North Plainfield native Steve Schmidt, who served as the senior campaign strategist for the late U.S. Senator John McCain, reflected on violence and destruction raging in the country tonight.

“What we’re seeing is an absolute vacuum of leadership,” Schmidt said on MSNBC. “We’re seeing the powder keg being lit by the man elected to sit behind the resolute desk in the oval office.”

Schmidt described a president with deficiencies “intellectual, mental but mostly… moral.”