 |
| Trump and the generals for whom he has disdain and disrespect |
Before considering Trump's irresponsible choice to head the Department of Defense, let's examine Trump's actual view of the military.
Trump's disdain for the U.S. military has been repeatedly demonstrated, starting with his daddy's "paid-for" medical disagnosis of bone spurs to get a deferment from military service, his remarks to General Kelley about soldiers being "losers" and "suckers," his statement about John McCain, saying he "liked people who weren't captured," his refusal to be seen with wounded veterans because "it doesn't look good for me," referring to traumatic brain injuries suffered by U.S. troops during Iran's retaliatory strikes as "headaches" and Trump's insulting words to the widow of the grieving widow of Sgt. La David T. Johnson that her husband "must have known what he signed up for."
 |
| General Mark Milley, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff |
Then, there was the matter of General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during Trump's presidency, actually an incident mentioned in Bob Woodward's book, Peril, that so greatly angered Trump that he wanted Milley brought up on charges before a military tribunal to face execution.
While I'll leave a link at the bottom of this article to a PBS News' thorough, point-by-point rendition of the matter, I'll give the Cliff's Notes version here.
With tensions between the U.S. and China at a very high level, there were fears from the Chinese side that Trump would use nuclear weapons in an attack.
Milley made two calls, one on October 30, 2020 and the other January 8, 2021, to General Li Zuocheng of the People's Liberation Army in China to assure him the U.S. had no plans to attack.
Milley said the first call, October 30th, was coordinated with Trump's Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and the second call, January 8th, was coordinated with Defense Secretary Chris Miller.
Milley said at the time the reports came out: "My task at the time was to de-escalate. My message again was consistent: Stay calm, steady, and de-escalate. We are not going to attack you."
 |
| Pete Hegseth on the right |
Now, Trump's total disrespect for the U.S. military has been displayed with his extremely reckless, irresponsible selection as his prospective nominee for Secretary of Defense, Fox News Fox & Friends Weekend reporter, Pete Hegseth.
Now, Hegseth was in the army years ago, leading a platoon, but has no experience managing any group, company or organization of any size.
The Secretary of Defense runs the U.S. military, which is actually the world's largest employer with 1,400,000 men and women on active duty and 900,000 members of the Reserve and National Guard.
The Secretary of Defense, not only runs the considerable department, but is also over the Army, Navy and Air Force, supervising defense acquisition, regulations, defense contracts, criminal investigations, defense information systems, logistics, mapping and much, much more.
Obviously, this is not a role for a former platoon leader or talk show reporter, but requires real expertise and experience.
Trump's proposed nomination of such an unqualified person to fill this role is another manifestation of his utter disrespect for the U.S. military and incompetence as President-Elect.
No comments:
Post a Comment