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In a further sign of Donald Trump’s fracturing support among establishment conservatives, 50 senior GOP security officials issued a statement on Monday calling the Republican nominee “dangerous” and a risk to America’s “national security and well-being.” By his own account, however, Trump wasn’t mad at all. In fact, he found the whole thing funny.



The statement, signed by former top aides and cabinet members who served under presidents ranging from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush, criticized Trump for being alarmingly ignorant of “basic facts” and either “unable or unwilling to separate truth from falsehood.”

“He lacks self-control and acts impetuously,” reads the letter. “He cannot tolerate personal criticism. He has alarmed our closest allies with his erratic behavior. All of these are dangerous qualities in an individual who aspires to be President and Commander-in-Chief, with command of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.”

Monday night, Trump (who, again, was not mad) responded to the statement with a press release thanking the letter writers for outing themselves as clueless elites.

“The names on this letter are the ones the American people should look to for answers on why the world is a mess, and we thank them for coming forward so everyone in the country knows who deserves the blame for making the world such a dangerous place,” wrote Trump. “They are nothing more than the failed Washington elite looking to hold onto their power, and it’s time they are held accountable for their actions.”

To a degree, of course, Donald Trump has a point: Many of the greatest threats to national security today are a direct result of the catastrophic foreign policy fuck-ups of previous administrations. On the other hand, it’s hard to believe that the guy who doesn’t know about Crimea and flips out at the parents of dead veterans is somehow going to make America safer.