GOP foreign policy veterans criticise Donald Trump’s world view

At least 70 Republican foreign policy veterans have signed a letter pledging to oppose Donald Trump and saying his proposals would undermine US security, in the latest sign of fissures between the Republican presidential frontrunner and the party establishment.

“Mr Trump’s own statements lead us to conclude that as President, he would use the authority of his office to act in ways that make America less safe, and which would diminish our standing in the world,” according to the letter, which was posted on Wednesday night on a blog site called War on the Rocks.

“Furthermore, his expansive view of how presidential power should be wielded against his detractors poses a distinct threat to civil liberty in the United States,” the letter says.

The signatories include Robert Zoellick, a former World Bank president; former US homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff; and Dov Zakheim, a top Pentagon official under President George W. Bush.

They represent both centrist Republican foreign policy circles and neoconservatives who favour a robust US international role.