Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” former Defense Secretary Robert Gates offered his thought on Donald Trump’s reaction to EgyptAir Flight 804, which disappeared early Thursday morning local time over the Mediterranean Sea.
Looks like yet another terrorist attack. Airplane departed from Paris. When will we get tough, smart and vigilant? Great hate and sickness!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2016
Even though one Egyptian official has said the flight’s disappearance was “more likely terrorism than a technical issue,” Gates argued discipline to overcome the pressure of reacting to such speculations was part of the responsibility of being a leader .
“Well, one of the things that you learn fairly early when you have responsibility is how often the initial reports or information you get on a situation prove to be inaccurate,” Gates said. “And with the demands of news media and so on, there’s always pressure to immediately react before you know really what’s going on. And that’s a discipline a lot of politicians frankly don’t have, at least until they have responsibility.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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