‘What Do We Know About Anyone?’ McChrystal Says People ‘Shouldn’t’ Vote ‘Based On Policies’ After Endorsing Kamala Harris

Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal said Sunday that his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris is not about her policy positions, and that actually, policies shouldn’t ever be the basis for a person’s vote.

McChrystal was responding to a question from host Robert Costa on the latest Face the Nation Sunday on CBS, appearing after Republican Sen. Tom Cotton and before fellow retired General H.R. McMaster.

Costa brought up McChrystal’s 2020 endorsement of President Joe Biden and his new endorsement last week of Biden’s replacement for 2024, which McChrystal said in an op-ed is based on Harris’s character.

McChrystal told Costa that character is “a combination of their deep-seated beliefs, the things, their core values, and the discipline they have to execute those, to live up to them.”

He then made a point of adding without prompting that his decision is definitely not about “policies.”

“But let’s be sure, we don’t elect a president based on policies. We shouldn’t,” he said. “We should elect them for the character, because we don’t know what’s going to come up.”

Costa followed-up, asking specifically what it is about Harris that makes McChrystal think “that she’s ready, especially on national security and foreign policy.”

Instead of answering with specific actions or attributes, McChrystal replied with the rhetorical question, “What do we know about anyone before a job like that?” He then again cited her “character” and “strength” instead of any perspective or specific traits she might possess.

COSTA: You endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris this week. You endorsed President Biden in 2020.

In your op-ed in The New York Times, you talk about character. What is it about her character versus former President Trump that so convinced you to take this public stand and endorse her?

MCCHRYSTAL: I think character is what a person does when they’re under pressure.

It is a combination of their deep-seated beliefs, the things, their core values, and the discipline they have to execute those, to live up to them. So, I think, when we look at Kamala Harris, we look at her history, she came up as a prosecutor, an attorney general into the Senate.

She has lived a number of experiences that I think build in someone the kind of character that’s going to be necessary in the presidency. But let’s be sure, we don’t elect a president based on policies. We shouldn’t. We should elect them for the character, because we don’t know what’s going to come up.

We didn’t know that one-term Congressman Abraham Lincoln was going to be able to lead the United States through the Civil War. We never knew that the clothing salesman Harry Truman was going to be able to make the decision to drop the atomic bomb or to deal with the crisis in Korea.

Those things come into a presidency in a way that tests the mettle and the character of the person in that office.

COSTA: The presidency certainly tests, and it can forge leadership over time. But what convinces you now, ahead of a possible presidency, that she’s ready, especially on national security and foreign policy, areas you know well?

MCCHRYSTAL: Yes. What do we know about anyone before a job like that?

Young President Kennedy, when he was elected, was a young senator. He did pretty well. He struggled first through the Bay of Pigs, then did pretty well in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Donald Trump had no background in it.

What we’ve seen from Kamala Harris convinces me she has the strength, she has the values to deal with the uncertain crises that are inevitable.

Watch the clip above via CBS News.