--- title: Donald Trump Military: He Rolls Out Endorsements description: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are engaged in an arms' race to get support of retired military leaders. canonical: https://time.com/4481053/donald-trump-military-endorsements/ author: Mark Thompson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-06T20:52:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:45:44.626Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump, Clinton Compete for Retired Military Backers og:description: Rolling out endorsements, but should they? og:url: https://time.com/4481053/donald-trump-military-endorsements/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50df110107f5cdb6/6988a506fb4eace9e888f009/trump-military.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka sit together as they meet with the spouses of active U.S. military members during a campaign stop in Virginia Beach og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump, Clinton Compete for Retired Military Backers twitter:description: Rolling out endorsements, but should they? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50df110107f5cdb6/6988a506fb4eace9e888f009/trump-military.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Presidential Candidates Roll Out the Heavy Artillery > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=a626ffb8-c916-47e2-9c50-5718004cd612&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: After Labor Day, Trump And Clinton Turn Attention to Southern Battleground States [Watch (HLS stream): After Labor Day, Trump And Clinton Turn Attention to Southern Battleground States](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/nrSX88WX.m3u8) (2:58)  _Published 2016-09-06. With Labor Day behind them, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are pushing ahead in top presidential battlegrounds in the South._ by [Mark Thompson](https://time.com/author/mark-thompson/) ## Mark Thompson Sep 6, 2016 8:52 PM UTC by [Mark Thompson](https://time.com/author/mark-thompson/) ## Mark Thompson Sep 6, 2016 8:52 PM UTC Nearly 90 retired generals and other military figures [endorsed](https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/88-retired-u.s.-generals-and-admirals-endorse-trump) Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday. Hillary Clinton fired back Wednesday, [releasing](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ninety.pdf) the endorsements of 95 former military officers, trumping Trump by seven. “Clinton is getting the backing of more senior military service members and former officials with command and management experience than any non-incumbent Democrat due to her proven record of diplomacy and steady leadership on the world stage,” her campaign announced. “Donald Trump, on the other hand, lacks the knowledge, stability and values to be Commander-in-Chief.” The firepower assembled by both sides could come up Wednesday night during a “commander-in-chief forum” [sponsored](http://iava.org/cicforum/) by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. In back-to-back appearances, Trump and Clinton will discuss military and veterans’ issues before an audience of troops and vets. In the past, these kinds of issues were generally debated throughout campaigns; veterans today increasingly resemble a special-interest group. The warring platoons of military backers makes for a strange form of military competition. “It is unfortunate that both parties are now engaged in a sort of arms race to gather partisan endorsements from former military officials,” Charles Dunlap, a retired Air Force major general and lawyer who now runs the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security at Duke University. “Collective partisan political activities based almost exclusively on the participants’ former military affiliation are especially troubling, and inconsistent with the proper role of retired senior officers in a democracy.” The trend contributes “to the perception, and perhaps reality, of the politicization of the armed forces,” adds his Duke colleague, Peter Feaver, an expert on civil-military relations. “Each side does it because each believes, perhaps rightly, that if they unilaterally disarm then that confers too much of an advantage to the other side,” he adds. “But once there are dueling lists, it is not clear that anyone benefits significantly.” After all, it’s not like the military knows what’s best. The U.S. hasn’t won a war since the 1991 effort to push Saddam Hussein’s army out of Kuwait. And even that led to the aptly-titled [_Triumph Without Victory_](https://www.amazon.com/Triumph-Without-Victory-History-Persian/dp/0812921453/?tag=timecom-20)_: The History of the Persian Gulf War_ (and the decades of woe that have followed). For the past 15 years, the U.S. has been bogged down in conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. So why should voters listen to ex-generals? In part, it’s because Americans hold their military in high esteem. The latest Gallup [poll](http://www.gallup.com/poll/1597/confidence-institutions.aspx) shows it’s the U.S. institution that citizens hold in highest regard (73%), with the presidency, at 36%, and Congress, at 9%, far below. The generals’ endorsements are sought not because of whom they are, or how many wars they’ve won, frankly, but because they bask in the glow given to GI Joe and Jane since 9/11\. There’s a profound sense of gratitude (and, absent a draft, guilt) among Americans toward troops willing to salute and carry out the nation’s orders. While Trump [exasperates](http://time.com/4370608/donald-trump-military/) many former military leaders, he polls well among the troops, at least according to a non-scientific [survey](http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/election/2016/05/09/military-times-survey-donald-trump-beats-hillary-clinton/84132402/) conducted by the independent _Military Times_ newspapers. A CNN poll [released](http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2016/images/09/05/rel13a.-.2016.post-labor.day.pdf) Tuesday highlights the fluidity of the race when it comes to national security: he does better when it comes to combating terrorism (51-45%), while she gets the edge when it comes to serving as commander-in-chief (50-45%). The nation’s most-recently retired top military officer doesn’t like his former comrades choosing sides. “Politicians should take the advice of senior military leaders but keep them off the stage,” Martin Dempsey, an Army four-star general who retired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs from 2011 to 2015, said after a pair of retired generals appeared at the recent political conventions, one backing Clinton and the other backing Trump. “They have just made the task of their successors—who continue to serve in uniform and are accountable for our security—more complicated. It was a mistake for them to participate as they did. It was a mistake for our presidential candidates to ask them to do so.” Yet not all who have worn the uniform agree. “Who should speak on security affairs to our nation? Professors? Anti-war activists? Pot-bellied defense lobbyists grubbing for blood-money? Think-tank creeps with narrow shoulders and massive egos?” asks Ralph Peters, a retired Army lieutenant colonel. “Shouldn’t we also lend an ear to those who have actual and lengthy military experience?” Retired Army colonel Andrew Bacevich, who has criticized the nation’s post-9/11 wars, also doesn’t find rolling out military brass like so many artillery pieces particularly disturbing, so long as their opinions are given proper weight: “A retired general is no more competent to comment on presidential politics than is a retired dentist or a retired ballet dancer.” But their bugle calls, Bacevich adds, miss the point. “I’d be more interested in hearing their views on why the U.S. military seems incapable of winning,” he says. “There, oddly, they have nothing to say.” _With reporting by Tessa Berenson, Philip Elliott and Zeke Miller_ ## Transcript The first question is about the Russians and do I think they're trying to help Trump. I think it's quite intriguing, that this activity has happened [ COUGH ] around the time Trump became the nominee. And He furthermore has praised Putin. He seems to have this bizarre attraction to dictators. I was relieved that our National Security professionals made the point about Russian interference with our elections. It's almost unthinkable. And for my perspective. To having met with, and watched Putin over the years, when I saw his response to that question, it was very clear he's quite satisfied with himself. Tim Cain said yesterday, this is like Watergate, only now in cyber time. Breaking in to the Democratic National Committee Either physically or into electronic files to withdraw information to be used for political purposes, it is stunning that we are facing this and specially from a foreign power. I hear now that We've got this great plane that Donald Trump actually invited his press onto his plane where, I'm told, he even answered a few questions. So, following My lead as he just did. I would hope he continues and releases his tax returns. First thing is to get all of the bad element out. The gang members, okay, we get them all out. We secure the border. We stop the drugs from coming in cuz the drugs are Again. I mean the drugs, you go to places in Ohio, you go to places in New Hampshire. The single biggest problem they have is drugs. You have a big problem in Indiana. I think i'm gonna do great with the African American. Look, i explained. I do it very simply. The crime rate is through the roof, through the roof. People can't walk down the street without getting shot. I'll stop that. There are no jobs, I'm gonna bring back jobs. The Democrats haven't done that. The level of poverty is 40 % The Youth can't get jobs. 58 % unemployed. And I say, I mean, I'm gonna fix it. Why wouldn't they vote for me? So they're keeping the rates artificially low so Obama can go out and play golf after January You were in say that he did a good job but it's a very false economy. We have a false economy, it's an artificial market, it's a bubble. So the only thing that's strong is the artificial market that they've created until January. It's so artificial cuz they have free money. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4481053/donald-trump-military-endorsements/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4481053/donald-trump-military-endorsements/"},"headline":"Presidential Candidates Roll Out the Heavy Artillery","datePublished":"2016-09-06T20:52:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T06:45:44.626Z","description":"Are military endorsements worth as much as the candidates think?","url":"https://time.com/4481053/donald-trump-military-endorsements/","keywords":["Military","Hillary Clinton","Terrorism","National Security","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50df110107f5cdb6/6988a506fb4eace9e888f009/trump-military.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mark Thompson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/mark-thompson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50df110107f5cdb6/6988a506fb4eace9e888f009/trump-military.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka sit together as they meet with the spouses of active U.S. military members during a campaign stop in Virginia Beach","caption":"Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka sit together as they meet with the spouses of active U.S. military members during a campaign stop in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Sept. 6, 2016.","creditText":"Mike Segar—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/military/","name":"Military"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4481053/donald-trump-military-endorsements/","name":"Presidential Candidates Roll Out the Heavy Artillery"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"After Labor Day, Trump And Clinton Turn Attention to Southern Battleground States","description":"With Labor Day behind them, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are pushing ahead in top presidential battlegrounds in the South.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/nrSX88WX/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-09-06T13:53:54.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/nrSX88WX.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4481053/donald-trump-military-endorsements/","duration":"PT2M58S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4481053/donald-trump-military-endorsements/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```