NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton Says Donald Trump ‘Scares The Hell Out Of Me’

Retiring NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton doesn't just dislike Donald Trump. He's actively afraid of him, Bratton said on CBS This Morning.

"Mr. Trump scares me — scares the hell out of me, to be quite frank with you and personal opinion," Bratton said, via Politico. "I just don't get it in terms of the support for him."

Bratton, who served in the Army during the Vietnam War, said he was "amazed that veterans groups are so charmed by [Trump]."

The commissioner announced Tuesday he would be stepping away from the NYPD in September. He has been the subject of protests by Black Lives Matter activists over alleged police brutality and "Broken Windows" policing strategies that focus on small crimes. The Wall Street Journal reported he'll join the consulting firm Teneo, which has close ties with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her husband former President Bill Clinton.

Bratton called a recent episode with Trump and a Purple Heart award "appalling." At a Virginia rally Tuesday Trump told the crowd that a veteran supporter presented to him a Purple Heart — given to soldiers wounded in combat — as a gift.

"He said, 'that's my real Purple Heart I have such confidence in you.' And I said, 'Man that's like big stuff. I've always wanted to get the real Purple Heart.' This was much easier," Trump said. (The man told NBC News it was a copy of his Purple Heart.)

Bratton said it was "demeaning" to the medal and that the GOP nominee gave "no recognition of the significance of that medal or the meaning of it."

"I just watched this whole campaign and I just shake my head," he said. "And I just — I don't get it."

Bratton said he has known Trump for some 20 years and has been to his home, but added he doesn't know the New York City real estate mogul particularly well. He questioned Trump's self-fashioned image as a tough guy, wondering if "he's ever actually taken a punch in his life." During that line of thought, the commissioner brought up Trump's continued attacks on the Muslim family of a fallen U.S. soldier.

"I’m always amazed by people who are portrayed as tough guys or portray themselves as tough. It’s easy to be tough," Bratton said, via Politico. "It really is easy to be tough. It’s a lot tougher being soft and understanding when you need to be soft, like the apology to this family. What would be the harm of rather than taking offense that they said something bad about you, to understand their pain? Isn’t that the issue? There’s no compassion there. It's all about him and never about anybody else. You know, strange times."