In Presidential Forum, Trump Says US Generals Were Reduced To 'Rubble'

It seemed like Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump had just managed to gain some traction in his foreign policy credibility when 88 retired military figures offered him their support earlier this week.

But based on his performance in the Commander in Chief Forum moderated by Matt Lauer on Wednesday night, I'd say that credibility has quickly evaporated, especially after how he talked about current military leadership.

Trump turned up his typically outlandish rhetoric, saying that "under the leadership of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the generals have been reduced to rubble.”

This language conjures the image of a bunch of US generals huddled underneath some rubble with small white flags emerging through the crags, which frankly has no basis in reality.

While he did say he has "great faith in the military," he mentioned that he only has faith in "some of the commanders" -- some, but not all, apparently.

This is hardly a vote of confidence in the leadership of our armed forces.

It was a night where Donald was all over the place in terms of foreign policy.

In fact, he barely could contain his admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that Putin was "far more" of a leader than Obama.

He added,

If he says great things about me, I'm going to say great things about him.

Look, I know flirty flattery is nice and all, but you can't be so easily swayed by a foreign leader as Commander in Chief.

In addition, when it came time to outline a clear policy approach to defeat ISIS, he withdrew himself from answering, saying that he wanted to keep it a secret.

How is any voter going to make an informed decision about Trump's foreign policy acumen when he refuses to inform us on key points?

Citations: Here's What You Missed in the Presidential Forum (New York Times), Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump at the Presidential Forum: Analysis (New York Times)