Regular readers of this blog know the esteem I have for the American military. Part of that esteem is the bedrock subordination of the military to the elected civilian leadership. Back when dinosaurs ruled the Earth and I was young, civilian control of the military was the first lesson I had in Army ROTC. I guess Secretary of Defense Mark Esper must have snoozed during that lesson at West Point. Apparently at the behest of some active duty Generals, he has publicly opposed the policy of President Trump on possible use of the Insurrection Act to quell potential riots. He should be fired immediately. Any Generals involved in this should be removed from their commands and cashiered. Many of our institutions have badly damaged themselves in their eagerness to enlist in the crusade against Orange Man Bad, aka the duly elected President of these United States, and portions of the military seem to be following this path. This is a very, very dangerous situation and President Trump needs to meet it head on, lest the future of America resemble the past of many Latin American nations.
Poul Anderson, Marius (1957)
One has the sense that between Obama’s machinations, and the decades long degradation of our cultural norms of right and wrong, the military itself has been politicized in order to corrupt its protective nature and diminish its efficiency.
Agreed.
Clinton politicized the military. Dubya did nothing about it. Under Obumbler it was a tidal wave. Trump needs to fire Esper and put any generals who oppose him out to pasture yesterday.
Yes, Trump should fire Esper and all generals in this usurpation of the President’s authority.
Esper’s stand against the president could be that he doesn’t recognize the Left as an enemy. Perhaps he is one of them or just immature
His words show moral and intellectual weakness
Maybe he is inspired by other lefties in the Pentagon
He should at least be fired. I don’t know what the military rules for insubordination are.
Trump should retire every single general officer and admiral in the armed forces, starting with the JCS. As in any large pyramidal organization, for every one who advances to the highest levels there are many who are just as capable, or more so, but who were left behind because of not having the right sponsor or simply not being in the right place at the right time. Trump is the Commander In Chief. Now he needs to exercise that authority. It sounds like a difficult task, but difficulty has never stopped Trump before.
Before jumping on the guys in uniform, find out what they really said to Esper, which he could be misrepresenting. Subordinates can express respectful concerns about an order without refusing it.
Assuming they even exist, they may have simply not argued when he said “we all agree ______, right?”
It was not my intention to jump on the guys (or gals) in uniform; I don’t disagree in principle with Tom Byrne or Foxfier here. My admittedly overbroad statement is based not only on these current reports, and the manifest disloyalty of Mattis and others who have spoken publicly against the CIC (which should be worthy of court martial for actively serving officers, and forfeiture of military pension for retirees). It is also based on a number of reports I’ve seen over the past several years about the concerted effort of the Obama regime to push out clearly qualified general officers and admirals and replace them with…something else entirely. Of course I have no idea exactly how many times this happened, nor do I know who the unqualified ones are, just as we have no way of knowing what exactly was said to whom in the current cycle of events. But I reiterate what I said before about the many highly qualified people who are always passed over in any large organization, as support for Trump being able to do with the military exactly what Obama did with the U.S. Attorneys nationwide. If DJT can verify that some sitting generals/admirals are loyal and qualified on the basis of their service rather than their demographics or sexual preference, both of which reportedly were used as tickets to promotion under Obama, then that’s great. Otherwise, the best way to prevent an actual military coup would be, IMO, to restock the shelves, so to speak.
(which should be worthy of court martial for actively serving officers, and forfeiture of military pension for retirees).
Seems rather draconian. Still, given the circumstances, Mattis and Mullen should suffer a loss of peer status. Not sure if they will.
For some time, the Democratic Party has regarded the military as a toy theatre for their social fantasies. Republican Administrations and the Republican Congress have failed to put an end to this.
One thing we do know: West Point was allowed to rot for a period of at least 13 years. The rot appears to have set in around 2004, when the Secretary of the Army was someone named Lee Brownlee, the Army Chief of Staff was a Gen. Peter Schoonmaker, and the superintendent of the Academy was a Lt Gen William Lennox. No clue what it was about these three that made for that to happen.
One thing I would be interested to know is if Annapolis and the Air Force Academy suffered decay in tandem with West Point.
Art, Les Brownlee was Under Secretary of the Army and then Acting SECARMY. Apparently Rumsfeld wanted a CEO so Brownlee returned to Under Sec. He is a retired Army Col, Infantry with two tours in Viet-Nam earning the Silver Star with one oak leaf cluster, Bronze Star with two oak leaf clusters and Purple Heart. He’s a Republican and became Staff Director of the Senate Armed Service Committee. We know him; my husband worked with him and greatly admires him.
ADM Mullen was to be Bloomberg’s VP if he got the Dem nomination. That is telling. I served with him way back when. He was a politician then too. He is supposed to be interviewed by Chris Wallace Sun 7th. https://taskandpurpose.com/thelongmarch/mike-mullen-screwed-navy. If the dates are correct both ADM Mullen and Generals Mattis and Allen were in top assignments during the Obama Administration.
USAF and USNA around the dates you mentioned may have had several sex scandals. My husband’s 50th reunion has been cancelled due to the virus. He wasn’t going to go anyway. Loves his alma mater but the service and school has changes.
The Trump pick for the next USAF Chief of Staff is an African
American 4 star. A news story on his post confirmation goal is to enlighten his service about race. Mentioning USAF mission readiness was absent.
Social engineering has not been good for the military.
SECDEF Esper’s calling a press conference to disagree with the President was insubordination. It’s a political appointment but he took an oath. He should have remembered that he serves at the pleasure of his commander-in-chief. Esper has set a dangerous precedent. He needs to go when the unrest has died down.