by Melvin A. Goodman,

Donald Trump crossed a red line that could finally cost him politically. This one is the latest of many he has crossed over the past three and a half years.  The trappings of his fascist march to St. John’s Episcopal Church and his blasphemous display of a bible (held backwards and upside down) in front of the church elicited significant criticism from the highest military and civilian leaders of the Pentagon.

• The unprecedented public criticism from Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley targeted Trump’s efforts to use active-duty military to enforce crowd control.  The White House manipulated Esper and Milley and they clearly regretted their role in compromising the appearance of politicization of the military.  It was particularly important for these two men to emphasize that the military must remain an apolitical institution. 

General Milley’s Apology

• General Milley’s apology to the graduating class of the National War College ten days after walking through Lafayette Square with the president marked an unusual event in civilian-military relations.  The apology reaffirmed the importance of the oath to uphold the Constitution and the values of free speech and assembly that Trump and Attorney General William Barr trampled on.  Milley also reportedly challenged Trump’s initial desire to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to put active-duty U.S. forces on the streets. It’s certainly an opportunity for the Congress to reexamine the Insurrection Act to make it more difficult for any president to use military forces against American civilians.

Trump Speaks at West Point Commencement

Secretary of Defense Esper and General Milley spoke out in the wake of unprecedented criticism from former secretary of defense James Mattis as well as several former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, including former secretary of state Colin Powell.  Criticism of Trump from these high-ranking general officers could enhance the popular opposition to Trump.  Neither Esper nor Milley accompanied Trump to West Point last week for his commencement address that distorted the record of the Trump administration.

• Trump asserted that “we are ending the era of endless wars,” but his administration has not reduced our presence in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Syria.  There are several thousand more troops in Afghanistan than in 2017 when Trump was inaugurated. Similarly, the numbers of forces in Iraq and Syria are comparable to the end of the Obama administration.
• Trump claimed that the “savage ISIS caliphate has been 100 percent destroyed under the Trump administration,” but half of the territorial losses for ISIS took place during the Obama administration.  Moreover, the Islamic State continues to carry out attacks in Iraq and Syria.
• Trump took credit for investing “over $2 trillion…in the most powerful fighting force by far on the planet Earth.” However, it isn’t true that the U.S. military was “depleted” or had never received such large amounts of investment in the past.  In fact, the amount appropriated for procurement–buying and upgrading equipment–averaged less than the annual averages under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.  Trump also claimed that the Navy’s fleet would grow to 355 ships “very soon,” but it will take until the 2050s, if ever to reach this figure.

Former Leaders Speak Out 

Two dozen former homeland security officials from the Bush and Obama administrations added their voices to the misuse of law enforcement resources against protesters.

• Former secretaries of homeland security Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff were among those who rejected a “militarized response to protests to deny citizens their constitutional rights.”
• They also rejected the use of the label “terrorists” to “justify the use of paramilitary and military force” as “factually wrong and legally unsupportable.”

The national veneration of force has abetted Trump’s militarism , but the military’s challenge to Trump’s excessive use of force for domestic reasons could bring a seminal shift in U.S. attitudes.  The separation of the professional military from the authoritarian policies of the Trump administration could restore faith in U.S. governance.  The fact that key military and civilian leaders at the Pentagon saw the need to dissociate themselves from the Trump’s misuse of power on the streets of Washington, D.C. may indicate that in the future, the Pentagon will oppose such efforts at the outset. Already there is speculation that the military could be challenged again if Trump challenges the results of the November 2020 election.  (See How to keep the military out of the 2020 election, Derek Chollet and John Gans, Washington Post, Opinions, June 17, 2020)

The opinions expressed by Mel are wholly his own and do not imply in any way Florida Veterans For Common Sense, Inc. endorsement or agreement.

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