Trump 'flouts' a 'lack of character': Nicolle Wallace says lack of 'shame' got him elected

On Thursday, MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace spoke to author and retired four-star Gen. Stanley McChrystal about his new bestselling book, "On Character." And she pointed out that politicians like President Donald Trump routinely take advantage of an electorate that currently doesn't value character in the same way it did in the recent past.

Wallace began the conversation by playing a clip of McChrystal endorsing then-Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 in an interview, saying that he felt the issue of "character" was most paramount. He then told Wallace he hoped his book could help spark a "national conversation on character," arguing that it was too important of an issue for both voters and elected officials to cast aside.

"A military leader learns early on that you get the performance out of your unit that you demand. O think we get the character out of ourselves and out of our nation that we demand of ourselves," he said. "If we lose sight of the fact that we have agency, we control this, and we think of ourselves as helpless, that that's unfortunate."

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Wallace then pivoted to suggesting that American society currently doesn't reward character as much as it rewards those who are morally bankrupt. She also asked McChrystal "if character can be achieved in a leader or a party absent shame," and noted she was particularly curious about that topic "as someone who covers Donald Trump every day."

"If people go along with things that they know not to be true or not to be correct, or not to be in line with the character that they either profess to have or at least hope to have, then they should feel shame," McChrystal said. "They should feel guilt. They should feel that pressure to be better ... We all need some kind of standard."

"General, I want to be blunt now with you," Wallace said. "I came through Republican politics. You served your country in the military and as a military leader. We have someone right now who is politically potent because he flouts the lack of character. He talked about grabbing women between the legs and won the first time. He incited a deadly insurrection on January 6th and won the second time. What do we do about our politics?"

"I think that we have the control," McChrystal responded. "We have the ability to control the symptoms if we deal with it. So we're the cause, we allow it, but we're also the cure. And so we can never feel victimized by that leader who comes in and takes away our character. no, we gave it away."

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Watch the segment below, or by clicking this link.

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