COLUMBUS, Neb. - Former US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel told News Channel Nebraska that President Donald Trump's rhetoric on North Korea is "pushing people away from this country."
"You don't get into name calling, 'Rocket Man', of another leader, that's junior high stuff, that's immature, that's not worthy of the presidency of the United States," says Hagel.
Hagel, a Republican who served as Defense Secretary under President Obama for two years, talked with NCN after a speech at Columbus Scotus High School last week.
Hagel called on the president to change his approach to the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, who continues to provoke the United States, and instead work with other nations to solve the issue.
"The North Korean problem and every problem we have around the world, is not going going to get fixed by us, it' going to take allies, it's going to take relationships," says Hagel.
"When you're trying to bait somebody like Kim Jong Un in North Korea, that's dangerous."
While the North Korea sage is unfolding internationally, a separate one is happening inside Washington.
Senate Republicans are again working to revive a last gasp ObamaCare repeal, which no Democrats currently support.
Hagel, who also served in the US Senate for 12 years, called on his colleagues to instead, put aside partisan divides and work together on legislation that both sides can agree on.
"Democracies work when there is compromise. My 12 years in the Senate we had compromise all the time, in order to pass a budget, appropriations bill, just the basic functions of government. We haven't done that in years here," says Hagel.
Hagel resigned from his post at the Pentagon in 2013 and since has been out of government.
Former Sec. of Defense Chuck Hagel Rebukes Trump North Korea Rhetoric ‘That’s Junior High Stuff’
