does in regards to Ukraine,” Hagel said. “If this president walks away from Ukraine, and essentially walks away from NATO, that’ll be a very clear signal to the Chinese that they can get away with anything they want.”
Tensions are already high off the shores of Taiwan, where Chinese warships have been conducting naval exercises in varying shows of force.
“They have to understand that Taiwan has a special relationship with the US, as do our partners in the Indo, Pacific, South Korea, Australia [and] Japan,” Hagel said.
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