WaPo | They are some of the biggest names in the Republican
national security firmament, veterans of past GOP administrations who
say, if called upon by President-elect Donald Trump, they stand ready to
serve their country again.
But their phones aren’t
ringing. Their entreaties to Trump Tower in New York have mostly gone
unanswered. In Trump world, these establishment all-stars say they are
“PNG” — personae non gratae.
Their
transgression was signing one or both of two public “Never Trump”
letters during the campaign, declaring they would not vote for Trump and
calling his candidacy a danger to the nation.
One letter, with 122 names, was published by War on the Rocks,
a website devoted to national security commentary, during the primary
season in March. The other, with 50 names, including some repeat
signatories, was published by the New York Times during the general-election campaign in August.
Now,
just days before Trump is sworn in as the nation’s 45th president, the
letter signers fear they have been added to another document, this one
private — a purported blacklist compiled by Trump’s political advisers.
