Trump is decimating every American Institution, one at a time, and the GOP stands by with compromised leadership and does nothing. I call on Senator Romney (R-Utah) to stand up and lead your party.
Prove that you still have the leadership skills that you were working hard to convince us you had when you last ran for President. Your country is calling
for a higher standard of GOP leadership NOW.
29
The president had denigrated the FBI, CIA, DOJ, diplomacy and now the military. This must be making Putin very happy and I imagine he is keeping a scrapbook of his greatest achievement.
25
I'm so glad some of my friends couldn't bring themselves to vote for Hillary. It would have been so much worse.
Right?
18
I don't find Trump all that scary - ill-informed and ill-equipped as he is very obviously is to be Commander-in-Chief. It's his base that scares me - they knew what they were going to get before the 2016 elections; and they are still with him and will be for the 2020 elections. And clearly - Commander-in-Chief Bone Spurs with a CV full of hucksterism, fraud, lying, bullying, bankruptcies, misogyny, racism, etc. etc. is exactly who they want as POTUS. Now that is truly frightening . . .
27
Every day, Trump finds a new way to show that he's unfit to be president. I find his Svengali-like hold over his blind followers inexplicable.
14
So why do the military personnel so overwhelming voting for the GOP?
11
Just another step towards a banana republic. That's what happens when you put a clown in charge.
11
The coarsening of America continues under Trump. The corpse, the subject of the picture, was a trophy, rather like the leopard was for Eric and Donald Jr. Trump. Of course, Gallagher is white, as are the Trump lads, and as I am. America has a way to go to clean up its racism.
13
The sad part of this is that The NYT is publishing this, but Fox News is not.
The right audience is NOT hearing this.
17
It is very clear that President Trumps’ frenzied governance is now taking inglorious aim at the good order and discipline of our military. Trumps’ demonic skill at pinpointing dichotomies within our republic, then spewing them through FOX news, his Twitter account, and MAGA rallies, has a new reality star: Navy CPO Edward “Blade” Gallagher. He is the Navy SEAL, who violated Geneva convention and law of war standards, and who in the end, was convicted, demoted one rank and would certainly have been removed from the SEAL fraternity. Having served on several Courts - Martial and Non-Judicial Punishment (NJP) proceedings throughout a twenty-year career in the military, I can attest to the fairness and respect these proceedings afford the accused. This president, however, dismissed these proceedings, undercut the chain of command and violated various leadership principles. He saw this as a magnificent marketing opportunity to rally the base through his authoritarian power to pardon. He followed this edict with a “direct order” via Twitter that CPO Gallagher will in fact retain his rank and his Trident pin. Gallagher is now just another Trump shill used to amplify, in this case, “our warriors” who are “killing machines”. Actually, Mr. President you have it wrong, again. Perhaps if you defended our country when called instead of purchasing a draft deferment through doctored bone spurs, you would understand what the military is really all about: honor, courage and commitment.
14
The very first thing every service member learns is that the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and that his orders are to be obeyed unless and until they violate the Law of Land Warfare, the Constitution of the United States, or Laws enacted by the Congress and signed by the President. This is drilled into their heads from day one, and that includes those of our Military Cadets, be they ROTC, West Point, Annapolis, The Air Force Academy, or the Coast Guard Academy. The enlisted learn the self same information from their first day after taking the oath of enlistment all the way thru their time in Uniform. Civilian Employees including the Department Secretary's take the identical oath of office that Officers and Enlisted take, and in that oath they swear to Obey the Lawful orders of the President. When the SECNAV (Secretary of the Navy) Chose to go behind the Secretary Department of Defense he violated the Chain of Command, and he likewise violated his oath of office. In so doing he violated the trust of the Secretary of Defense as well as that of the President, his choice was simple resign or be fired. He chose to resign. Now he can run his stupid mouth all he wants so long as he does not violate the National Security Act. Have at it Spencer. The same applies to any Flag Officer in the Armed Forces if you cannot obey the orders and directives of the President, Retire or Resign, until the shut up.
12
@Charles O McVey The oath that military and civilian personnel take speaks nothing about "obeying the lawful orders of the President." I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
203
@Charles O McVey There are times when a commander (trump) are clearly wrong. There are times when the honor and oath we took to our country require actions beyond the word of a virtual wannabe soldier like trump.
The oath is not just to the president. It's to the United States of America and its Constitution.
116
What about when the Commander in Chief goes against everything we were taught that "good order and discipline" consists of, on a very fundamental level?
Mr. Spencer faced a difficult situation. Allowing the Navy to discipline Mr. Gallagher was the right choice.
The Commander in Chief made the wrong one.
131
Trump's message here is very clear: war crimes against Muslims are OK with him.
The last time we saw this was when Hitler was killing Jews.
Where are the "good Americans?"
9
And yet statistically military folk worship our draft-dodging, self-dealing, despicable president. He invites WWII Code Talkers to the White House and proceeds to mock their utterly sad history with doing the reward ceremony under an Andrew Jackson portrait and use the name Pocahontas as a derogatory slur against his political opponents. But no mind say white law-and-order Republicans and military people. Trump sends troops to the border and tells them to shoot migrant kids if they throw rocks. He actually said that. My God. You Republicans are soulless frauds. Wake up. Grow up.
11
The entire US government is an extension of Trump, at least that's how he sees it. He thinks of the military, the judiciary, the civil service, the state department etc just as he thought of parts of the Trump organization, there to serve his whims and needs.
5
The gutless wonder, and his bone spur republicans, disgrace America on a continuing basis.
Just as if Putin were leading the charge.
7
¶5, L3: "precedents" not "presidents"
3
Will no one rid us of this meddlesome priest?
4
If sanity ever again returns to our land, immediately following the abolition of the Electoral College, we need to dispel any further notion that a president—any president—is qualified to lead something as complex and lethal as our armed forces.
That awesome responsibility would be better served by a small bi-partisan coalition of elected congressional representatives supplemented by military advisors.
4
How many terrorist are made by this action of the President?
When US military base were in the Philippines, Filipinos were disturbed of news that some poor kid were shot by an American military police. We, including me before immigrating to America were horrified of details that came out later; the boy was scavenging in the garbage, the on duty American was bored and decided to shoot the boy, thought as a wild boar. Indignation were swift when the suspected American was immediately whisked back to US, out of reach of the Philippine justice system. Massive rallies were held against US base and deemed American imperialism and arrogance. Imagine an unwelcome guest to your killing one of your brothers. Rightly or wrongly that's how Filipinos felt. That's how I felt too back then.
Now imagine the repercussion of these pardons to Afghanistan and Iraq. Imagine what they feel now that the 'unwelcome invaders' can really kill with impunity any of their brothers. That the US President would tolerate an atrocious act to them because the perpetrators were his fellow Americans. That American Justice doesn't apply to them.
There are a lot of nuances to this story but back these countries, rightly or wrongly, American presence really means Imperialism, prejudice and injustice.
And this President's action is the best way to recruit ISIS and Al Queda terrorist against Americans.
6
No other act by this President has so besmirched his Office as this one to thwart military command and flaunt dishonorable conduct as yet another effort to score political points for his base.
Truly, Donald Trump has crowned himself as the champion of the "very fine people" who celebrate the mowing down of a young woman with a car and an officer who would disgrace himself his uniform his brotherhood and his Navy to photograph himself with a corpse for all the world to see.
Trump has now entwined the power of the Commander in Chief to advance this contemptible infamy. He is a most shameful, shameful man, utterly unfit to hold the highest office or any office of this nation.
6
Perhaps Trump is just creating a diversion. (what from? I wonder) What an unnecessary and stupid action on Trump's part, one that is wrong in any and every way that it can be examined.
Gallagher was caught in an indefensible act, and must/should receive discipline as a consequence. You don't have to be a veteran to be entitled to say this. In fact the military is ultimately responsible to the citizenry.
Trump is showing his gangster best in saying 'you can't have it both ways'. Like they're animals, but they're our animals and we need them. No, no, no! The wheels are really coming off.
3
Why would we think that a draft dodger ,a man with no moral compass who pays off his escort women, who has no use for knowledge would be any different.
He is jealous of all of these brilliant dedicated individuals and so he must destroy them.
Trumps visit to the hospital last week was the first of many as the pressure from decent people begins to play with his comb over head.
3
It would be better to (try to) publish this on Fox. You're preaching to the choir here.
2
I want to thank these gentlemen for speaking out.
I served in the U.S. Navy from 1971-1980 and participated, to a small extent, in the Vietnam conflict, and am not proud of it.
The only pride in such things that is justifiable is pride in carrying out your mission in the traditions of the Navy.
In other words, when given a bad job to do, make sure you play by the rules and do your best.
I think our military has been very poorly served in regard to leadership in foreign policy and deployment decisions for the last 30 years.
What Mr. Trump has done is to strike a blow against those traditions, as well as human decency, and make a mockery the difficult job of being an ethical, moral warrior.
I'm ashamed to have been in the same Navy as the one Mr. Gallagher represents.
4
Pathetic that a spoiled rich kid who never served a day for his country, never risked anything for the greater good, now gets to run roughshod over our military, Had Trump made it into the military, he would have surely been a coward, a deserter.
Thank you for having backbone Mr. Spencer.
13
Donald John Trump,Sr. is prancing, preening, parading and pretending to be John Sidney McCain, III, George Herbert Walker Bush and John Forbes Kerry.
But for his New York City real estate baron daddy finding a doctor to discover bone spurs multiple times Donnie could have been a contender for war hero.
5
And in exactly how many military engagements were these snowflakes participants?
1
The president gets an early start pardoning turkeys this year.
3
The Constitution assigns the role of Commander-in-Chief to the President. Why? Congress has the War Powers and therefore should be the branch to assign a Commander-in-Chief. And they should choose a General Officer from among the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or the President if he's had military experience.
The country should not have to go through an impeachment and removal to get rid of a Commander-in-Chief.
1
Readers may find It easier to grasp how T-word affects this country if you just conceive of him as a malignant tumor growing within the body politic.
It is a great relief to me, therefore, to know that Schiff, Pelosi, and Nadler are on the case, and are supported by tens of millions of American patriots.
10
"Trump Does Not Share the Military’s Values."
Trump has no values except self-aggrandizement.
5
USMA USNA Honor Code:
"A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do."
4
"Trump values" is an oxymoron of the first rank.
As a point of fact, the things that Trump values are "rank" in and of themselves, for the primary reason that they all involve his ego.
America will be so much better off with him gone back to his soon-to-be-submerged Mar-a-Lago. Permanently.
3
Donald J. Trumps understanding of the military is both child-like and cunning. His limited understanding is informed by action movies and TV. His "warriors" lack empathy and a conscious therefore good judgment. Trump does not understand honor, duty, or the chain of command. Cunning because he imagines a sworn allegiance of damaged ruthless warriors who will commit crimes against humanity on his behalf! This is the danger of giving a deeply Ignorant, self involved fantasist such power.
2
Trump is only going about it half-way. What he should do is appoint Chief Gallagher as Secretary of the Navy. Why just mess with the trident----go all in.
While we are at it, Trump should appoint Michael Cohen as superintendent of the Federal Correctional Institution at Otisville, New York where is is an inmate. It might be an upscale prison but this would make it even better, salary, maybe a pension off the government.
Don't stop here Mr. Trump----- how about appointing Rudolph Giuliani as the ambassador to Ukraine. That should make things more interesting. Or what about appointing him to his old job as U. S. Attorney.
Gallagher says he was wrongly accused and that fellow SEAL team members testifying against him, several under grants of immunity, are disgruntled subordinates who fabricated allegations to force him from command.
The defense accused Navy lawyers of conducting illegal surveillance of defense attorneys and news media using electronic tracking software secretly embedded in emails sent to the defense.
The military judge presiding over the court-martial of a U.S. Navy SEAL charged with war crimes said prosecutors who electronically tracked email communications of defense lawyers without a warrant violated the accused's right to a fair trial.
The judge, Navy Captain Aaron Rugh, found the prosecution's conduct amounted to a violation of the defendant's Sixth Amendment rights to a fair trial under the U.S. constitution.
BTW, in Basic Training I learned about the Chain of Command
1
He has seriously put forth the idea of having these "pardoned" war criminals at rallies with him. Trump has concluded that is where it's at with his base. They are fans of murderers. I think he's correct. They are certainly fans of money laundering and Russian interference.
3
The US Navy’s core values are Honor, Courage, and Commitment.
The Navy chief in question lacks honor – by criticizing his superior officers in a public setting, lacks courage – by not setting an example for both his superiors and his subordinates, and lacks commitment – by not accepting the outcome of his actions and adhering to military discipline.
As a chief in the military, you are held to a higher standard than any other enlisted member or officer.
You set the standard.
You are the one both officers and enlisted look to for guidance.
And since the current person with the title of US president evaded military service, he will never know what any of that means.
4
If I understand the situation correctly, Trump will seek to create more and more chaos as the election approaches. Creating a wedge between the politically elected and the military is a stroke of evil genius. This is precisely what Russia put him there for. The more chaos, the more time it will take after the Trump presidency to return to some form of normal. And the more time for Russia to extend its regional influence. Syria, Turkey, Ukraine - just the beginning. There are going to be nations knocking on Russia's door now that the US is no longer in the game.
9
"Military Values?"
Blind adherence to the chain of command.
Nothing noble there. The military is an artificial construction necessary for waging war. That's all.
Really? And what have you ever done for your country, Sir, except exist on the sacrifices of those you so readily disparage?
1
Much as I respect Richard Danzick, whom I knew an unpaid advisor to the Navy, and Sean O Keefe, they have left two things unsaid.
!) The "Laws of War" were defined by the U.S. in response to particularly brutal behavior by Japanese and German forces towards prisoners and civilians. I served at Ft. Gordon in the mid 1950s with a survivor of the Bataan Death March. Japanese guards didn't break him but they left him half broken physically. Furthermore, the treatment of civilians by Nazi and Japanese conquerors was unspeakable. The Nuremberg trials established principles codified in the 1949 Geneva Conventions, written by the Allies with U.S leadership. A Presidential pardon is one thing but his efforts to undo good order and discipline embodied in these conventions and the UCMJ ought to be impeachable.
2) Though the President has not directly said so, it is in his dictatorial character to stir up opposition to good order and discipline within the Armed Forces, in preparation for a coup attempt should things go badly ifor him in a Senate Trial or a 2020 election where Russian meddling may not suffice.
By incontinent meddling in military law and discipline, Trump puts our troops more deeply in harms way.
\\
9
Trump's interference with military discipline endears him to his base and it pleases Putin. It is a win win for Trump, because Trump is part of an attempted coup and he is actively advancing Putin's goals. The press is understandably reluctant to believe this, but if we still have a democracy in 2020, the truth may come out. Or not.
67
Mr. Trump knows that the military has many more enlisted level voters, than the top ranking officers.
Vladimir Putin wants his puppet to create a fissure between these groups of sailors and soldiers.
4
Have you followed the case of Green Beret and Army Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar?
He was murdered by two Navy Seals and two Marines on June 4, 2017, in Mali.
The initial story went like this:
He found that they were skimming cash from a fund they were using to pay informants, to collect intelligence. When they feared he was going to turn them in, they killed him by asphyxiation.
The following is from the NCIS investigation:
The culprits took him to the hospital and tried to cover their crime by claiming he was drunk while engaged in combat fighting exercises (in the middle of the night). An autopsy produced no evidence alcohol or drugs of any kind.
Sgt. Melgar's trachea was damaged during the choking, and before they brought him to the hospital, one of the culprits performed a field-expedient tracheotomy to try and cover the damage.
The fact of the killing and those involved is not under dispute. In May, Navy Chief Special Warfare Operator (SEAL) Adam Matthews pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit assault, unlawful entry, obstruction of justice and violating orders related to hazing...NO MURDER, even though that was the original charge, and no mention of the embezzling of funds.
6
@Raz
Matthews received one year in prison, reduction in rank to E-5, and given a bad conduct discharge, although the punitive discharge could be lessened if he testifies against the other service members involved in the case and Melgar's family approves. I don’t know what happened to the other accused.
I have never heard of sergeants being hazed, but I suppose it could happen.
I’ve read three different accounts by the accused of what lead to the need for the hazing, all wildly different scenarios. One account was that it started as a joke! One claimed that Melgar refused to give them a ride, and one that he dropped them off in the middle of nowhere and drove off. I find the original account involving the skimming of funds much more credible.
I smell a coverup or whitewash, and this from the military whose system of justice has been described as so honorable, infallible, and having such a high degree of integrity by those who are offended by the President’s interference in military matters.
6
Prez has no values. Do sharks have values?
6
Everything Trump touches is befouled. Now this.
We must make our opposition clear.
January 18, 2020. The next Women's March. It will be the most important one yet. Save the date.
womensmarch.org
11
This article is so wrong headed. The military is under, beneath, lower than, subservient to, the White House. Ask General Macarthur to see what he thinks.
1
@Mike I was just following orders....
Sound familiar?
5
Again I wonder why these pieces get written, other than to post headlines to sell more papers, or strengthen the subscriber base.
Of course Trump doesn’t share the Military’s values, unless brain dead you already knew this.
Of course Trump doesn’t share traditional Republican values.
Of course...Of course...Of course
But you will re-elect him. You secretly love him. He knows it.
Enjoy four more years.
1
@Now In DE
Well this is an important article, some of us have loved ones in the military and don't approve of this type of stupidity. Only a troll capitalist would say its written to sell newspapers. Or maybe you admire the SS guard in the white house. Trumps term is up and the SS guard will be leaving with him.
There will be no more 4 years , there will be a jail term
3
Does the Seal Team recalled due to excessive drinking reflect military values? How about the sex assaults in the military? And of course, we still remember Tailhook and Talibowe.
2
@Jackson Prez knows basically nothing about the military other than to stay out of potential harms way when he was called. His nonexistent values should not be forced upon an organization trying to maintain values, ethics, and rules.
7
Before the election Trump stated that he knows more than the generals do. Apparently many military personnel and families agreed with him at the voting booth.
7
"Wise presidents let those who have made the sacrifices of combat — and who depend upon one another in combat — state first what they conclude."
If you are not in the military but have worked for a company where the senior operations manager not only micro-manages everyone but also does not have the hands on expertise to successfully micro-manage your team then you will also fully understand this article.
I have worked for such a manager and even though our team had collectively 90 years of experience in the field of operations, compared to his three years, that manager often made decisions contrary to our advice yielding many a negative result. And guess who had to clean up the mistakes.
Just because an individual has been granted the authority to command does not automatically make that individual an authority on the subject matter that he commands.
Wise people in general know how to listen and absorb knowledge, others are fated to repeat the same mistakes over and over.
5
Yes.....in industry, Jack Welch anyone? So disastrous yet at the time benighted as a genius leader. Rank and file knew better and have been proven correct. Some senior military staff are smart and courageous. Others are terrible. Like any institution.
3
Trump is teeing up a following among the war fighting class that most mimic his following in the civilian world. This may very well be in preparation to resist turning over the presidency when his is defeated in 2020. Rediculous you say: I bet this though gave you pause. That pause alone should tell you how dangerous his behavior is to the survival of our republic. This courting of badly behaved "warriors" is not accidental.
2
Trump's support of Gallagher and his blatant disdain for military discipline is another frightening example of Trump's wish to tear down every institution we have. By now we know Trump will support bad men, because they are like him, so if he sets the example of protecting them, he is teaching others it is good to side with law breakers, of which he is one. Trump's defiance of the military judicial process shows his arrogance and lack of morality, but that should not surprise us. The more that Trump interferes with the military's code of ethics, the weaker the military becomes and the more vulnerable the entire nation is to malign forces, both foreign and domestic.
2
"Get back to business." Imagine this coming out of the man who dodged the draft for the Vietnam war. The fact that this man has interjected himself into a matter that concerns military discipline is, on its face, appalling.
7
From the Presidency of Washington through Obama, Presidents have struggled to exercise the authority which they could to execute their duties while trying to respect the limits upon the President needed to preserve an republican form of government guided by democratic policy decisions. It was a fine line which few countries have been able to achieve.
Trump has ended that long and difficult endeavor by simply trying to be the autocratic leader who uses the authority of the office to become the final authority in government. The Republican Party has become his willing partners in this effort. Which is bizarre.
3
At some point, many (not all), in the military -- and the rest of Trump's base -- will have to decide between the current cratered conservatism and the Constitution -- which are miles apart and on divergent trajectories. The GOP has already made its decision. In less than a year, it's up to the people.
2
The decision by Trump to intervene in the Gallagher case just might be a test case. I don't think this is just another POTUS ego trip. Trump might want to see how far he can go towards a takeover of the military. The question: how do we send him a message, that he has gone too far?
9
This episode illustrates another institution of the US being divided and crippled. The US military no less. Mr Putin must be proud of his ongoing campaign and the Americans who make it possible.
7
We must stop this futile hand wringing about Trump’s deviant conduct. Morally, US servicemen have been without a Commander in Chief since his election. Stop opining that more is expected from Trump. Define him for what he is instead. The honorable men and women who lead our country’s military, have received decades of training at the tax payer’s expense, to recognize and cope with the enemy, even when he or she operates from within, at any level. No reasonable person should expect anything patriotic from a known draft dodger and prolific liar. We can only hope, that the military’s system of order and good governance continues to identify and remove its bad actors after following due process, so that none can ever reach high office, through a badly compromised process, in the same manner that Trump the impostor civilian did.
4
By perverting the course of Military Justice, Mr. Trump has brought confusion to our military, thus giving Aid and Comfort to their Enemies.
This is Treason.
11
I think it's safe to assume that Vladimir Putin is opposed to "good order and discipline" in U.S. military ranks. Hope that helps!
7
Obama was pilloried for failing to salute back a marine while he boarded a helicopter once. How many times did Obama pass a military member over 8 years (10,100,1000+ times)? This instilled boiling over rancor or at least fodder for years. Nonetheless, our allies and the Chiefs respected him.
Trump destroyed all relations with the top brass and around the world but made positive impressions among The Base and a few dictators because he has greenlighted His"warriors" with the right to act like barbarians.
This chain of command backward leapfrogging destroys two centuries of military order that contributed to our might. Patton and MacArthur led WWII troops. Truman ordered two bombs. We Needed the Troops (Grandpa was casualty). Even Truman questioned bombs later. Imagine him going over Patton or MacArthur. The public would have crowed. They cared about leaders for Actually saving Democracy. Headline for missed salute?
After WWII more Geneva Convention amendments were made that PROTECT our Own soldiers and POWs. Today's bloodthirsty chest-pounding harms these accords.
What changed this generation?
One idea: Growing up with high rating daytime TV where people throw each other around the room on camera after DNA tests are revealed and the audience cheers.
Another idea: Non-Christian enemies.
Our Millennial Gladiators and their families train early.
5
Remember what Trump said about John McCain. Now he claims to protect "killing machines" who act dishonorably like Gallagher.
3
Thank you Misters Secretaries for standing up for American values.
3
@Bob
Strong support in polls taken before all of this took place and disapproval of his not listening to his military leaders from the same polls.
2
The president has destroyed honor and service to our country with his medically-induced testosterone blitzes. This thug has no business injecting himself into the discipline of a rogue seal.
Those who cite Chain-Of-Command as a defense for trump's totally irresponsible behavior misunderstand how it works. I was in the Marines, and I experienced chain of command.
The Secretary of the Navy and the other commanders know what their jobs are, and what needs to be done to maintain order in the ranks. Clearly, Trump has NO idea of laws, or why they are needed.
Our young people are thrown into horrible situations where lives are at stake. Strict discipline must be maintained in these situations precisely because it is so emotionally fraught. It is easy for young men/women to lose sight of what's right and wrong when their brothers/sisters are getting wounded or killed.
Knifing a wounded combatant to death and bragging about it are clearly beyond the pale and disgusting. Clearly criminal. The Navy should discipline the Seal, and the president should trust his commanders to do their jobs.
He sure as hell is terrible at his.
11
Trump is actually not a serious person, he really has no sense of responsibility for his own behavior. His idea of military life is clearly unreal and more like Hollywood movies that represent soldiers, sailors, and marines like heroes overcoming the odds by will and God given virtues than how the military and navy actually functions. So Gallagher is not a well regarded professional operator who suddenly went rogue and was rejected by his fellows as unfit but a great warrior who defeated the enemy by himself and received the dislike of superior officers who envied his heroism.
3
I suppose Trump thinks that the SEAL teams are just bunches of tough guys dispatched to destroy the enemy by any means necessary and the best ones do it John Wayne style. Kind of like Rambo in First Blood, it's their ability to fight and to prevail that decides the outcome, and nothing else. So Gallagher being an experienced and mostly victorious fighter is all that matters, not how he lost his cool with an enemy captive.
In the Battle of Waterloo, a formation of British soldiers sent the enemy into swift retreat. The formation broke ranks to run them down, as their instincts compelled. They were surrounded by the enemy and destroyed. Soldiers win because the work together and they obey orders, and they die when they just do as they feel.
Gallagher became a liability because he could not control himself and obey the codes of behavior which he as a Chief was obliged to see that others did. The Navy cannot operate successfully and over generations without good order and discipline assured.
4
Inasmuch as Mr. Trump is Commander in Chief and there are very few limitations on his powers of command, it's hard to see how any military officers can seek to define military values as different from the Commander in Chief's orders and then assert that the military has a duty to disobey his orders. On what basis would they defend that in court, that they had adopted the political goal of the Democratic Party to oppose Mr. Trump and had thus set themselves up in opposition to him, asserting these goals as new, valid military values?
@Ronald B. Duke
The role of a civilian commander in chief is to assure that the military serves the state and does not assume powers to direct the state, but the actual running of the military is for those who are responsible for competing the missions required by the state. The state being represented by the Congress and the President acting according to the will of the people. The Courts will be reluctant to overrule the President exercising authority as command in chief but any President who interferes with the operations of the military to serve partisan political interests risks violating the oath of office, and impeachment.
9
@Casual Observer...Well said. Not even the most feckless trump sycophant could see trump as a genuine military Commander in Chief directing direct actions on the battlefield, could they? ( Having written that, I’m sure some are that stupid...)
The President’s role as Commander in Chief is simply to put a civilian at the top of the Military hierarchy. Having a draft dodging traitor actually directing minute military operations must be making Putin delirious with joy.
My god, people....we have to have a massive voter turnout rejecting this grifter or it will get with worse. Much worse.
1
Trump is supportive of anything cruel, this is just another. Institutional anger, hate, and cruelty are the motifs of this administration. And of course how to profit from them. Who really won the 2016 election? Vladimir Putin
7
On Friday Trump cleared two officers and a navy seal of convictions of war crimes. Nixon worked to give Lt. William Calley a slap on the wrist after murdering hundreds of civilians at My Lai Vietnam. Yet in ww2 pvt. Eddie Slovak was executed for desertion. Of the thousands who were charged for desertion he was the only one executed. What Trump has taught us is that rank matters. This is no way to run a military.
2
Our remarkable men and women of the U.S. armed forces are being led by a commander-in-chief who is undeniably corrupt (based upon sane analysis of the Mueller report and the impeachment inquiry), dishonest (based upon many thousands of demonstrably false statements and tweets over the past 3 years) and arguably delusional (based upon his well documented statements that he knows more than all the generals despite never having served a single day in the military).
Our country and particularly its Congressional Representatives owe a huge debt to these brave and patriotic men and women who place their lives at risk every day to defend the Constitution. Apparently expecting them to uphold their own oath by objectively reviewing the facts and acting upon them appropriately without political bias is too much to ask. Shame on them and shame on us if we do not vote them out when we have the chance.
6
This might have been said before, but its's a very simple question. Who gets to determine whom is or is not a U.S. Navy SEAL or a Chief Petty Officer? Do the commentators on Fox News and the President get to? Or does the NAVY and the SEALs get to determine this for themselves?
If the SEALs have no use any more for Chief Gallagher, they should be able get him off the team, no questions asked. It doesn't even have to be "fair". War fighting by its very nature is unfair and unjust. Gallagher disobeyed an order by his commanding officer. He has a photo to prove it. Maybe it was the stress of eight deployments. Maybe it was not. But it doesn't matter. He disobeyed a direct order and the SEALs have every right to kick any SEAL out that doesn't meet standards.
5
The rule of law is meaningless when a man who has lived his entire life defying law, honesty, and basic morals is in charge and believes none of those have any meaning for him.
5
I don't suppose anyone ever expected the military to share the values of President Trump.
2
Prez has no values. Do sharks have values?
1
With this tweet DJT destroys much of the value system that sets our military apart from our adversaries. He proves one more time that he is Russia's most valuable asset!
4
Seals risk their lives for this country. Cut them some slack.Their superiors only risk their promotions.
Even President Eisenhower never presumed to interfere with the lawful conduct of his subordinates in the military, he knew very well what was and was not the President's role as the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. He was a professional soldier who was a graduate of West Point and who worked his way to the top of the pyramid. Respecting the chain of command, seeking to maintain good order and discipline, and the doctrine of deferring to the judgment of those closest to any events all required that the President leave the running of the armed forces to the military.
5
Chelsea Manning’s sentence was commuted 28 years early by Obama. Obviously overturning a military courts decision on what the correct punishment should be is something presidents have done in the past. Trump made his decision before an upcoming election, not days before he left office like Obama did. Which presidents decision took more courage?
@Jay - Obama commuted Manning's jail sentence. He did not over turn the verdict, nor did he didn't restore Manning's status as a soldier, or his security clearance. Nor did Obama force the military to make Manning a part of military intelligence.
But Trump's telling the military they have to have Gallagher on a SEAL team, despite the fact he doesn't follow orders or meet standards. That's a huge difference imho, and I don't know if I would want Gallagher next to me with a weapon. I am saying this as a combat veteran. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would have anyone's back but his own. Because I have no idea what other orders he'll violate as long as he thinks the President and Fox News are his fans.
17
For Trump, there is no rule of law, only Trump rules, and this is why it is so important for Americans to vote next November.
5
When Mr. O'Keefe was Secretary of the Navy, he made it his mission to change the Navy's culture. He presided over the secret Tailhook Flagging list--which Navy brass lied for years--destroying hundreds of careers of guilty and innocent alike in an Ahab-like quest to find 20 bad aviators from the infamous Tailhook conference.
Richard Danzig did the same as Undersecretary then Secretary of the Navy as he executed a brutal downsizing of the fleet from 600 to 330 ships, and instituted a wide-ranging affirmative action program for the officer corps.
The officer corps was 2,500 below end-strength in 1998, and I regularly got calls asking me if I wanted to "volunteer for an involuntary recall to active duty." The President would not declare an emergency or mobilize the reserves for Kosovo. He and his leaders were trying to cover-up the impact of their devastating cuts which cut muscle to the bone, and sapped morale of the force.
As O'Keefe and Danzig are well aware, they execute the Presiden't policies, even if it hurts the military--as they did.
2
"The rule of law is what sets us apart from our adversaries"
How ironic!
The facts show and have shown since before the election, that Mr Trump prefers the company, style and presence of our "adversaries" or at least their leaders. He is constantly harping on his great admiration and fondness, friendship and closeness to the leaders of our worst and most dangerous enemies-not merely the Russians and CHinese, but murderous Arabian princes and the brutal thuggery of East Asian elected officials who glory in the killing and extra judicial murder of tens of thousands of civilians within their nations for being members of minority religions or because they are accused of using drugs.
Increasingly, ever more rulers and despots now claim to want their own governments to act with swift brutality "like the Americans".
I recall how shameful it was to realize our military, some foreign service and CIA agents were becoming entranced by the idea of torture, during the Bush administration, but then the world mostly condemned us when it discovered our broad and ever deepening hypocrisy. Now, we no longer try to hide being enamored with brutality and the regular abuse of human rights by Americans in government service.
I fear we are so damaged as a nation-much as the Southern states before,during and after the Civil War, that we can never repair it. WE will certainly be confronted by this hypocrisy of our actions , probably as long as civilizations may last.
3
What SHOCKED me was seeing a man on active Navy duty going on Fox News and speaking against a superior! We are a Navy family since 1792 and have always believed in the discipline the Navy instills in its men and women. The fact politics have become more important than the rule of law is troubling.
18
@Beth Grant DeRoos Don't you remember when Paula Coughlin did this after the Tailhook conference? How about when then-Colonel Martha McSally sued the military over hijab in Islamic countries?
Back then they were hailed their for bravery and "speaking truth to power."
1
A demoralized and undisciplined American military force is a great blessing to the world. USA might have the biggest military budget in the world, but a disgruntled force disgusted with a draft evader cancel out much of the military-industrial complex's financial power. It shows Trump might qualify as the most powerful president who systematically destroy its own established institutions. Putin, congrats, well played.
4
@Observer
You probably might not really think that an unruly and highly trained special operator is a blessing if you think a bit further about the subject. The Navy spent tens of millions of dollars training and supporting Gallagher as a SEAL. The man is a skilled and much experienced operator. Now, would you rather that such a man be bound by the same rules as all others serving in a military or whatever ones he chooses on his own?
1
Trump has never led an organization like the Federal Government. Instead, he has run a family business in which he is the only decision-maker, and there are no lower-level executives who might have the need to disagree with him. And Trump's key assistant has always been his "fixer", a shady character who operates at the edge of, or over the line, of the law to protect the boss. I guess that's Rudy Giuliani's role now. At any rate, Trump is wholly unfit based on his experience for the his job.
15
@Ken L
You said it perfectly!
2
The REALLY SCARY thing about this is that it very much looks like Trump is preparing for a scenario whereby he loses the election, says it was rigged, refuses to leave and calls on the troops to back him. Think it can't happen here???
13
I’m worried that this man in the WH will carve out a military within the military as his own. Imagine those loyalists and all the local police forces armed with military-style weapons ... I’m feeling fractured and paranoid today. Maybe it will pass.
1
Ironic, when the military could have used Trump's help, the chickenhawk developed bone spurs, the Vietnam draft serving excuse provided by a doctor renting a space in one of Fred Trump's buildings. Now cadet bone spurs cannot keep his nose out of the military tent. This adds to the list of everything Trump touches, he ruins or damages. Now the military joins the State Dept, the Justice Dept, FBI, CIA, and all other agencies, tainted by the man who would be king's touch.
10
The White House thinks it is and so does every Republican in congress and every Republican candidate for office. Trump has succeeded in denigrating every norm of our democracy and will now do the same with our vaunted military, despite how much money gets appropriated for guns, bombs, tanks and planes.
6
How can you say it isn't an extension when the President of the US can use the military for his own business? The President if the ultimate commander in chief and if we want that to change, we need to legislate it. Otherwise, we are stuck when we get a cabbage patch President like this one...
3
Ironic, when the military could have used Trump's help, the chickenhawk developed bone spurs, the Vietnam draft serving excuse provided by a doctor renting a space in one of Fred Trump's buildings. Now cadet bone spurs cannot keep his nose out of the military tent. This adds to the list of everything Trump touches, he ruins or damages. Now the military joins the State Dept, the Justice Dept, FBI, CIA, and all other agencies, tainted by the man who would be king's touch.
I think the reality is that Rupert Murdoch controls the Trump Administration, Congressional Republicans, and the so-called "evangelicals." How's that for a conspiracy theory that has some empirical substance?
1
How many of you posing as righteous veterans have actually seen combat? Are you really in a position to judge the SEALs? The Generals and Admirals have misled civilian authority before. Remember JFK taking the Generals advice on the Bay of Pigs fiasco? Washington and Lincoln had to prevail several times over the Generals. Be careful of military folks interfering with civilian authority. Coups do happen.
1
As trump turned the Attorney Generals Office into his private lawyer,he is attempting to turn our armed forces,all of them, into his private army.
Having done my bit in the USMC and understanding some what how the "rules of war" work... Like individuals who have surrendered, are seldom murdered...
This present action is an alarming example of just how serious his delusions and paranoia are.
5
Too tepid. He won't be moved.
Mr. T has no idea of what it is like to serve in uniform. He thinks of it all as another "reality" tee vee show. He is clearly unfit to be the CINC. He, like Mr. Gallagher, brings disgrace to the uniform of the United States of America. The great traditions of honesty, integrity and professionalism (an officer and a gentleman) mean nothing to T.
4
It may have been written already, but... I have got my voting skills on.
3
Yes, by all means, let Chief Gallagher "get back to business," in the words of our distinguished commander-in-chief. Because when our special operations soldiers "get back to business," it generally means we are loosing. America wins when the average G.I. is in the fight. Anyone remember a little dispute called World War Two?
America looses when we depend to heavily on special ops. Hello? Vietnam ring any bells?
That's why the good captains, majors, and colonels of Vietnam, who became the generals twenty years later --guys like Schwartzkopf and Powell -- made sure we fought Desert Storm the American way. That's why we won.
Unfortunately, ten years later we began to be reinfected with our John Rambo psychosis, went back to Iraq, and promptly lost.
1
You get some bad actors in the military , always will. Some have become celebrities and their actions appeal to a certain segment of the populace. Let's be as ruthless and immoral as our enemies.
Since our current President does not believe in the Geneva Conventions this could become the norm.
2
Presidents, for better or worse, are commanders-in-chief. President Trump decision to interceded is only unusual because it involved a non-commissioned officer’s reassignment of duties. Lincoln fired several generals. Truman fired MacArthur. Obama interceded by countermanding the Pentagon decision to bar transgender recruits.
2
@William Case
The President is an office holder with legally based authority and legally based limitations upon that authority. The kind of unconditional authority which you describe is that of a sovereign, one who actually embodies the state, like an anointed king. No President has that kind of authority.
2
@William Case
Lincoln did not interfere with his generals but if they were not achieving their missions, he found others who might, until he found Grant.
Truman fired MacArthur both because he was openly insubordinate and was deliberately trying to undermine Truman's leadership and because he was failing to achieve his mission with the constraints he was required to respect. The general who replaced MacArthur quickly changed the situation and stabilized it. MacArthur was an elderly man by then and was not the able commander he'd once been.
2
@Casual Observer
Section. 2.
The Constitution states: The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States.”
The truth is that Trump does not share the same values of most law abiding, hard working, Americans including the military. Trump is a conman from start to finish and very likely a Russian asset whose main quest is to disrupt the American government and put money money in his pocket at the same time.
He's making mockery of the Constitution and totally torn the Republican Party apart. In short, Trump is a disaster as a leader and human being who does not give a rip about the military or the American people. Impeach Trump and send him to prison on charges of treason.
6
So how are you going to vote in 2020?
It is high time for all commanders in the military to collectively refuse to obey orders from this creature in the White House trying, and dismally failing, to play the role of presidency. This man who does not have the slightest idea of what it means to be a soldier should be ignored.
I often said that the USA with this guy in charge is becoming a banana republic. I now have to say that is an insult to the banana republics.
5
It's really just another abuse of power by this president.
2
You don't seem to understand. Supreme Leader trump, by far the greatest, most amazingest leaderest of Leaders, was ordained by God and all the heavenly angels to rule every facet of life in America.
The sooner ya'll get that - the sooner you'll stop being surprised by his interference ... I mean interventions... in all aspects of your lives.
Hail to the Almighty, Most Stable of Geniuses, Most Beautiful of Men, Supreme Leader trump.
(cue marshall music)
5
Classic NYT and liberal/establishment/eastern elite classism. Yes, yes, yes, when the poor in the enlisted positions do something bad they must be punished and shamed and made into an example. But when our lovely rich buffoon from Kennebunkport kills a couple hundred thousand people over a lie, well we just can't do anything about that can we.
You totally miss how Trump is doing this, has taken up the mantle of what the left is supposed to be, and is fighting for the rights of low-class Americans against their upper-class opressors.
@Rancid
Fairness is a consideration but the well functioning and useful operations of the Navy is a separate and unrelated consideration.
One thing that is wrong with most of the debates over this President's strangeness is avoiding that strangeness by spinning the discussion away from what he actually does.
@Rancid
A privileged, spoiled man-child fighting for low class Americans?
Yeah, right.
2
the fact is that trump and his supporters are not concerned with America or the constitution or the founding fathers expect as rhetoric. The real question is what are we going to do about this. nothing here is any surprise.
1
And, SNAP! Just like that Trump has everyone debating the firing of Spencer. It’s not really about Gallagher. This is just a typical move on Trump’s part to distract and create discord, thus weakening the internal support of the military and taking the focus off of the impeachment testimony.
2
Despite being as crazy as he is, Trump is correct about some of the problems related to our military. He is correct in that "great nations don't fight endless wars." At the end of the day, the job of a military is to win wars and force the enemy to surrender. This may involve doing some unpleasant things. War is unpleasant.
The current leadership of our military has failed dismally and demonstrated that they are either unable or unwilling to actually win any wars. The last time our military won a war was the first Gulf War in 1991.
Our military does need a complete overhaul and needs to relearn how to win wars. We may even want to have generals from other countries who actually have won wars come show our generals what they are doing wrong.
2
What does that have to do with the issue at hand here? You, and the President, are talking about ending 'endless wars', which is both desirable and laudable. The authors of this piece are talking about the necessity of the rule of law in the military, the standards for the code of conduct, and the dangers of politicizing the military. What is wrong with that?
65
@John Chenango I don't know how old you are , or in what wars you fought in, but I spend a lot of my time at the Wisconsin VA in Milwaukee, My dad, Army 1958-1962, keeping the Marshall Plan in Germany, He got his ears blown out , he is deaf today because of Military exercises. One of dad's best friends at the VA is a Vietnam vet victim of agent orange. We do not need to learn how to win wars, we need to stop being the aggressive offensive people.
23
But great nations do keep the peace. Pax Romana and Pax Britannia both did that. And of course it’s a different issue from whether Trump is undermining military order and discipline.
9
It is alarming to watch former military officials attempt to subvert the orders of the commander-in-chief. In America, a civilian oversees the military, in this case the President. You'd think the military might support Trump, after all of the support he has given them. Unfortunately, Deep State fever has overtaken some in the ranks of current and former military officials. The authors are strong candidates for Deep State heroes of the week. Who cares about the Constitution, right?
1
@TL Based on Trump's rulings in this case, which regulations can soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines ignore? Does Trump have all their backs against the Deep State fever in the ranks?
More importantly, in what subset of American values does posing with a corpse as if it were a hunting trophy fit?
42
@TL
The Constitution is exactly what military officers are adhering to. When was the last time you read it? And have you read the Universal Code of Military Justice, the UCMJ? All members of our armed forces are required, by law, to adhere to it, including the over-riding requirement to willfully disobey any order that they construe to be an unlawful order. Who cares about the Constitution? Fortunately that turns out to be those who resist this CIC’s adolescent misconstrual of what is required of our officers, NCOs and enlisted.
32
They are retired. Unlike people still in uniform They are able to speak their minds as citizens and knowledgeable experts. That it’s come to this is on Trump, not them.
6
Some time ago (don't remember when as Trump's constant barrage of self-adulation all melds together), Trump said that he would have made a great general. Scary thought, that.
5
It looks like the president has just alienated another huge swath of America, the military and their families. But what about the older veterans? My deceased father had the conservative values that Trump espouses. He was a cook in the army during the Korean conflict, poorly educated, no West Pointer, certainly not an officer, but I wonder if he would have agreed with the officers' point of view. My dad always voted and I know the other older veterans he hung out with did too. What do they think of this? I wonder...
Sadly, every time this President opens his mouth he displays an astonishing level of ignorance. One of the reasons a military force is effective and efficient, from ancient times until this day, is respect for chain of command and order. This is not to say that every commander is perfect or that every military decision is spot on, but there is process for protest and change, and that process allows for stability in troubled times. All our democratic institutions may not be perfect and there is always a need for oversight and improvement. At the heart of it all is discipline ..something this President does not seem to understand, or respect.
3
All for one and one for all.
A band of brothers.
I fight for the person on my right and on my left.
We never wanted to be heros. We just wanted to stay alive.
Honor, duty, country.
Truth, justice and the American way.
Are these just colloquialisms? Are they just sayings from literature? Or, do they reflect the codes of behavior our troops are held to?
These sayings all are centered around the group, around others, around selflessness and the spirit of sacrifice. They are all foreign to Trump. Trump in no way shares the same values of the military.
137
@Bruce Rozenblit “ Trump in no way shares the same values of the military.“
Neither do those Trump pardoned, nor those who think Trump’s pardon of these war criminals is a good thing, nor those who will serve next to these war criminals going forward. There is precious little honor to be found here.
102
There is not enough attention paid to the possibility that Trump will not voluntarily relinquish power if he is convicted in the senate or if he loses the election, especially if only by a few electoral votes. In that light, his pardons of the Seals and firing of the Navy Secretary are that much more scary and makes perfect sense. His actions undermine respect among the military rank and file for the chain of command, especially among elite units, like the Seals. If he wants armed protection while refusing to leave the Oval Office, who better to call on than the Seals. He would also be encouraging his NRA minions to use their AR-15's for their intended purpose, to wit, killing people. The dilemma facing the top brass: to obey the not yet inaugurated new President or the man in the Oval Office (technically still the Commander in Chief?). call it paranoid, but firing the Navy secretary makes perfect sense.
5
Only those "who have been there" have the right to judge this situation. The jury acquitted him of all but one charge which was the most minor. The Admiral didn't like that nor the fact that the President restored his rank. Too bad. Trump is the CIC, that is his right. As Mulvaney once said "get over it"!
1
The thrust of this opinion piece is wrong. For whatever differences there may be between those who support Navy SEAL Gallagher's exoneration and those who don't, the military will vote overwhelmingly for Trump.
So it's really hard to take seriously a few serious officers, political appointees, and even fellow SEALs who testified against Gallagher, because at the end of the day, they'll vote for anyone with an R next to his/her name, who's running against someone with a D next to theirs.
The rank and file together support and will continue to support the bone-spur president over any Democrat who runs against him, even if that Democrat has vaunted military experience of his own.
The forever wars will continue because war is the raison d'être of the military, and for similar reasons massive military budgets will remain unpruned. With a highly paid mercenary military offering employment opportunities to unskilled workers that the private sector can't and won't, enlisted men and women and their bosses will continue to vote for Trump and the Republicans en masse.
To me, that says they share enough of the same values.
1
As a veteran I can affirm that Donald Trump does not now, nor has he ever, shared the values of the military in which I served. Mr. Trump has been purging the military of leaders who have opposed his misguided efforts to bend the armed forces to his will. Pardoning those found guilty by military tribunal shows other members of the military that lawlessness will receive Mr. Trump’s approval and protection.
7
Is it a matter of public image (the message that that photo sends to the public and to teenagers) or one of principle and military order? If the first, that problem can be solved by solving the problem quietly with a deal behind doors (do not demote Gallagher and take his pin away publicly, but privately he gets to retain it and not be punished, as Spencer, some say, proposed to some White House officials, but not the "right" ones). Such a solution probably speaks even less of how the military justice operates. They already gave him a pass on the war crimes he was accused off (perhaps with a deal that he would only suffer demotion and nothing else, a gesture for public consumption. Trump pulled the rug from under the private deal. Both kinds of deals are wrong. People seem to be giving Spencer too much credit, the hero treatment, for his "public" letter and "standing up for the right thing" after he was fired. He tried to broker a deal and let Gallagher go. That is not the right thing either.
Is it a matter of public image (the message that that photo sends to the public and to teenagers) or one of principle and military order? If the first, that problem can be solved by solving the problem quietly with a deal behind doors (do not demote Gallagher and take his pin away publicly, but privately he gets to retain it and not be punished, as Spencer, some say, proposed to some White House officials, but not the "right" ones). Such a solution probably speaks even less of how the military justice operates. They already gave him a pass on the war crimes he was accused off (perhaps with a deal that he would only suffer demotion and nothing else, a gesture for public consumption. Trump pulled the rug from under the private deal. Both kinds of deals are wrong. People seem to be giving Spencer the hero treatment for his "public" letter after he was fired. He tried to broker a deal and let Gallagher go.
"killing machines." Those who have served in actual combat are haunted for the rest of their lives by the loss of a portion of their own humanity. They didn't just see awful things; they did awful things. What is lost of one's own humanity can't be articulated; hence, "you had to be there to understand." Now we have a Commander In Chief who valorizes the complete absence of humanity in our military personnel, referring to them as "killing machines." Those who fought grieve what they have lost of themselves; to which their suicide rate attests. This president, unable to confirm humanity in himself or in anyone else, is an insult to everyone who has served and fought to preserve our humanity.
10
Trump has made my sons (who are currently serving) less safe.
16
Respect for the United States armed forces? Hah! This is the same president who SALUTED an officer from North Korea, an oppressive regime with which we're still technically at war.
To say Trump and our military don't share the same values is the understatement of the year, if not the century.
12
Remember it was the U.S. Army that brought down Joe McCarthy in 1954 after four years of his Trumpian lies and "populism." The Army v. McCarthy hearings turned the tide. The House and Senate hearings may yet have their "have you no decency" moment. McCarthy's tabloid sycophants had played much the same role that Fox News does today. Truth triumphed in the end. Sure hope it does again.
11
It appears that our military will stand firm on a closer version of the philosophy of the majority of citizens of this country, when it comes to rules, policies, and discipline. Don't get me wrong. I think we have too many aggressive, right-leaning leaders in the military, and I believe they should continue to be headed up by well-informed, broad minded civilians, with emphasis on diplomacy. But, even they are mostly opposed to war crimes, and should never be supplanted in their dealings with soldiers who commit these crimes against humanity, violating the most basic rules of war. I hope they will continue to stand their ground and face off with the cowardly draft dodger, en masse. The wretched bully will back down.
5
Moving houses a couple of years ago, I discarded a copy of Foreign Affairs special feature focusing on the American Military. I recall a sophisticated analysis on the it's role in society and in government as well as a cogent counter point about how the military would never intervene in the political civic arena. If commenters have a link, PLEASE post it. Times and circumstances have changed especially now, when nakedly 45, is clearly "subverting state power" to use the Chinese euphemism.
3
The power that a Commander-in-Chief holds must be dependent upon his ability to command competently and properly. Everyone can make a mistake, but when the core values (or lack thereof) are in direct conflict with those of the governed (as also applies to civilian political issues), that power must be limited or revoked for the good of all.
This is but one of thousands of incompetent, irrational, ill-conceived and simply stupid things Trump has done to undermine the foundations of our government and society. The pushback from the Military is, in this case, most appropriate - Trump has exceed his limit of tolerance for having abused them. They should also be furious about Trump's illegal misappropriation of BILLIONS of dollars in military funding diverted to building his monument to narcissism - a Constitutional violation of office. Those funds are vitally needed by our soldiers, sailors and airmen (generic) yet Trump lies constantly about how much HE has done for them.
It is well past the time for OUR military to take a firm stance against this rogue fake president according to their oath to protect and defend against all enemies both DOMESTIC and foreign. I never thought I would have to say that in this country.
7
Trump’s only value is personal enrichment and he would burn our democracy down to get it.
10
trump, the draft dodger, once again thinks he'll become a tough guy hero by a process of osmosis, a process used by lots of cowards. By vocal support and pulling political levers he thinks he's one of those tough guys. So transparent.
10
If the Central Park 5 had been been war fighters, today they would be preparing to campaign for trump.
1
Undermine America. Seems pretty obvious, doesn't it?
1
This has wide ranging implications. What are judgments of juries and judges worth anymore when the Potus willfully disregards their verdicts and rewards the perpetrators who disregard the law with pardons. Both in civilian as well as military cases Trump has trampled upon verdicts that were lawfully given. To Sheriff Arpao, a person who abused the law he was beholden to protect Trump pardoned. Now he has trashed the MCOJ and fired the senior most officer of the corps who was commissioned to maintain the order in his care. these are not the only instances of the Potus and his sycophant AG Barr who have become a danger to our republic. They have turned our whole system of maintaining order upside down.
6
Values? Trump has no values, other than monumental self-esteem coupled with a monumental inferiority complex.
11
People need to stop pretending that there are no psycho/sociopaths in the military who are merely looking for a legal way to murder people. It happens, and way more often than most Americans would be comfortable with knowing the truth of it.
4
Veterans, if you disagree with the dishonorable actions of this draft-dodging president, please organize to prevent his re-election.
7
If Al Jazera published a photo of an ISIS combatant gloating over the body of an American SEAL the country would go crazy and demand the marines (or a few million dollars of cruise missiles) be sent in to avenge the war crime. That Chief Gallaghers conduct is an abomination by one of our own is indisputable.
The "President's" behavior, and that of his Fox "News" toadies is equally reprehensible and every serviceman and woman knows it.
The "fired" CNO is the only one behaving honorably here.
7
Trump followers, this president never gets tired of putting you in an uncomfortable position; one where you have to defend his disrespect (in this case, the Navy) while accusing Democrats of disrespecting the military. First of all, it requires you to forget the happy young rich boy trump, with his painful bone spurs, too inconvenient for him to serve his nation. At the same time, you allowed him to trash Senator Tammy Duckworth and other good people, like "they're no angels". Disgusting.
You have to defend trump's pulling funds from active duty military projects for pet projects he can't get funded, while accusing Dems of not funding the military.
You defend trump's vile trashing of Lt. Col. Vindman, while getting teary-eyed seeing the convicted criminal Gallagher in HIS dress uniform.
Trump followers hate on the homeless (only in California!) while ignoring the percentage of those who are veterans.
They agree to sneer at Gold Star families, John McCain, widows of fallen black soldiers, in the most vile ways, while trump tells them that the constitution they died for is a leftie plot against him.
Hypocrisy, thy name is republican!! Shame.
15
And Veterans vote!
4
The SEALs will deal with this internally, then.
1
The effect on order and discipline has been immediate. Edward Gallagher went on Fox news with the express purpose of insubordination to his chain of command.
He is still in the military, and should be subject to military justice. Thanks to Trump Gallagher clearly no longer feels military discipline applies to him.
10
What's the over-under on when Trump starts to wear epaulets?
7
From what I understand, troops overseas only hear Fox News. What do our Armed Forces believe? Do they support our country or DJT?
1
Now Fox news is in charge of military justice, enacted by a draft dodger who never served. It is time for country over party!
11
Americans were horrified by the brutality of ISIS, but brutality by our military is lauded as warrior-like by our shortsighted, immature president. More Republican hypocrisy.
9
That's not at all true, Richard. The Constitution is clear about the President's power to conduct foreign affairs and diplomacy. It's been said that the use of military power is in the event diplomacy fails to accomplish a nation's goals.
As most Americans understand the word values, Trump simply has none.
6
Remember the pardoning of Oliver North, and his continued glorification by Fox News and the NRA. Trump learned the value of the pardon for political purposes from his predecessors
8
Trump should be forced to see the new film “1917”, about brave and courageous men during WWI who fought and died to further democracy. It would teach him a lesson about which, it’s obvious, he knows nothing.
1
Violation of established military rules is something the military has to decide. If the President doesn't like the rule he should then have it changed, but it's doubtful whether even Trump would have the temerity to authorize US soldiers to take trophy photos.
Authorizing the taking of such photos could only encourage US enemies to take their own trophy photos of dead US soldiers, a rather horrific result.
5
"His values are not those of our military."
- Richard J. Danzig and Sean O’Keefe, Navy secretaries under, respectively, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush.
His values are not those of our anything. Who doesn't see it?
6
“The rule of law is what sets us apart from our adversaries.”
Herein lies the problem, yet again, with America. Rather than the rule of law, what should be the standard is what is morally right. How many bad laws are passed by men acting in their own self-interest - choosing them as the ultimate standard sets a very dangerous path. Such an attitude is what completely hobbles Americans and prevents the changing of the 2nd Amendment to fit the times. Your laws should work for you - not cripple you.
The Roman Senator, Tacitus observed: "The more corrupt the state - the more numerous the laws" ... alas an observation which very much applies to contemporary America.
1
Values? Trump has no values (or value).
3
Imagine being a young lieutenant leading a mission after an episode in which a much loved member of the unit was lost in a brutal way. The feelings of these young warfighters is complex, focused on success of the mission but ready for action; willing to engage lethal force to protect each other but ready to mete out justice as well. You remind them of the rules of engagement, well aware that the President just fundamentally undermined the rules that separate professional warriors from a mob.
There's a reason the military is the most respected institution in our culture and it's precisely correlated to the good order and discipline that was revitalized after Vietnam (remember fragging?) and conversion to an all volunteer force. 'Pirates' (an honorific in the SEALs) like Gallagher play into stereotypes of the maverick who can't be bothered with the R.O.E. They find a home in special forces where their covert ops missions give license not found in the regular military. They are amazing warriors but they have to adhere to the same rules as all soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. If anything, they must set an even higher standard.
Gallagher is no role model. He is a danger to the fellow warfighters.
209
@Susan Johnston Susan - for you, the military may be the most institution in our culture. It is not for me. Useful to speak for yourself rather than overlay your version of the truth. Frankly, not much different than what Trump does to the facts....
4
@curt hill
Don't be intentionally dense. The military is arguably the "most respected institution in our culture". It doesn't matter if you don't respect it, statistically speaking, both political parties and an overwhelming majority of Americans respect and support our armed forces.
Let me know when businesses and restaurants start giving discounts to DMV workers though. As far as I can tell, it's veterans and service members who receive near universal benefits and acknowledgement.
9
@Susan Johnston
You have several errors. These errors seem to be widespread these days (perhaps because of right-wing propaganda or violent video games, or perhaps not).
Soldiers are not warriors. Warriors are not subject to external discipline. Soldiers are required to be subject to external discipline.
Soldiers are not "ready to mete out justice"; they are not judges. They are fighters; they are ready to mete out killing and wounding. If they are soldiers rather than "warfighters" or "warriors", they mete out killing etc. only when necessary for their mission.
8
Trump makes scary moves every day, but this interference in military discipline is one of the scariest. He is putting the military and the American public on notice. The message is a clear and present danger: he is informing us that he has complete control over the military. When he commands them to physically prevent him from being removed from the White House, they must obey. It is a warning and it is very chilling.
202
@Yellow Dog You fail to take into account that the president is commander in chief and that the military is obligated to obey any lawful order he issues with the emphasis on the word "lawful".
16
@Mike F. When a president orders the military to turn on citizens, a democracy is transformed into a dictatorship. Most recently, Egypt made such a transition, but it has happened elsewhere around the world. It is essentially how Maduro maintains his power in Venezuela, for example. It may be where current troubles in Hong Kong will end. It could happen here and the warning signs are clear.
45
But his enablers - Bill Barr, Mike Pompeo, & possibly his S.Ct. appointees - say anything the executive does is lawful. Scary times.
32
What I find most ominous is a president who has openly stated he may not honor election results and peacefully leave office is telling members of the military he will pardon them if they commit crimes.
4
I would not assume that Trump's interference on behalf of a SEAL indicted for a war crime and convicted of dishonorable behavior will lead to a loss of discipline or more frequent violation of rules in the military.
I would expect enlisted men and women to be deeply troubled by the thought of witnessing a war crime by one of their peers. I would expect them to be deeply troubled by the idea of covering up a war crime. I would expect vets who have experienced combat to feel revulsion at the thought of one of their fellow soldiers callously killing or humiliating a prisoner of war.
I would expect active-service men and women to vote against re-electing a commander-in-chief who appears to relish the barbaric behaviors that can emerge under pressure of military action.
Since the ancient Greek poet Homer wrote of Achilles' dragging the body of the Trojan prince Hector through the dust around the city walls, the spectre of barbarism in war ("war crimes") has been a threatening nightmare for those in the armed forces. Trump's reversal of a peer review military process should lose him of the votes of those serving with honor and integrity in the armed forces.
We shall see!
145
@Mary C.
Asking that the rank and file behave better than our Bully in Chief is setting the bar pretty low.
10
@Mary C. Unfortunately, these times and these times lead me to expect the unexpected.
2
@Mary C. , $45* jail-breaks Gallagher and two others after the "so-called SEAL" gets a watered down conviction - whom also has political ambitions to run for Congress.
The real charges he faced would have busted his rank and his retirement, but somehow he got a slap on the wrist and now tRump negated that slap on the wrist...! What will happen when other SEALs who have lost rank, prestige, and pay find out and ask for a similar consideration...?
My Congressman, Duncan Hunter, has been involved in lobbying military brass and probably Capitol Hill on behalf of Gallagher. Currently Hunter is facing his own charges of using funds from his re-elction campaign for personal use, and he also is facing charges of posing with a corpse on the battlefield.
It's a small world, after all; isn't it...?
Wooly Bully, Wooly Bully, Wooly Bully.
2
Donald Trump sees himself not as the President of a participatory democracy but as a totalitarian leader, he as King and his family members of a royal house whose authority and ultimate decision making power can't be questioned. And three years into his Presidency little has been done to disabuse Trump of his view. Incredible as it may seem there are Americans who support it. Get real America. This country finds itself in a condition of crisis defined by elements so aberrant in the American story it's without precedence or historical analogy.
3
We give young people with brains not yet fully-developed (until 25 for most of us) the authority to kill on behalf of the state. Without discipline, order, and a chain of command, we risk impulsive anarchy and mayhem. We use veteran military commissioned and non-commissioned officers to model the behaviors and discipline we expect of these young soldiers, sailors, and airmen who do our dirtiest work. What the President has done is to substitute a counter-example of the worst sort undermining every lesson our military leaders are trying to impart. It is sickening, un-American, demeans the honor of those who serve - and will come back to haunt us. Just why does a leader break down order and discipline and shred the chain of command if not to change the mission and redirect allegiances? Do we need to see troops in our streets modeling blind loyalty to a brutish overlord before we stop scratching our heads and impeach and remove this preening toy soldier from behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office?
131
Thank you Navy Secretaries Danzig and O’keefe. Secretary Mattis, we welcome your involvement in the fight.
4
After all, Trump told us he's knows more than the generals.
1
Reading these powerful and eloquent words makes me so proud to be an American, and all the sadder and angrier over the degradation Trump is inflicting on all of us as he systematically seeks to erode our core values and defile our great institutions to suit his own corrupt and soulless tastes.
5
From another report, the TV commentators apparently said that we shouldn't pass judgement on decisions made in the heat of battle, yet in the cases mentioned here, the men were accused of misconduct by their comrades serving beside them in the heat of the exact same battles. It is Trump and the TV commentators, who weren't on the scene, who are claiming to know better.
Trump describes our military personnel as "killing machines," not warriors with ethics and honor. He views his civilian staff in the same way---he wants blind loyalty that views ethics and the law as for wimps. Yet if the law calls out their behavior following his orders, he suddenly "doesn't know" them. Over the past two weeks of Congressional testimony, we have seen that our military and civil servants actually have much higher standards, which Trump is trying to destroy.
446
@Alicia Lloyd
Trump describes our military personnel as "killing machines
We use to call them "soldiers". In WW2, we called them "citizen soldiers".
34
@Dan Lowery
For "T" all people are simply "machines" to be used as he wants.
12
@Alicia Lloyd
Our soldiers should be neither killing machines nor warriors (which is almost the same thing). Let's not call them "warriors" any more, as if their purpose is only to fight. They are subject to rules and discipline. That is what makes them "soldiers", not warriors.
This tendency to think of soldiers as warriors is one of the degenerations of public discourse that worries me. You can be sure no one in WWII would have wanted to call our soldiers "warriors".
8
He is putting the members of the armed forces at risk by these actions. What right have American soldiers to expect proper treatment from their enemies when their own Commander in Chief recognizes no restraints.
539
@Michael OFarrell
While horrified by Trump's actions, I have to ask how can anyone claim that his actions are worse than George W. Bush's?
Trump is acting to pardon the acts of a few individuals.
Bush sought legal 'approval' for the use of torture on prisoners and then proceeded to implement that policy in black sites NOT in the US so as to technically comply with legal guidelines. His actions were in violation of international law. The ICC in the Hague found Bush Cheney and more in their administration guilty of war crimes.
Where was the outrage over Bush's actions?
Yoo - the attorney that wrote the torture 'work-around' is now a professor at UC Berkeley. How does he still have a license to practice law?
18
@Michael OFarrell
With all due respect, many of our enemies already treat our POWs in the same horrible way. Our obligations here are not ones of reciprocity. They are obligations of morality.
25
@cynicalskeptic There was a ton of outrage over W.’s endorsement of torture, you have no idea how much there was, and, the Courts agreed.
32
So, the NYT believes the President should never pardon anyone, unless of course the NYT agrees that the military, or some other duly appointed court system wrongly convicts someone.
This is the very essence of why the President, or most State Governors, has the power to pardon. Because they can, they often do, and of course whether it is Bush 1, Bush 2, Clinton, Obama, Nixon, we will accept it---unless Trump uses this authority and then of course it is just wrong.
1
Pres. Trump says that it's okay for other countries' militaries to torture U.S. troops held as POWs. (Even though he hasn't focused on the fact that he's saying it.)
The point is, in part, that Pres. Trump has said and will say about anything, as well as its opposite, without really caring one way or the other.
People in operational authority therefore need to ignore what he says and then resign and say why when they can't otherwise avoid doing something crazy on account of Pres. Trump having said something about it at some point.
2
Micro managing any organization is always a mistake. Never mind one that you have zero experience in.
10
Trump does not share the same values as I do either: American Core Values:
I share the same values as the U.S. military, both its officers and its enlisted men and women: Dignity, Respect, the Rule of Law and the spirit & mandates of the Preamble of our Constitution.
Our military men and women are serving to defend those same values. So am I, a Vietnam vet who did not run from my country when it drafted me, needed me. So did millions of others while other millions protested and resisted in the name of those core values. They too share those same values. We all acted in good faith about those same core values.
Trump does not. He made that clear when he dodged the Draft. He has made it even more clear repeatedly since the first day he took office. He has
No Dignity,
No respect for the over half of Americans who did not vote for him,
No respect for the mandates of the Preamble, Norespect for the Rule of law,
No respect for truth and honesty,
No respect for anything or anyone but himself.
Perhaps most important, Trump has no ethical or moral compass and only one singular Mission: Himself
That makes him both a coward and a threat at the same time. The threat is to those same core values most of us share as Americans in our pursuit of liberty and happiness.
He needs to be removed from government before he destroys America, its Military, its Executive, its Judicial and most importantly, America's faith and support of its own core values: our Constitution.
9
Messrs. O’Keefe and Danzig pull no punches.
The readers of The Times will agree and commend their swift expression.
If only they would share their views on Fox & Friends.
2
@Brian Zimmerman Fox and Friends so pre-screens any and all dissenters from their Trump Uber Alles mantra that they certainly would not be invited on nor would their offer to be on, be accepted.
5
"The armed forces are not an extension of the White House." - not yet, but they will be. Here is the plan: Trump is currently greasing the military to protect him when he refuses to leave office if defeated in the next (last) presidential election. Pick the most rabinous war criminals and turn them into "Marvel" heroes - the Trump Warriors! Trump will then declare himself "President for Life" just like his pal Xi did (and he himself joked about at his castle in Florida). Trump will be, by the end of 2020, the de facto King of the United States of America (he will refer to himself as the "King of America" because he is too lazy to find out that the USA is not the only country in "America".
4
And to think this was inspired by one of the on-air fox geniuses.
6
You can't use "trump' and 'values' in the same sentence. Or headline.
9
72% Fort Leonard Wood, 62% Fort Sill, and 58% Camp Lejeune - those were the percentage votes for Trump at three major military base towns. Trump and the armed forces share precisely the same values. Trump and the armed forces share precisely the same values.
3
Perhaps not anymore.
1
I don't know where to start. I spent nearly half my life as a military officer (USCG) and this is, perhaps, the most disturbing example of interference with the military justice system I have ever witnessed. Yes, as Commander in Chief the president can step in and alter the outcome of a court martial - however one expects this would happen rarely and only when an obvious and egregious miscarriage of justice has occurred. Glorifying a war crime, undercutting leaders such as the Secretary of the Navy and RADM Green (and boy do we need leaders right now), undermining the UCMJ, doing it by tweet, providing the subject (Gallagher) with top cover to criticize his superiors on the national media...it is stomach turning. As a former commanding officer I understood the need to avoid - when my subordinates were involved - even a whiff of perception of unlawful command influence on the outcome of a disciplinary hearing. SecDef's sycophantic behavior and POTUS's complete lack of regard for the proper use of presidential power should shake all of us to our core.
1248
You are exactly correct. What's all the more galling to those of us who served in the military, is Trump's treatment of the Armed Forces as "My Army". This is a person who evaded service when called and who has no idea about how the military conducts and disciplines itself. I don't like to think what impact this will have on other macho lone wolves and their commanders.
260
@W.P. Foy having served for 25 years I feel reassured that the US Armed Services are staffed with, for the most part, exceptional professionals who will continue to serve honorably during this difficult period and beyond. Overall I am optimistic and hopeful that the current political administrations is, like many regimes in history, an unfortunate aberration.
102
@Stephen Chamberlin Thank you for your cogent comment.
22
Trump doesn’t care about Gallagher. He is attempting to sow discord, divisiveness and distrust within the military as a way of weakening our armed forces.
9
What does it say about our country when immediate comfort for some and not all means more to them them the conscience of our country? This myopic view says much about who we are as a people and that they would choose immorality and cravenness over good governance or that somehow Trump's cravenness is good governance is the height of Orwellian think.
Many times when we look at momentary trends we lose the forest for the trees. We are lost in the Trumpian woods and Trumpists don't even notice the lose of our integrity as a nation.
1
Thank you!!
1
What part of "Commander in Chief" do these gentleman not understand?
3
Guess what ISIS is going to do when they capture one of our guys?
5
The military has always emphasized the need to follow orders. How can the military function otherwise? In the current situation the military reminds me of a PFC in the army who decides he does not want to follow orders. We all know what happens to him: court-martial. Why should it be any different with President Trump’s orders. Termination of Spencer was totally appropriate regardless of what our personal opinions might be.
1
The actions of a coward and a narcissist. Impeach the sucker. Add this to the growing list of impeachable offenses. He is dangerously self-absorbed and he and his supporters are disfiguring the country. Don't narrow the impeachment process to just the Ukraine matter.
10
Trump debased the honor of all those who serve in the military by rewarding thugs for murder. Sadly. thanks to Trump, the Seal Trident just became a symbol of war criminals.
6
The issue was, as SECDEF stated, a lack of candor on the part of SECNAV - who had recommended to the President that Gallagher retire as a CPO and as a SEAL. Take your issue up with the Honorable former SECNAV.
Trump is a power-mad ignoramus who must be removed from office before he does any more damage to the rule of law, the country, and the world.
8
"Two people tell The Daily Beast they’ve heard Trump talk about how he’d like to have the now-cleared Clint Lorance, Matthew Golsteyn, or Edward Gallagher show up at his 2020 rallies, or even have a moment on stage at his renomination convention in Charlotte next year. Right-wing media has portrayed all three as martyrs brought down by “political correctness” within the military."
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-tells-allies-he-wants-absolved-war-criminals-to-campaign-for-him?ref=home
Only on Fox News and Breitbart, and in the White House, are US war criminals considered "martyrs".
12
"Trump and the Military Do Not Share the Same Values". These headlines say it all because Trump has no values unless it personally enriches or is a political advantage to him.
9
Trump wants the rank and file military on his side. First, he believes it helps him politically, both within and without the military itself. Secondly, when he refuses to leave office, he wants them on his side.
9
@Alejandro F.
That is exactly what I have been saying for months now. We are in scary waters here.
6
Trump hasn't the faintest idea of the meaning of Honor. It's unlikely he ever has.
8
I doubt that Trump is even aware of the existence of the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. That can be the only explanation for what he has done here. If he is aware of them, then we have even more reason to fear for our future.
7
It's easy to understand the difficulty of serving Donald Trump. He has no respect for anything or anyone. But Mark Esper sullied himself by not resigning after firing Spencer. When Donald Trump decides to test the limits of his power , and finding none,is there any honorable person left to stop him?
15
The only positive I see in Trump's foolish intervention in military affairs is that, perhaps, military personnel will stop seeing Republicans as their favored party. It was never a healthy relationship anyway.
9
People in general are only props to Trump, and the military in particular have *always* been just props to Republicans. They prove it every single day.
8
This is the President who caused a tarp to be placed over the stern of the USS John S. McCain so that Trump, when uttering the usual blather at Yokosuka Naval Base, would not be offended with a reminder of his rival's courage and his own cowardice.
This latest disgrace comes as no surprise; we may expect more disrespect for the men and women in uniform, for their officers and civilian leaders--and continued silence from the Republican Party, whose fair weather patriotism stops when political and economic self-interest is at stake.
16
Trump has no values only transactions. The man is amoral and totally Trump-centric. Absolutely nothing else matters, Honor, the Constitution, Morality, all fall by the wayside when Trump is involved.
Dangerous time folks, very dangerous times.
13
The police and the military are under the executive arm of the government. This is a disaster. The reason you are only seeing how much of a disaster is because previous presidents were smart enough to hide it by giving the occasionial nod to the legislative and judicial branches. Trump is just using it more blatantly. However, notice how he has not started any new wars like Bush (overt) and Obama (covert). Be careful what you wish for! Trump could still ramp up the war machine to a higher level and Congress would go right along with him.
1
Trump is an anathema to leadership. Ask people who have worked his organizations beginning with his first project on 42nd Street. They were toxic work environments. So, it’s no surprise that the White House has become a den of vipers. He likes it that way because it serves his purpose. Dragging people down to his level is his modus operandi. He believes it gives him “one up” over others. It’s a pathetically tragic way to live. His smallness disqualifies him from leadership and oversight of any organization, including our military.
8
Profound disrespect for humanity is what this is all about. Both from this soldier and from our commander in chief, daily.
Is it any wonder that trump heard of the photo and the accompanying message, and thought, this is just what you do to your enemies? They deserve it. Does anyone have any doubt that trump would have done the exact same thing?
Without humanity what are we fighting for?
The degradation of the norms of civil society continues unabated with trump at our helm. We must remove this man
7
This is the rock and hard place problem , on one side the corrupt, dithering cheeto Jesus, on the other, a country killing military industrial regime that uses half of the US discretionary budget. So far, trump hasn't killed or massively crippled other countries, the last person who didn't was Carter. Not sure how long this will last, though.
2
Nonesense. The military voted heavy Trump last time and they will vote heavy Trump next time.
In aggregate, the military shares more values with Trump than with anyone running against him.
Your appeal to institutional values is worthless when the boots in the ground disagree.
2
We are entering very dangerous territory now. What Trump is doing is creating a lawless, rogue force that will do whatever he wants it to do. Dictators need such corrupt soldiers to do their dirty work: execute coups d'état; attack opponents; suppress dissent; torture and terrorize those who might resist the will of the dictator.
This spring, Trump said: "I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump – I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad."
We are getting closer and closer to that "certain point" when things will get very bad, very bad.
10
@617to416 I think Trump looks at the police, military and bikers as “his” attack dogs which he has on leashes and throws occasional chunks of raw meat, like this pardon, to, and they don’t “play it tough” until he lets go of the leash, when “it would be very bad”. They are extensions of him, and their (to his mind) essentially brutal nature should not be constrained. Power, to him, is brutal and should not be constrained by laws, but that is why it NEEDS constraint.
3
This is yet another shameful episode in a long line of picking away at our institutions. I wonder what will other Seals and other members of the military would say if they thought there would be no retaliation for their honest to God opinions. Shame on President Trump and all of his cronies.
3
Trump is America’s Erdogan, left to his own devices, corrosive to American democracy. We are witnessing real damage and decay. It usually ends one way with despots, after the fall of a Trump there will be dancing in the streets.
6
We have a president who lives in the far right wing echo chamber and makes decisions and governs based on what he learns in the far right fever swamps of conspiracy theories. I can’t see this ending well for any of us.
7
Military members caught wearing MAGA hats. Military members physically covering the name of a ship to protect Trumps fragile ego. Military members giving interviews to FOX only to air their grievances. Military members booking parties at Trump properties. Military members staying at Trump properties. Like every institution Trump has influenced, the military has been tested and has been found wanting. And even more disturbing, the majority of the military will vote for this lawless, vacuous fool again.
11
I don't doubt for a minute that Chief Petty Officer was a brave man but he also violated the Geneva Convention, threatened his own colleagues after committing an atrocious act, and by his actions consciously or unconsciously taunted ISIS fighters. This aside he, like Trump is an arrogant, morally compromised individual who deserves the disciplinary measures and consequences meted out a jury of his peers in arms and his commanders - not the theatrical antics of a publicity seeking POTUS.
10
Our military is bloated and ineffectual. They thrive off endless oil wars and a misguided US foreign policy that consistently prefers violence over diplomacy. We are ill-equipped to win the information wars that lie ahead. In fact, we have already lost the first major battle when Russia installed our current game-show-host president.
6
Donald Trump essentially encouraged more lawlessness and anarchy and total unaccountability with this despicable maneuver.
It's not surprising, given Trump's complete fondness for a total lack of accountability since birth.
If any American thinks Trump will end well for America or for Trump, they are in for an ugly surprise.
Trump is a comprehensive disaster.
7
The military has made a deal with the devil. The military will tolerate and try to manage Trump’s disfunction and poor judgement and the military will get their huge budget and otherwise free hand to handle matters as they wish.
5
Reaching into the complex legal process of military discipline with a comment that we teach them to kill and then complain when they kill, is lethal to the maintenance of civilization. When we are forced to kill in order to defend ourselves, we must do so with grave consideration. Not with relish and selfies.
Trump behaves like a young adolescent, excited by knife play and war stories, heedless of the tragedy of war, clueless about what military life requires. He is a danger to all who serve.
6
This will be another one of those things that Trump does that Republicans ignore. "Not the way I would have handled it, but hey, he's the president. He's entitled" will be the rationale. Down the road when the consequences of this approach start to become evident, they will leave it to someone else, in all likelihood a Democrat, to clean up the mess. So when photos of our enemies emerge with their soldiers posing with American GI corpses, I can just picture the outrage on Republican faces. Guys like Lindsay Graham all huffy and puffy and vowing to retaliate. Can you imagine....just imagine what John McCain would be saying. But Lindsay has stopped caring about that, now hasn't he? Trump is the new American hero.
2
I know the sailor broke the rules but as someone who grew up thinking I would have been drafted into the Vietnam war I have to side with him. There is something of a class conflict here.
How many here as college students protested the Vietnam war with absolute contempt for all things military and called returning soldiers war criminals now are now wrapping themselves in the flag with claims of honor and duty?
If I was drafted I would have a hard time with the rules. Most of the people I knew who served in that era did. Hopefully I would have been smart enough not to get court marshaled. So, you can see where why sympathies lie with the sailor and not some suits in the rear or a safe place In DC.
Trump understands this. When he stands up for this sailor people believe he would standing for them. This is why people voted for him.
People commenting here out to get Trump are siding with what used to be called the "establishment". Unfortunately if your heads were in the right place you would be fighting for all those young people wrongfully discharged for "mental" reasons and not defending some meaningless rules.
1
“Broke the rules”? You make it sound like he he went to the bathroom without a hall pass. He used defenseless and unwitting human beings (children) as target practice and stabbed a defenseless, unarmed man to death right in front of his colleagues. Furthermore, there’s evidence from his text messages that he premeditatedly deployed with the intent to commit war crimes. He bragged about having a special purpose for his knife. He was also charged with possessing narcotics, His own people turned him in. This wasn’t some externally driven witch hunt by outsiders.
You say that if you had been drafted, you might “break the rules”, too? Really? Like this?
1
The military has been a source of photo ops and right-wing voters that have been pandered to for years... and not just by Trump.
Add undermining discipline of the armed forces and undercutting the authority of its leadership to the case against the disgrace-in-chief. Oh, and violating the norms of civilized behavior in warfare and encouraging atrocities. Is there nothing disgraceful that this darling of the Republican Party won't do? Shame on all of you who support and enable Trump.
5
Trump needs to supplant his Russian support with some American boots on the ground for the big day when he is finally trounced out of office. And on that day he has threatened to marshall his support and wage our next civil war. A war that will have race and ethnicity as its basis but really one that will be the last hurrah of plutocrat capitalism in this country. A war that will reduce the USA to a ridiculous shadow of its former self akin more to Argentina in the 1970s than a superpower....all of this has been vocally threatened and twittered.
2
The military simply hasn’t caught up with Trump. He said that his intervention in the Gallagher was done to protect “my warriors”. This is no longer our military - it’s his.
2
Trump, like all dictators, loves cruelty and viciousness and crassness. Makes them (and their base!) feel strong. The GOP, by owning Trump, own ALL of him: they are now Trump.
3
Donald Trump, a five-time draft-dodger, wants to use Gallagher as a campaign prop to show his commitment to the troops. Little does he know that every honorable service member holds Gallagher in contempt, as well as the man who pardoned a war criminal.
5
Trump and values are two words that don’t belong in the same sentence.
He has none.
Lawless, immoral, unethical, corrupt.
These are the words that belong in sentences that include trump.
3
I don’t know if what Putin doesn’t think up first Donald does. This whole thing is about creating chaos, to undermined our military generals who are having issues with a military force that is 37 percent white nationalist. So this is a real nightmare, a tweet from Donald and our military will surround him and keep him in office over the will of the land.
1
I reads all the NYT Picks letters and I feel much better about the sanctity of our nation, which at the current time under Trump, is being severely strained. It is good to know that former (and current) military members are not OK with what Trump did concerning the Navy Seal. Trump, it appears, has never taken an oath of service, whether it be the Cub Scout oath or a military oath. The Presidential oath of office he breaks in any given moment.
1
The US military has lost my respect. To heck with them. They don’t serve the interests of the country anymore. I no longer wish to pay their salaries.
2
And, now he wants to campaign with "his" war criminals. As a veteran, this makes me sick.
4
Don't look now people -- it's bad -- but Trump just shot down the honor of our military right in middle of Fifth Avenue and got away with it.
5
The president is losing the respect of the military , avoiding military duty, Syria and now this, if he loses the election or is ultimately impeached and refuses to leave for what ever make believe stories he and his cohorts come up with. It just might be the loyal duty of the armed services to escort him out of office.
3
I’ve no idea what the American uniformed services hold as their ‘ideal’ but their commander-in-chief’s only ‘ideal’ is not losing the next election.
1
This article is worthless because the people who will read it are already in agreement, and those who need convincing do not read the Times. It will change no minds. More effective to pierce the FoxNews/FB bubble with ads micro-targeted to Trump supporters with AI-designed iterated messages that are a variation of a simple theme: “Trump pardons war criminals”, maybe with links to articles like this one. Perhaps it will only change one out of a hundred minds - but that is more than enough to swing Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin. Bloomberg and Steyer could fund it. The battle for voters is in FB, not the Times. The reason impeachment support is dropping is because of a massive Republican campaign against impeachment on FB, unanswered by Democrats.
4
America thanks God that Trump is the Commander-in-Chief and not the partisan that preceeded him.
Prez 44 refused to spend the money to re-fuel an aircraft carrier and insisted the military spend needless millions propping up a green energy scheme to keep the Navy from using petroleum products.
The President gets to decide policy, and the deep-staters corrupting the Pentagon think they are still in charge.
The real story here is that even an ''outsider'' President has to replace thousands of people in the D.C. swamp, not just a few hundred.
The next outsider Prez won't forget this lesson.
Military Mott: Duty, Honor, Country.
Trump Motto: Me - First, Last, Always.
That is all you need to know.
4
As a submarine officer, now retired, I had the pleasure of getting to know a number of Seals, Divers, and EOD specialists. None of them are the type that would've gloated for a photo in front of a deceased combatant. We ought to question the military leadership about their selection process and maintenance of order and discipline. Somebody was asleep at the helm, and SecNav and his naval leadersip team should be held accountable for this disgusting behavior.
6
Contrary to the premise put forward by these military-industrial bureaucrats, in the last election, the rank and file of the US armed forces voted overwhelmingly to support President Trump over Hillary Clinton. And the American officer corps is, if anything, even more right wing than their soldiers . . . . From a Socialist point of view, all this fine talk about the nobility and honor of our professional killer caste is just disgusting hypocrisy. For a Socialist, war is simply the workers of one country slaughtering the workers of another country to benefit only the rich . . . . Which raises the question: what would happen were a Socialist elected President of the US? And they attempted to negotiate peace with Russia, China and Iran? Would the US military, like its trained thugs in Bolivia, "suggest" that the President resign? And would the US media depict this as a "return to democracy"?
2
Failed 45 wants to make the troops loyal to him, not to their oath of office; classic dictator move.
2
Since the times of the Roman Empire the emperors and presidents (call them what you will) have ruled at the pleasure of the military: he who was favored by the military was put or kept in charge. The U.S. is different: our military serves the people, our military respects the rule of law, our military is apolitical, our military believes in punishing those in its ranks that kill with abandon.
1
Our country has slipped into psychosis. It is incomprehensible that anyone of good will and sound mind would tolerate, let alone defend, the behaviors of our current President and his administration. The only conclusion I can come to is that half of us have gone mad. I can't believe that this is really happening.
If Trump was "chosen by God" as Rick Perry and other Evangelicals proclaim (of course, they are in direct communication with the Supreme Being) their God must also be psychotic.
As a retired Naval Officer I find that 45 has displayed the qualities of a Chickenhawk. He's big to brag and interfere with military business while not having to suffer the consequences for doing so. Also, Chief Gallagher was also found to have a live hand grenade in his home garage and emails found which indicated marijuana and alcohol use. These last items are enough for concern and action by his superiors. I am angry with the SecDef as he did not stand up to 45 on this issue. However, it's what we have come to expect from his sycophants.
3
Inhuman and inhumane Trump is all about greed, lies and cruelty. That's the only business he's got. And it's disgusting.
3
The simplistic trump is enamored with SEALs - he thinks they have carte blanche to do as they please to whomever they please. Even the military knows better than that.
His moronic meddling in things he knows nothing about is dangerous and destructive. Of course you can't tell him anything - he being the stable genius and all...
1
Just one more reason why America needs regime change.
1
Very well said!
Shame on you Republicans for continuing to worship at the alter of this amoral bully who incessantly flaunts his ignorance to the detriment of countless true patriots and our democratic institutions!! How much will it take before you pull your collective heads out of the sand to see what you have wrought?
3
"In his final letter, Mr. Spencer, a Trump appointee, put it well..."
Highly doubt the Fox-watcher in chief read Spencer's letter - or has read anything but a menu in the last three years.
2
"His values are not those of our military."
- Richard J. Danzig and Sean O’Keefe, Navy secretaries under, respectively, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush.
His values are not those of our anything. Who doesn't see it?
2
This is a campaign decision. Trump needed to be involved so he can now use this issue and Gallagher at his rallies and FB adds. This is really sad for our country. Trump never never never looks to the future for our country only his reelection just like Ukraine it all about the election..
2
Actually, and glaringly obvious by navel Secretary Richard Spencer’s dismissal, they clearly do. And until Secretary of Defense, Esper, severs his misguided adherence to a chain of command that includes a commander in chief grotesquely void of any ideals remotely associated with what the military stands for; then and only then, will the desecration of our country, and the honorable men and women who serve it cease.
The title of this well written piece does beg a question:
Just what, if any, values does Trump share?
3
Adultery in the military is a crime and cause for dismissal. Trump is a serial adulterer and when I see how he treats the military as his personal servants I am disgusted beyond words. Here is a man who refused to serve and who knows nothing of the sacrifices of war and is detrimental to good order and discipline of our military. This is a sorry attempt by Trump to try amd make amends for his lack of fitness as Commander-in-Chief. He has failed miserably and is now directing the money PACs to "move on". Americans should not forget. Vote out the GOP!
3
Trump is testing who in the military might support his martial law order if he loses the election, and who might oppose him.
3
Trump is so obviously unfit for the duty of Commander-in-chief. Just another critical reason that Trump must be defeated in 2020.
3
I simply cannot believe this man is president of the United States.
3
Our country looked upon ISIS beheading videos with abhorrence and yet trump and his supporters condone similar behavior in our own troopers. What type of message indeed is this sending to our military, citizens and the world?
3
The president is Commander in Chief of the military. The military is there to preserve, protect and defend America.
Obama changed the rules if engagement. This destroyed morale and got our service people killed. Lawyers in D.C. cannot run our wars.
The military is not a social experiment. Obama ran it like a progressive social experiment. Trump had reversed that trend.
In record time, under Trump, ISIS lost their physical caliphate. Under Obama, ISIS thrived and took territory.
The military is much better off and prefers this president than the previous one. When you ask the military to fight, they have to be prepared to fight and win. And win quickly. Trump is an admirer of American generals Patton and Sherman.
It’s immoral to fight these unending wars in the Middle East. If you are going to fight, you must fight, win then rebuild.
1
" It will do grievous damage to our armed services if they become so." He is doing grievous harm to the entire nation.
1
Court martials are appealed into the federal courts, not to the President.
1
It doesn't matter who, and it doesn't matter where or under what conditions - when a person finds that he or she has begun to find or claim to find pleasure in killing, it's time to seek help.
1
I would not want to be on the front lines with a cold blooded killer like Gallagher who Trump pardoned. I would not trust him to my right or in back of me. I am retired military why do 99percent of us have morals and don’t do the crimes he is charged with and then you get this type like Gallagher who should get a jail time and dishonorable with no benefits. America or the Republican Party sunk to another real low very sad.
3
Trump aspires to be the Zia-ul-Haq of the United States. Of course, unlike Zia, he has no military experience whatsoever. So Bill Barr has been briefing him on the benefits of imposing martial law.
1
"An American service member shared a photograph of himself with a corpse along with the message: 'I have got a cool story for you when I get back. I have got my knife skills on.' "
If Trump is so proud of the actions of that service member, he should invite him to the White House and have him tell us that cool knife skills story from the Oval Office. Trump can make it a photo opportunity of him pinning the trident pin back on. Blow the photo up poster size and let all Americans see what our commander-in-chief is so proud of, and what passes for "cool" among Navy SEALs.
2
@Mark That’s probably in the works.
There are no draft dodgers in the military. They cannot possibly share any values with Trump.
3
Trump is just reacting to Fox News and his base.
2
Good Lord, what will it take to give the Republicans in the Senate a backbone? What about Honor? Responsibility? Justice? Truth? I am a senior citizen. I am horrified at the daily desecration of our values by our malignant narcissist president.
3
Please do not use the words Trump and “values” in the same sentence. Trump has no values of any sort.
2
This was a demand from Fox News that Eddie Gallagher be restored his rank and trident. President Trump and “Real America” was jubilant. It may also be noted that Gallagher said on Fox News, "This is all about ego and retaliation, this has nothing to do with good order or discipline”. [He actually said this. You can look it up]
The Armed Forces are an extension of Fox News.
2
Sounds like Mr. Trump is getting desperate.
2
What are #45's "values"?
Please elucidate with examples.
2
Trump's values are criminal so he would feel kinship with another one.
3
So what’s new? And who is the ‘who’ or ‘what is the what’ that’s going to send the Trump era behind us? Voters.
1
While I of course agree that Trump's interference in this process of keeping soldiers disciplined and not acting like terrorists themselves is utterly wrong I still find the main thrust of the anti Trump madness here depressing, as the REAL reason for dismay is best summarized by the title of the article itself.
From my point of view as an OLDER Democrat the bigger problem is the neo 1950's GOP and neo McCarthyist values of the present DNC Clintonites in which the military is being used more to 'solve problems' (kill brown people) rather than diplomacy just as the problem I have with my old party is this pathetic quixotic and falsely moral attempt to unseat the present POTUS without winning the elections with a better candidate who represent the future not the 1990's!
Today once respected news organizations have reduced themselves to being a DNC FOX and end up playing smear games. (Everyone disagreeing with a hostile war policy is a 'Russian asset'??) Pushing conspiracy theories based on rumor and hearsay in which everything wrong in the world is Russia's fault!
Pushing the absurd idea that talking to an enemy makes you into that enemy as Tulsi Gabbard so rightly pointed out. People claiming the US POTUS 'should not meet with Turkey's president' when he is still an NATO ally. Becoming the 1950's GOP as the NYT editors seem to want will NOT work.
Your pathetic attempt to push impeachment will only achieve what happened last time. Another Trump administration. STOP IT!
1
If Trump think's that taking your picture with a dead human being is the right way to conduct war then we are in a lot of trouble.
Yes in combat death happens, but it should never be looked on as a trophy moment.
Our military need's to keep focused on doing their job of defending this country from all enemies foreign and domestic with honor, and not with their loyalty being bought by a draft dodger.
1
Unlike the rest of us, Trump has no values.
1
A most shameful act...by a most shameless thug, the current president. This will cause much harm to the military standing...and the wrong idea that any officer that commits a crime may, under Fox Noise's recommendation, may enjoy impunity. This is a slap in the face of the military authorities, whose role is to maintain discipline, integrity and honor within their ranks.
2
Did Trump, or his handlers, know this topic might distract us from the impeachment coverage? I wonder..
3
Just to be clear, we have two former Secretaries of the Navy who never server in the military commenting about Trump. Obviously Trump never served, but he was elected not appointed. The Secretary of the Navy is by law a civilian position, and the office holder has to be out of the Military for 5 years to take this position. The concept of "journalism" is dead.
Don’t look now, it’s bad -- Trump just shot our military's honor down on Fifth Avenue and got away with it.
3
Clearly the Trump administration is moving quickly to gut every facet of our government (including the military) of principled and moral leaders. The strategy is simple and obvious, Trump makes an atrocious decision, someone is forced to resign and then Trump appoints a temporary sycophant who doesn't mind caging children, destroying our environment, enriching Trump and his family through his office, enlisting the help of foreign help in our elections, advancing Putin's agenda, and celebrating war criminals at the expense of our nation's standing and the safety of our current service members all around the world. Obviously the list could go on and on and does at https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/atrocities-1-to-112
3
The real question is why Spencer did not believe that Esper would have his back?
2
Very simply, Trump doesn’t care and never will.
Rank and file military overwhelmingly support Trump.
This interference is not unprecedented. When Lt. William Calley was convicted of crimes for the massacre at My Lai Vietnam, president Nixon and governor jimmy carter as well as many others stepped in and interfered in his military trial.
1
Next thing you know, Trump is going to let everybody out of Leavenworth in exchange for their surrendering their vote to him. Just another quid pro quo. You Republicans should be real proud and can be forever more known as the party of low standards!
1
The man that our draft dodging president is supporting was convicted of posing with a dead teenage captive. If he would sink to this level, it is not hard to believe he committed other heinous acts, such as murder of an elderly civilian and a young girl. I suspect that this man is a coward who has watched too many Rambo movies. Those that support him are cowards as well. He should receive no benefits from his prior "service".
4
Just another reason why this odious playboy should not be president. A five time draft dodger has no business inflicting his “judgment” on the military.
2
What a shame that this even has to be said.
The problem with this POTUS is he persists in acting like the entire government - including the military - is at his beck and call, not appreciating that he, the government, and the military all act as representatives of we, the people.
This is what comes from sending someone to the White House who has spent years running a private club in Florida, where each time he entered a room, his butler would announce to everyone present "All rise", according to the NYTimes:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/16/us/politics/donald-trump-butler-mar-a-lago.html
The very idea that people would spend $100,000 on a membership, then pay annual dues to a club where the owner expects such fealty, is un-American.
1
The president appears to spend an awful amount of time watching TV and tweeting, campaigning and then interfering in the Army’s most menial affairs. I mean, how important is it for the nation that he pardons or not someone who posed for a photo? He should be impeached if only for wasting time while at work.
Does Trump have values?
1
Why don't these miscreants sink back into the Deep State from whence they came. The armed forces are an extension of the White House. The President is the Commander-in-Chief, period. Honor means you shut up and follow orders, not publicly promote insubordination.
When Trump turns his military on the majority of Americans who dont support his dictatorship....will we have any reason to be surprised?
Isn't he just lining up his military support so he can send out the tanks if he should lose the election?
1
Are the bloggers advocating a military coup of the presidency which was straight out of the movie Seven Days In May?
When Navy Seals go on TV and write books bragging about thie ' kills', criticizing their superiors and threatening their team members who don't support their unlawful behavior, it is time to disband the SEALS and form a different elite group.
2
Thank you to the authors of this piece.
My understanding is that this Navy Seal was turned in by his own men which is unheard of, for alleged crimes including firing on, and hitting, a young unarmed girl. Can anyone defend such an action anywhere on earth? Yet the POTUS is doing just that.
Meanwhile said POTUS is vilifying Lt. Col Vindman for being a truthteller and a war hero with deep values, actively serving the public good.
All this from a draft dodger suddenly getting real tough sitting in a room watching tv. Fox News of course. Only we voters can put a stop to this complete moral bankruptcy.
3
Psychology 101. Trump never served (too mild?), and find's himself the Commander-In-Chief. Yearns for the respect of the military, especially the real guys like the SEALS. Thinks this is how you do it, by pardoning their crimes...and unlimited budget increases.
2
Wait! Somebody thinks trump has values?
1
Unfortunately, anytime this President bestows a medal on a member of the military in the future, people will look at the event and wonder whether the recipient earned it valiantly or dishonorably. This President in Chief is a disgrace to the nation.
2
I think the issue goes even further--and hopefully Congress will support the Navy to clean house. If I have the facts correct: Navy Seal Gallagher stabbed a defenseless 12-year captive to death, picked off a school-age girl and an old man from a sniper’s roost, and indiscriminately sprayed neighborhoods with rockets and machine-gun fire.
"Navy SEAL commandos from Team 7’s Alpha Platoon said they had seen their highly decorated platoon chief commit shocking acts in Iraq. And they had spoken up, repeatedly, but got no sign of official action....Instead of launching an investigation, the troop was warned that speaking out could cost them and others their careers." What did the Navy forgive the majority of charges against Gallagher? Where did the story that Spencer (who had the courage to speak out) come from--that he sought a back channel with the WH? The facts about this story seemed scrambled and sadly the prestige of the Seals and the Navy have been stained in the process.
Paraphrasing the NY Times' investigation coverage:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/us/navy-seals-crimes-of-war.html
1
Can you imagine Trump playing with real bombs. Oops, didn't know it would go off.
"Good order and discipline" were never a part of Donald Trump's own business life (thousands of lawsuits, business failures, unpaid loans and bankruptcies) or personal life (three marriages, serial cheating on all of his wives, five children by three women). His entire value system is based on the notion of blind loyalty by everyone to one man--him.
Donald Trump's entire life has been a rejection of the culture and values of the military. Pardoning a guy who also rejected them, and then overruling the Navy Secretary and reinstating him, is entirely consistent with Trump's view of the world. He sees Gallagher like he fancies himself: a Rambo-like warrior fighting the deep state of pencil pushers and their silly rules.
Ironic how a draft dodger with a spray tan, rather than a violent, murderous force like the Taliban or ISIS, may truly be the worst enemy of the Navy Seals.
4
This President has debased the FBI, debased the Free Press, debased the entire intelligence community, debased the Congress and finally got around to debasing the military. What’s left?
1
Trump is the commander in chief.
presidents all the time go against their military leaders suggestions, including Truman for not following MacArthur to nuke China, Clinton, not following his military leaders when it came to taking out bin laden and instead launched a few missiles in Sudan and Bush 41 not advancing on Baghdad. And Obama releasing the traitor Manning, convicted of treason.
I’m also a Navy vet and support trump on this one.
I hear and see a whole lot of military officers on the NY Times pages and in the commentariat. Every other article is some retired officer outraged about Trump's actions.
That's fine.
Is anyone curious about the enlisted? The soldiers? The ones risking their lives and following orders with boots on the ground? Anyone wanna take a guess who they support?
Don't take my word for it NY Times. Go do some investigative reporting of your own. Now THAT'S an article worth reading.
1
@John Brown: According to the last poll (October 2018) taken by Military Times:
"Enlisted service members trend in the opposite direction. More have a positive opinion of the president (about 45 percent) than a negative view (about 41 percent), but those numbers are down from a 49 percent favorable, 34 percent unfavorable split two years ago."
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2018/10/15/support-for-trump-is-fading-among-active-duty-troops-new-poll-shows/
In other words, as of one year ago, enlisted troops were about evenly split in their opinion of Trump. In the last year with Trump's treatment of General Mattis--- a highly respected leader--- and the dishonorable and chaotic withdrawal from Syria, it's not likely Trump's favorability has improved.
And, you're right, his approval among the Officer Corps is lower.
1
Trump and anyone decent do not share the same set of values.
It appears they do.
Trump has no values.
Given the long and sordid history of US military excesses, war crimes and cover-ups - including those during the HW Bush administration - it seems that the real difference hinges on the importance of public relations, not core values. Trump fails in both areas, while the US military has become an expert in promoting it's false narrative.
1
Given the long and sordid history of US military excesses, war crimes and cover-ups - including those during the HW Bush administration - it seems that the real difference hinges on the importance of public relations, not core values. Trump fails in both areas, while the US military has become an expert in promoting it's false narrative.
2
Trump's actions with regard to the military, in this case the Navy, is more of the same as his declaration "I can shoot anyone on 5th Avenue and not get arrested."
Trump is showing the people all around him - and in particular, the military - and the American public...that he has the power to do anything he wants.
The critical factor is whether or not we believe him...or stop him.
Our belief about Trump’s power…has enormous power in and of itself.
So far, he is winning the belief game; thus far no one is stopping him. A whole nation is subjugating reality.
These are the components of both narcissism and fascism. The "enemy" is hiding in plain sight.
God bless Spencer for having the courage - and the humility - to speak up and be willing to walk away.
4
"Our president should aspire to the same view. His values are not those of our military."
Trump's values are not those of AMERICA.
6
Such legitimacy as a serving military member has is embedded in the codes of conduct as much a part of the uniform as the rockers, tabs and other insignia attached to it.
Throughout history you can call it chivalry, bushido or the Uniform Code of Military Justice but it must be as surely maintained as the rifle or the katana carried by the warrior.
Deprived of an immutable code of conduct, an army ceases to be the tangible expression of the authority of a country and becomes a horde of marauders. There is no banner carrying the imprimatur of the government such as the SPQR carried before the Roman legions.
Without explicit authority, the lictor's fasces does not bring implicit magisterial credibility. It is merely a bunch of sticks and an axe.
With a single tweet our current president has sought to claim the mantle for himself but only served to diminish both the military and himself (again).
5
There is also a broader problem here. In the olden days (I write this advisedly) pardons were usually issued after the Department of Justice conducted a review and determined that the candidate was worthy of a pardon. Two criteria were an obvious, egregious miscarriage of justice and a genuine expression of regret and taking responsibility for the crime. (I recognize this ideal was not always upheld, as in the case of Clinton's last-minute pardon of Mark Rich).
Trump wields pardons for purely political or personal ends. He pardoned Joe Arpaio to feed his base, even though Arpaio showed no remorse and had grossed abused his power as a law-enforcement officer. These latest pardons are of a piece with Arpaio's; the recipients showed no remorse, there was no miscarriage of justice. Gallagher has boasted of his crimes on national TV, as did Arpaio. He'll probably run for Congress next year.
8
This is a sad chapter for the Navy. The number of other SEALs who recently lost their Trident indicates that the Pentagon has over subscribed to the use of these units since 9/11. It is hard to maintain the quality of elite units that are, based on the growth, no longer quite so elite and clearly not properly supervised. SEALs in media and culture has exploded, everyone shot Bin Ladin, drug problems, etc. The problems were predictable. Trump is out of line like a drunken sailor, but the USN needs to take a hard look at how many SEALs we need, teach the virtue of humility for those we keep and get help for the ones we don’t need.
5
I simply wanted to thank you both. It takes courage to speak truth to power. It is something that, while obvious, feels more and more rare.
10
These are not abstract principles. In an existential war, military leaders have the difficult task of ensuring discipline in the ranks when victory is achieved. The troops, after all, have been fighting the enemy as if their lives depended on victory. A vivid recollection from a German professor in the early 70s was his tales of how millions of Germans fled the approaching Soviet armies as World War II was nearing the end, into the embrace of American forces. The Soviet troops were known for vicious acts against civilians, perhaps as retribution for what their country had suffered at the hands of German troops. The Americans were known for military discipline. The prevailing belief was orders from the top commanded that any American soldier caught stealing from, raping, or gratuitously killing civilians would be executed. American military leaders had planned for peace. What becomes of discipline in the ranks when a President Bone Spurs overrules the judgement of military courts in matters like these?
10
@Michael Cooke
All of these " reply letters " should be read by every
American. Particularly your excellent letter Mr. Cooke.
Thank you.
1
The military has just shown itself to be OK with offshore war crimes as long as Trump (his base actually) is. It's difficult to imagine it less submissive about domestic crimes. That's pretty scary. and all the lip service and posturing about military values doesn't change anything.
6
Of course the President should not ask the military to violate its basic purposes and values. But the problem is this: since we don't want the military to be uncontrolled by the people, how do we decide when the government should and should not tell the military what to do?
1
The world simply does not need the American military, whose never ending interventions violate international law. The United Nations was created to find diplomatic solutions to international conflicts. For example, if the United States had refrained from going to war against Iraq, which is what the United Nations advocated, there simply would not be any ISIS. The American people have to realize that the only people who benefit from the American military are the billionaire capitalists who invest their money in the arms industry. American imperialism is coming to an end.
8
@Robert Dole Wow, just wow. My personal opinion is that the military follows the direction of the president and Congress. Saddam Hussein felt emboldened to do what he did because at the time Reagan/Bush had given him free reigns to go into Iran and be a strongman, imagine his surprise when he entered Kuwait and we cared enough to go to war with him. Again it wasn't the military, it was the elected officials. There wouldn't have been a strong Taliban and it's offshoot ISIS if elected officials wouldn't have sent the Taliban money to help them in Afghanistan. The enemy of my enemy is my friend policy doesn't work as intended. Don't blame the military, they follow orders, that they are questioning Trump is a very troubling sign right now.
4
@Robert Dole
"the American military, whose never ending interventions violate international law." -- Inferring from the specific example that this refers primarily to Bush's 2003 "coalition of the willing," it's critical to remember that that was not a decision of "the American military," but of a rogue cowboy who presumed to take upon himself authority to enforce UNSC Resolutions.
"[The] American military" had nothing to do with that.
2
While I concur with the thrust of the article, the authors should note that the Commander in Chief's actions have had and will have little impact in the day to day administration of UCMJ. For non-judicial punishment and courts martial, the crimes and cases now and in the future will move forward with the same deliberation and due process as before the Gallagher debacle. Which is to say that the military will continue to police its own and to take rank, pay, careers, and freedom from servicemen and women who engage in activity that does not meet the high standards of good order and discipline. Trump is an elected official who does not have to adhere to these strictures, and who is well within his purview to obviate sentences or grant clemency in cases where he sees fit. When Chelsea Manning's sentence was set aside, most of these same arguments were trotted out and the answer was the same then, too.
This is a very big story, the fact that top military officials are speaking out against the president is a very big warning sign. They don't do this, ever. The elections can't get here fast enough...
19
I honestly don't think trump gave this all that much thought before jumping into action. If trump was honestly concerned about conduct in the Navy he would be pardoning many more than just this guy. He picked this guy because of his looks and how the story would play out...and he can get him on fox news hawking his wares from now until November...it's all about the ratings and his vainglory.
7
Does this episode foretell how this individual may manipulate the military upon a Senate conviction? Could that possibility lie at the heart of those unwilling to convict?
1
As a junior officer (Ltjg) in the Navy, I was assigned to a disciplinary hearing of a sailor who had been caught with a stash of marijuana. There were 2 other officers on the panel, a Lieutenant, and a Lieutenant Commander (the senior officer). The sailor accused was represented by a JAG lawyer. Before the hearing even started, the Lt. Commander expressed his opinion that the sailor was guilty as sin and this hearing was a waste of time. The JAG lawyer quickly called for dismissal of the charges because his client could not get a fair trial. Just like that, the charges were dropped. As it turned out, the sailor had unwittingly bought a stash of alfalfa.
Trump is that Lt. Commander, rendering judgement without knowledge of the facts. We're in trouble folks. We can't wait til next November. Trump must be removed from office. Even Pence would be a vast improvement.
14
Think about how we would feel if there were a picture of a US Navy Seal dead on the ground and a fighter from Daesh standing over him with a caption about a cool story.
Our enemies are still human beings with mothers and fathers and probably sisters and brothers and cousins who will want revenge, not only because their loved one is dead but also because he has been disrespected in death.
The world is watching. History is watching. Gallagher is NOT an honorable human being no matter what Trump and the Trump cult say.
17
@Valerie Elverton Dixon
That "what if" is so spot on to this discussion. A picture like that would have every bloodthirsty young yahoo trying to enlist so as to get some payback. And just imagine what they would do once in theater of combat to the enemy and civilians alike?
2
Trump may not share the same values as the military, but he can tell you for sure how to evade military service by fabricating bone spurs.
Respectfully, he is the last guy in our country who should be telling anyone, anything about any military service.
15
"The armed forces are not an extension of the White House."
They're not?
Then why is the president referred to as Commander-in-Chief?
The military, and the use thereof, is an absolute extension of presidential power. And that is what Congress has allowed it to become.
Don't like it? Blame Congress.
1
@Raven
War Powers Act?
1
The article states in part, "All officials, and most of all presidents, should respect senior officers, the judgment of peers and the values articulated in training." This becomes a circuitous argument. The Constitution makes the President the Commander in Chief of our country's military, not senior officers of the military. More important, respecting senior officers does not require that the President blindly follow their wishes The President has the ability to consider issues far beyond what we would want our senior officers to decide.
When I was a young man I served six years guarding Nuclear weapons for the Air Force. We were 18 and 19 year olds led by 22 year old Sergeants. All of us were heavily armed and left alone days on end with these weapons. One of the major factors that kept us in line was the Uniform code of Military Justice. Can you imagine if discipline is thrown to the wind what the potential for catastrophe is within the Military. Trump and his administration are a clear danger to to U.S. National Security.
29
If C.P.O. Edward R Gallagher was a member of my company, I would frankly tell him to find a new home. He threaten to murder members of his own team if they reported his crimes. Now he is appearing on Fox news and disparaging his superior ranking officers. This man is a detriment to team morale, discipline and the authority of the commander. Also, he would be a hazard to himself and his entire team not to mention the overall mission. I doubt he would be welcomed in any Special Operations organization in any branch of the military.
And if my battalion commander, my group commander, the Secretary of Defense or even the President of the United States were to countermand my order, I would tell them to find a new company commander.
The Law of Land Warfare as specified in DoD manual 27-161-2 is not some quaint idea or an erudite talking point. The rule of law is as vital to combat readiness as modern weapons and proper training. When the U.S. Armed Forces go lawless, we lose.
45
It seems to me that Trump's actions regarding the three individuals accused of war crimes is emblematic of his essential flaws:
Omnipresent racism. The victims weren't really human beings so how could their deaths be considered murder?
Unbridled power. There are no limits on what the President can chose to do or say irrespective of any other consideration.
16
Trump likes to mess with people particularly when it involves violent acts that are being mitigated judicially where he can reverse and endorse the violence.
If you listen carefully to his comments at rallies about violence you will hear him encourage people to act out violently.
The easy explanation is that of a passive aggressive personality overcompensating for his inadequacies by verbally or physically attack an opponent.
Trump is not the most unstable president we’ve had, witness Nixon or Lyndon Johnson, but he’s the most dangerous.
7
Everything he involves himself in becomes corrupted. Trump could not even ethically run a personal charity. Our proud military must resist any and all efforts by this raging narcissist to bring lasting degradation to America’s armed forces. Is there any genuine dispute that he would love to bend those forces to his every whim for mere personal aggrandizement? Give this reprobate an “inch” and he will try to take a “mile”, Generals and Admirals.
8
"Trump and the Military Do Not Share the Same Values."
Indeed.
As demonstrated recently, Trump and career foreign service professionals do not share the same values.
Trump and Republican apostates, including many of the best conservative columnists, do not share the same values.
Trump and people who do more than pay lip service to the Judeo-Christian tradition do not share the same values.
Trump and people who respect the Constitution do not share the same values.
Trump and people who are not racist misogynists do not share the same values.
Trump and decent human beings do not share the same values, because Trump values only Trump.
23
The military values are based on honor; Trump’s values are based on expediency, greed, self aggrandizement, greed and more greed. No wonder Michael Bloomberg is working to trip the democratic candidates.
5
Thanks to these former military men for speaking out. Now we need to hear also from the past presidents. Carter, Clinton, Bush and Obama where are your voices? Speak out against this dishonorable president.
11
The man we have chosen to lead the country has advocated "going after the families" of terrorists. He has made if evident that thinks our armed forces should not be a disciplined service adhering to the rules of war, but instead it should be a bunch of thugs on a killing rampage.
His lack of honor dishonors our soldiers and all of us. To support him is to condone murder. If our Senators choose to keep him on the job, it is up to us to get rid of him in 2020.
13
Fox “news” seems to be running this country more than president bone spurs and brainwashing swaths of the American public, including our military. The giveaway is when I hear people parroting fox talking points. Propaganda works.
10
It was already grotesque that Trump threw himself a military parade, but now it is insulting. Trump neither respects nor identifies with any of the military. He is so out of control that even John Kelly could not impose military discipline on Trump. Then there was Trump’s snide remark that Jim Mattis was the most overrated General, ever.
Trump wants the prestige and pageantry of our armed forces, but will do nothing to earn either. And he’s doing something even worse than exploiting the military; he is stepping out of his lane and undermining a military justice system and chain of command, which he has no business manipulating.
8
To adapt a quote from Primo Levi to Trump's Republicans:
"This is Trump's message to us. We have destroyed your institutions, undermined your traditions, looted your Treasury, maligned the nation's reputation, committed crimes against children. Yet we also seek, ultimately, to destroy your souls, as we have destroyed ours."
8
Thank you, gentlemen, for speaking up. Yours are the voices of conscience we need desperately in these alarming times with an out-of-control executive run by a mad boy-king whom few else dare oppose.
7
With Thanksgiving almost here, I am thankful that we have a few ethical people like Richard Spencer, still around.
8
Is this the same president who pillaged his Military Charity of funds that were donated to benefit veterans?
14
Is there one issue in this entire world that this president doesn’t believe is his business?
He can’t think straight enough to stay out of a situation that has nothing to do with him, including this latest Armed
Services disaster.
His ego and narcissism have him believing his opinion on any situation is of some import.
I long for the days when we went for weeks at a time not hearing from the president.
Trump only cares about two things; himself and a vote, which he panders for at any opportunity.
Let this nightmare end.
7
Bone spur flare-ups are obviously affecting his judgement.
6
Donald Trump is an entirely “value-free” president, supported by an entirely value-free GOP Congress. However, one thing is clear- the plutocrats like the Mercers, Singers, Kochs, Adelsons et al. and other shadowy foreign interests who gave generously of their time and fortunes to elect this president, have more than gotten “value for money.”
7
Everything in America is an extension of this White House. People need to know that, and either accept it or get Trump out of office.
1
Thank you for your truly bipartisan take, Messrs. Danzig and O'Keefe. You, unlike the president, have a clear view of the rule of law as it applies to the military. Yes, the president is the commander-in-chief by law, but if the CinC is either ignorant of or just disregards the canons of military law and justice, the president is a failure as a commander, and if he goes far enough afield, his commands are unlawful and not to be obeyed.
If you believe that the impeachment hearings are a crisis for our nation, think of what would happen were this president to issue unlawful orders to our military. And each day that gets closer and closer to being possible.
4
Our president is values-challenged. Discipline and self-control are strangers to him. Inappropriate is his middle name. Rules apply to others, never to Mr. Trump. Would that his military school had instilled in him an appreciation of the soldier's code of behavior. They obviously failed him.
For Americans to look to Mr. Trump for moral leadership is a sad joke. For Republicans to nominate another term for a man so obviously incapable of leading our nation is unfortunate.
5
I'm starting to think President Trump may be a bit out of control.
1
Well, when I came back from the First Gulf War, we were in the Reserve Center outprocessing. One of the Marines in my unit was showing his buddies a hard copy (this was 1991) photograph of him posing with a dead enemy combatant. I remember where the photograph was taken because I had seen that very body and it struck me then how defenseless my former enemy was in death. I looked at him and said “Do you really want your children or grandchildren to find that some day?” War is terrible enough.
256
@Lightning14 Sorry, but I have to ask...
Is taking pics with dead soldiers a somewhat common occurance?
4
Truman fired MacArthur because MacArthur publicly intruded on the decisions that were Truman's to make. Trump fired Spencer because Trump publicly intruded on the decisions that were Spencer's and the Navy's to make. Cadet Bone Spurs knows nothing abut military discipline, honor, or sacrifice. Trump is unqualified to be a petty officer, much less to presume to judge one.
10
The president doesn't need to be a veteran to properly understand and support the principles the armed forces require to serve our nation. Basic decency and respect for the rule of law has always been more than enough. Which obviously explains how we got to be here today.
Ugh.
5
The next President should make sure that the three men whom Trump pardoned end up standing trial in front of a War Crimes Tribunal. Or, better yet, extradite these guys back to the countries where they committed their war crimes. Let their slick attorneys and cynical defenders try to work their influence there.
2
Looking from abroad it seems to me that Americans need to rethink their constitution and so called balance of powers in many fundamental respects. It was after all established when the US upheld slavery and the subordination of women. It established a politicised Supreme Court and judiciary. It was amended to allow the armed suppression of slave revolts and it made your president head of the armed forces and therefore able to use its power at whim, even to interfer in military discipline. Furthermore, it is clear that using an electoral college to elect a president is deeply undemocratic. Finally, it seems to me - central to the support of military adventures abroad, and indeed the entire cult of US militarism, that the foreign commitment of troops should be a matter of Congressional approval and oversight. On all these matters - from the power of the gun manufacturers to US behaviour in the mid-east - indicates the importance of a thorough review - rather than to a harking back to 'founding fathers', many of which, like the slave owner Jefferson, were world-class hypocrites.
8
Our system worked pretty well until recently...We used to take a lot of pride in the whole darn thing...We never imagined a President who wouldn’t give a damn about the whole darn thing...
I'm horrified that this piece even had to be written. At least people with status in national security are standing up and calling out this nonsense administration. I will give thanks for this opinion as part of Thanksgiving.
5
Actually, nobody shares the same values as Donald Trump----His only discernible values are self-enrichment and self-promotion, at the expense of every other human being or institution.
9
You can be certain that this former marine shares NOTHING in common with Trump. It's time other former and active military stop resigning and start speaking truth to the inept narcissist whose handing America over to the Russians.
It's one thing to respect the office, but when a criminal takes control of that office, your duty as a service man or women is the country, not some cheap grifter.
I hoped Mueller would have done so. Ditto for Kelly and Mattis. Our country has been corrupted by criminals. Act accordingly, act exactly as you would if a criminal invaded your home, where your family lives.
You swore an oath. Live up to it. When asked to resign, don't publish some milquetoast letter. Instead, ask CNN for air time and tell the American public of the madness that's taken over OUR country.
14
From my 9th grader’s Army JROTC handbook, on the lesson of Leadership from the Inside Out - Army Values:
Loyalty - to bear true faith and allegiance to the US Constitution...your peers
Duty - to fulfill your obligations
Respect - to treat people as they should be treated
Selfless service - to put the welfare of the nation...before your own
Honor - to live up to all of these values
Integrity - to do what is right, legally and morally
Personal courage - to face fear, danger or adversity
In the US armed services these lessons have been taught in word and deed for generations. It may be nigh on impossible to observe these values in our current CinC. But a few years of his poor example will not put a dent in these values. The words and deeds of Sec’ys O’Keefe and Danzig, Lt Col Vindman, and others demonstrate that.
4
Trump should be rebuked in no uncertain terms.
1
Donald Trump as our President has divided our nation by tweets. Now, he has corrupted the military descipline and order by overturning Navy Seal 's judgement and decison on Gallagher's war crime. America is admired by the world for its highly disciplined soldiers and officers, that there is always justice and punishment when and if there is violation of military codes in their fighting men's behavior towards noncombatants, civilians. By pardoning Gallagher, Trump has put our nation on par with other nations that had commited war crimes, e.g. Serbia.
Trump's dirty hands have weakened America in so many ways. Impeach Trump now!
4
If we take hypocrisy out of the equation and members of the armed forces uphold their mandate to serve with honor, each and every service man and woman would be in diametric opposition to everything Trump. The man simply has NO honor and doesn't give a whit about anything that doesn't reflect back at him when he looks into a mirror in one of his hotels that are a tacky as they are gaudy.
2
Under the radar of impeachment proceedings and all the other daily occurrences of presidential lies and malfeasance, THIS story is the one that chills me to the bone and makes me afraid in my home, waiting for the Brown Shirts to come. Just how many alarm bells and flashing warning lights does the Congress, Senate, cabinet and Supreme Court need before they realize just how close Trump is bringing us to martial law and utter chaos? In my mind this exceedingly dangerous presidential intrusion into the military is the most ominous. SENATORS, TAKE HEED.
8
As a Navy veteran, I take umbrage to a President - who avoided service during a time of war by falsely claiming a medical malady - now attempting to establish his military chops by undermining the very armed forces he failed to serve. The reprehensible actions taken by this convicted SEAL were brought to light by several of his fellow SEAL team members who believed his actions were a violation of their sworn duty and honor code. For President Trump to now signal that proudly taking photos with the corpses of dead enemies is somehow alright and befitting of pardon opens a pandora's box which may lead to even worse conduct by some of our less-disciplined military members. The overwhelming number of our brave, honorable and heroic service members deserve so much more than having a pandering, self-serving narcissistic as their Commander in Chief. Have you no shame Sir?
509
@logic Sadly, too many veterans, attracted to his extreme views on social and racial issues, support the man, as is evident from the clips of his campaign and 'rallies'! In addition to demonstrating g their hypocrisy, their support has turned off people like me who always included veteran support charities on my list of charitable giving!
24
@logic Thank you!
14
@logic Sadly you already know the answer to your question.
10
The military is not an extension of the Trump White House!
The US government is not an extension of the Trump White House!
The US Courts are not an extension of the Trump White House!
The country is not an extension of the Trump White House - or of Trump’s personal universe.
Trump is NOT a king! We have no secular king, but our Constitution!
We are no longer a viable country: we are taken over by a cult. When will Trump supporters finally say that the way Trump alters or corrupts the law, the norms, and the decency of this country - every single day - is too much!
It’s painfully obvious that ONLY TWO PEOPLE benefit in some way from every single thing Trump has done since he announced his candidacy for President:
1) Trump.
2) Putin
Everything Trump does that alters us, corrupts us, debases us, degrades our norms, or violates our dignity, benefits Putin’s agenda to isolate and disempower the US - from our partners, our allies... and ourselves.
Enough!
2
Few warfighters (the recent government preferred term for those serving in uniform) condone war crimes, whether pre meditated or in the heat of the moment. I suspect the only Trump followers who have served and agree with his decision are those who also share his sociopathy.
7
Thank the nonexistent gods that Trump and the military are not on the same plane. The Pentagon never saw a war it didn't want to go at, every officer in the military is looking for a promotion and they come in a war faster than any other situation.
Since we have made the huge national double mistake of not only no longer using Congress to declare war and not using a draft that spreads the pain, our enlistee military, filled by Madison Avenue pleas to be all you can be, have gifted any US President a Praetorian guard that they can use just about as willfully as they wish. The media support this disaster via knee-jerk commercial-quality patriotism lionizing all soldiers as something more American than the worker who trudges out at 5:45 am to a hard all day job. The current state of affairs, whereby America blows hundreds of $billions on warfare nobody can explain as useful to the society is unethical and immoral.
The worst thing for a rich nation is uncriticized military adventures without a draft to stimulate the public to forcefully consider stopping military adventures. It waists the nation's resources and decays it's moral fiber while making financiers and the arms industry rich.
1
A President with no courage and no morality is contaminating our country and our military. This is a dangerous time for our country. The military is respected because it follows laws and regulations. Place this at risk, you place at risk one of the cornerstone of our freedom.
929
@jeff How many cornerstones are now left?
11
@jeff
Our justice department used to be respected before Trump. Now he is undermining the military in the same way. He has already installed his sycophant defense secretary. He is on his way to a takeover coup, with ignorant Republicans backing him all the way.
31
@wcdevins Not ignorant. Malevolent.
11
As a retired senior officer I served on Non-Judicial Punishment (NJP) panels and a few Courts-Martial in my career. It’s a unique process: you get pulled into it as a duty, not because you want to; you can’t be a supervisor of the accused, but the intent is to have officers who are in your line of work, who know your responsibilities and the nuances of your job, sit in judgement. Mitigating circumstances are freely allowed, even if they are not directly relevant. I like to think the result was actually more fair to all then our current civilian system. The numbers, when I was in, bear me out: defendants got off more often and with lesser punishment as a rule than those in the maw of the civilian courts.
Which brings me to these cases. The verdicts were delivered by fellow professionals. The results were overturned by a man who avoided military service like it was an STD. You think I won’t remember?
1322
@Mjxs
You may remember, but the rest of the military, the boots on the ground, seems to like Trump.
Explain that.
41
@N That's easy. Trump just gave license to the "boots on the ground" that he has their backs if they violate regulations.
64
@N Why is it difficult to understand that those in charge know more about the bigger picture than the enlisted men who will never rise above corporal. Trumps entire appeal, other than to the super wealthy, is built on simplified prejudice.
83
@Sandra J. Amodio No, we do not want our children to be sent to war, but if they join the military, they do so today knowing that our military is fighting and dying as we speak, in many areas around the world.
But soldiers enter a contract, or as this president might put it, there is a quid pro quo. The Soldier offers us his life to protect the values that define our American Democracy, and we in return vow to protect his honor, instilled and enforced by those who have risen through the ranks to leadership, so that they know they can hold their heads high, and be worthy of the thanks we give them when they return.
I would not want my son or daughter's actions in war to be judged by anyone other than those who also have taken on that Quid, who have "been there and done that", under rules of engagement that every soldier is taught. The Quo is paid everytime a Court Martial is held, and painful as it may be to see otherwise courageous and even heroic soldiers suffer demotion or discharge from the results, it is all that a true patriot can ask for, a jury of his peers.
To think a man with the character of Donald Trump would have any influence in that most solemn duty sickens me. A Coward, A Liar, and Cheat: if he pardoned me, I could only conclude that I must be a terrible person and guilty as charged, otherwise why would he be interested in me?
Cadet Bone Spurs shows his massive ignorance once again.
7
The military follows the orders of the Commander in Chief. Congress declares war.
Simply follow the Constitution and stop these rumblings of a coup d'état. The generals do not decide who gets to be President of the USA.
3
@CL
The pattern is clear by now. Career bureaucrats don't like what President Trump does. They complain bitterly. The Times and others in the media give them a forum because the media needs a constant supply of anti-Trump material for its ratings.
2
@CL
What coup d’etat?!
Good grief...
@AACNY
People don't like what Trump does because his policies (if they can be called such) are ill-conceived and counter to US interests; he is completely self-serving; lies incessantly; lacks self-reflection; is demeaning and disrespectful; has broken his oath of office; and seeks to amplify anything negative to sow discord and division, as well as attempt to elevate his own fragile psyche and distract from his failure as a president.
The career bureaucrats are true patriots who have a deep devotion to this nation, qualities this president lacks as well as can't comprehend.
The only thing he succeeds in being is Russia's useful idiot.
1
45's meddling in the military felt more like a kick in the head than almost anything else he's done. Coming from a family with srong ties to military,law enforcement and the intelligence community, this was one line I never could have imagined he would.cross.
6
This reflects two things: Trump's politicization of everything and his own lack of having ever served.
8
The title of this Op-Ed is only correct if the military pushes back. If the military rolls over and lets Gallagher retire with his Trident then yes, Trump and the military do share the same values.
4
It makes you wonder...is Trump trying to set up a "palace guard" to help him stay on should he loose the election? Surrounding oneself by court-martialed - i e. criminal- military members who owe you one sounds like a good place to start. Getting rid of (and by extention intimidating others who might have been inclined to do the same) commanding officers who have the courage to demand the rule of law over an autocrat is another.
8
Yeah, go ahead and anger the people most likely to be able to successfully pull off a military coup should the world come to that particular drastic measure. Sounds like a plan.
1
Of course Trump and the Military do not share the same Values. Trump has no Values. Yes, as Commander-in-Chief Trump has the ultimate authority over the Military but since he has never served in the Military he should let the experts (High ranking Military Officers) interpret what is and is not proper Military discipline,
5
@Stephen Chamberlin
Brilliantly stated. This is the best summary of the story that I have read, and it is a sickening situation. Trump is like a piggish little child playing with tonka tanks and crashing his trains. We need dignity and adult supervision STAT.
5
Trump wants to throw away everything the US has come to stand for. Not only does he want to be a dictator--or come as close as possible--but he wants to throw out US values and push the military into committing atrocities. He has said troops at the border should gun down migrants. Intervening in the case of someone accused of war crimes is consistent with that.
7
Order--Discipline---Trump has absolutely no concept of what these terms mean.
7
"Wise presidents let those who have made the sacrifices of combat — and who depend upon one another in combat — state first what they conclude."
As well they should. Their lives depend on it--the trust, the unity, the common purpose. They're the only ones that know the conditions on the ground, and well as the values they were trained in.
Of course, our president doesn't have values, just knee-jerk instincts, and self-interested prejudices. He also has more of a comic version of what the military does.
What they don't do is gloat; take selfies with corpses; or threaten to kill members of his unit who reported on his behavior.
When a soldier or seal goes "rogue" it's a huge cause for concern because if the psychic damage it can have on those who are forced to watch a rule abuser.
Which is likely why this case appealed to Donald Trump. He identifies with others who defy authority and think they should all get a free pass for being rough.
The fact that playing rough will weaken our military never occurs to the man whose Dad made sure he paid off doctors to keep him out of the draft.
7
Donald Trump not only does not share the same values as the U.S. military, he does not share the values embodied in the Constitution of The United States.
8
Stop trying to whitewash the authoritarianism of the services. The military is a solid block of Trumpism.
3
Trump would lose votes from his disorderly, undisciplined base if he displayed good order and discipline. Bad is good to Trump if it gets him votes. Thus bad becomes good to FOX and its viewers. There are no absolute values in the Trump administration other than enriching the president and his family.
3
[Trump's] "values are not those of our military."
To assume that Trump has "values" like ordinary people is a misunderstanding. To be fair, it's difficult for fundamentally decent people, like the authors, to cope effectively with a sociopathic personality. To assume that Trump has any values, honor, or common decency puts you at a disadvantage, because there's nothing of the sort that might constrain him.
PS - if Trump should ever order a first-strike nuclear attack on anyone, hopefully someone like Richard Spencer will be in the loop to prevent catastrophe.
6
We have met the enemy, and he is the stable genius along with his cohorts.
6
How can a certified coward "share the same values" as the military?
How can a certified bully share those values?
How can a braggart possess the self-discipline necessary to perform under fire?
How can a totally selfish person work as part of a team?
I did my own two years of military service, and I conclude that maybe the excuse of bone spurs was a good thing, insofar as it prevented Trump from placing other military personnel in harm's way. He would have fled under fire, then claimed he had been a hero.
5
This is much more serious than a lack of "shared values." Trump is now a dictator. We're not "almost" to a dictatorship. We're not living in a country that has some "similarities" to one. We are here. Now.
One man rules unopposed. He has shown that he may use "his military" (as he himself as called them) as his own personal army. He may dispense with the highest officers, unopposed, when they won't do his bidding. Combine this absolute rule over the military with his iron grip on the Senate. Because his base loves every unlawful action he takes, he can command total fealty from Senate Republicans.
And then there's the Supreme Court. Five justices have already kowtowed to him with his Muslim ban, and with his ridiculous wall, absent any proof at all of his claims. They simply "took his word" for these measures. And once this Senate refuses to remove Trump, his power will be absolute.
Understand that a dictator does not need the support of a majority of people to keep absolute power indefinitely. He only needs a large, rabid, heavily armed base. And this is exactly what Trump has. And this is also why Trump has installed his children as "advisors". He is grooming them to step into his shoes, when he, at some later point "bestows" the presidency upon them.
The majority of us who detest this regime must finally accept what many of us have been dreading. We are under the yoke of a dictator. And thanks to his base, he will leave office only at a time of his choosing.
5
Trump has no values that are recognizable as honorable. But then he's not alone. Nearly the entire Republican Party has made a conscious break from the notion of honor. They only care about winning, at all costs. Who in the Republican leadership has shamed Trump for his actions against the military leadership and Court this week? None.
6
The consensus appears to be that Trump didn't get the empathy gene, so it's doubtful that's what inspires or accounts for his beneficence in pardoning convicted lawbreakers.
I'm thinking it's possibly that defending these people also reinforces his rationalization of his own unethical standards and behavior?
1
Who ultimately benefits from a weakening of the US military justice system and the chain of command? Putin.
3
It is sadly a sign of the low esteem our military and its members are held in that so few people have commented on this column or even recommended a comment. I doubt that many readers have served in the military or have a family member or close friend either serving or who has served since the 1980s. Some, of course. Most, I doubt it.
Now if this were a gossip column about Trump or one on meatless "hamburgers", this likely would have ten times as many readers.
2
It appears quite weird, as. Non-American, to see someone who has apparently committed a war crime to be exonerated, and a senior military officer working at a National level sacked because he spoke the wrong way, - sacked because, it appears Trump didn’t like his level of loyalty to him personally.
I may have this wrong, but if not it is bizarre - keep the criminal and sack the Senior Officer of honour.
6
First of all: I agree with everyone about how this affair once more and above all demonstrates the president's amorality.
Now to another thing. Perhaps it is because of my lack of familiarity with the jury system that I do not see the indispensable advantages with "being judged by your peers", anyhow: what if these very peers would instead find that the behavior by this Navy SEAL was in fact excusable, given the pressure in war? In nations with a codified civil law system (as in most western democracies except UK and USA) the law is the law as compiled in a VERY thick book and most of the judiciary power lies with lawmakers (but with some wiggling room for the judges, career civil servants who are handpicked from the lawyer elite and sworn to their office - from where there is virtually no return - early in their career).
But of course, atthe end of the day no system is bulletproof to a tyrant, be it on 5th Avenue or in Nuremberg...
2
“Our president’s endorsement of the perpetrator will be taken as a representation of our values. Our own troops, many of them teenagers, will be misled by the president’s sense, or lack of sense, of honor.”
Not only your own troops will be misled by this “lack of honour”, but so will your allies and your foes. Your allies will be adverse to be seen as collaborating with someone who implicitly is endorsing such barbaric practices, and unsure who is effectively commanding the US military, while your foes will conclude that, in pardoning this type of behavior, America can no longer claim the moral “high-ground” in battle with them, and they can use this approval to their advantage in local propaganda. It’s just a “lose-lose” for US troops and world opinion.
3
Not only are his values not those of our military, but they are not the values of human beings.
2
The idea that the president would be the commander in chief of the military harks back to George Washington, the commander in chief who became the first president of the United States. There was no harm in his retaining the position as an honorary title, though in fact his commander in chief skills proved useful during the Whiskey Rebellion.
In the years since only Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower carried the same military leadership skills into the presidency, and they and all other presidents have enjoyed a deferential relationship with the military commanders. Even Lincoln, who had the Civil War to deal with.
Trump is not the kind of president General Washington was.
To weigh Trump in the balance against Grant, Eisenhower, or Lincoln would be a pathetic exercise. His lack of military training is evident in the totally un-self-disciplined way he behaves. With his continual humiliation of the leadership of our men and women in uniform, it almost seems as if he is trying to incite a military coup.
It may give some solace to our military leaders that the impeachment is going forward. If only it were possible to add to the impeachment charges one of military misconduct.
My thoughts exactly. It’s a lot to imagine, but anything is possible with a dictatorship.
What took everyone to figure this out? Cadet bone-spurs is hardly the epitome of bravery. More importantly, why are high-ranked officers the only people speaking out? There is no effort to get enlisted personnel to tell us what they feel. They're at the front lines and honor is theirs, and theirs to lose.
3
10-18-2018 during a 60 Minute with Ms. Stahl this man response to a questionable action he excuted was ,"I'm president you're not."
This one statement warned me that the guy truly believes he has complete oversight and control of the every institution and branch of our nation.
His decision "to stop the naval officers charged with oversight of the SEALs from disciplining one of their own." was based solely on an enraged man who simply wanted to flex his muscle reminding everyone once again, "I am president and you're not."
He cares about no one other than sustaining his image as a power broker and winning in 2020
7
How can Trump and the military have different values, when Trump has none?
4
I share the opinions of those writers who have written about their own or family members' experience and dedication to their oaths.
I have written about my military family through three wars, and I know my folks would be so appalled by any such conduct unbecoming.
10
The military may not share Trumps values but they took his 250 billion increase to their budget.
The military budget went from 500 billion before Trump to the current 750 billion.
The same goes for the huge tax cuts he gave Wall Street, Corporations and the Wealthy.
Who knows what the Intelligence Services got. That’s secret.
The end result is the whole power structure either looks the other way or actually privately supports his antics in office to the detriment, in my view, of what America is supposed to be about.
6
@Thomas And the State Department got crumbs, so maybe that explains the likes of Ambassador Yovanovitch, Ambassador Taylor, Jennifer Williams, and David Holmes who know what right looks like while graduates of our military institutions (Pompeo, Esper, et al) look the other way while lining their pockets and grasping at power.
1
@Thomas And the State Department got crumbs, so maybe that explains the likes of Ambassador Yovanovitch, Ambassador Taylor, Jennifer Williams, and David Holmes who know what right looks like while graduates of our military institutions (Pompeo, Esper, et al) look the other way while lining their pockets and grasping at power.
@Thomas While it's true that the POTUS proposes the Budget, it's the responsibility of the Congress (with "the purse strings") to approve a budget. The military et al were allocated funds as the Congress (House and Senate) approved.
That said, the current system is dysfunctional. Whatever chain of command used to exist in the US government, has been torn asunder by Trump. He believes government is like the Trump Corp., whatever the boss says is IMMEDIATELY enacted. Unfortunately, for all of us multi-level organizations don't (ever) work that way. While governing requires a good understanding of reality, it's not a reality show.
1
I appreciate and agree with the authors’ point of view. So would my late father, who served honorably in the Navy (Seabees) during WW2.
To me this is all about Trump testing the boundaries of Executive authority. And one more way to distract from the Impeachment inquiry.
11
There are dozens if not hundreds or thousands of reasons that bring people in to the military, a decision that is entirely voluntary. But while the reasons people enlist may vary from individual to individual, they distinguish themselves from Donald Trump through their shared commitment to duty, to discipline, and a willingness to sacrifice many of the freedoms we enjoy in our daily lives to the lives we hope they do not lose. By contrast, Donald Trump has made his Presidency all about himself; his performance marked by lies, disorder, a willingness to divide, and failure. While the men and women of the military devote themselves to preserving our institutions and protecting our freedoms, Donald Trump shows no remorse in bartering those things away for his personal benefit.
13
Agree with you comments. I am still trying to understand what the benefit was to Trump? Has his base gone this far off planet reality?
Gentlemen: Thank you for your cogent and articulate article, the most direct phrase in which is "the military is not an extension of the White House."
Leaving aside all his vulgarity, racism and preening self-praise, Trump's most offensive and dangerous belief seems to be that holding the office of the president of the United States confers on him the right to interfere in any and all governmental matters that happen to catch his eye and to contravene or change any governmental orders that meet with his often ill-informed displeasure.
This is a breathtaking assertion of an "imperial" presidency and -- whether Donald Trump understands it or not -- proscribed by the Constitution of our nation. Those who enable Mr. Trump's actions imperil the legal underpinnings of our Republic, damage the democratic fabric of our society, and pervert the senses of honor and honesty that support them.
23
I served for 23 years. USMC in the 60's including 1 Vietnam tour. USN in the 70's - peace time , Seabees. Served in Natl Guard and Army in 80's & 90's, including 10 months IN Saudi for Desert Storm. All enlisted. Three branches. Two wars.
Am active in Veteran organizations. There are millions of current enlisted who LOVE TRUMP!! There may be thousands of cocktail party officers who hate him.
The numbers are with us.
4
With respect and sincere thanks for your extensive service, but cocktail party officers? Or former Navy Secretaries under different parties? In any event, it’s not about loving or hating Trump; it’s about what’s best for all in the nation, and in the long term, and ultimately, for democracy and humankind, as our armed services work all over the world, isn’t it?
18
@Sergeant Altman Trump is the agent of change, and it is painful for the "old guard". I genuinely believe we will be better as a nation when we come out the other side.
@Sergeant Altman Exactly WHAT do you love about Trump? I'm genuinely curious. Please tell me specific qualities or actions that you "love" and think are in the best interests of the country? This is not about personality. It's about democracy and the values our nation holds (held?) dear.
16
Many comments stating Trump’s values (or lack thereof) don’t reflect the values of most Americans. Sadly, his “values” did reflect the “values” of enough voters to elect him president in 2016. The only way we can prove, once and for all, that his “values” aren’t our values (for the record, certainly NOT my values) is to vote him out of office in 2020. That’s why I will vote blue, no matter who. I may not totally agree with the policies being put forth by some Democratic candidates, but any one of them would be better than what we have in the White House today.
24
When it comes to whether or not Trump shares the military's values, the answer is simple. He has no values other than himself. Why he is determined to destroy everything our great country stands for escapes me, unless he really is beholden to Putin. He absolutely needs to be removed from office -- impeached or voted out. Sooner is better!
23
It is more than apparent at this stage that Trump does virtually everything in his power to undermine the rule of law, good order and discipline, standards of international relations and national security, truth, justice, morality -- the list is growing by the day.
He abuses his power and authority and acts in the best interest of himself, his business interests, his politics.
In so doing he plays right into the hands of our adversaries. If he is acting in this manner of his own accord, or is an agent of a foreign power, or is otherwise beholden to the leader of another country then he needs to be impeached, convicted, removed from office.
Trump has done more than enough damage to last generations. Congress and the cabinet must seize the moral high ground and take action against this threat to our nation this president proves himself to be.
18
"His values are not those of the military." Indeed, his values are not those of the country.
25
Like it or not one of Donald Trump's presidential responsibilities is to be Commander in Chief of the Armed Services.
How did he get such an awesome responsibility? The Constitution gave him that authority. It doesn't matter that Trump has no military service or had these mysterious bone spurs. Our founding fathers wanted the military under civilian control.
3
@sharon5101
And as a citizen, I’m also a part of that civilian control.
He may be CoC, but that doesn’t give him a pass on what is the worst judgement and the complete debasement of his responsibilities.
3
By civilian control I meant the president is in charge of tha military. Our founders understood we could wind up with a military dictatorship if the generals were in charge.
@sharon5101
And they also understood that we could wind up with a civilian dictatorship if a rogue abnormal & authoritarian president were in charge. Which is why we (presumably) have checks, balances, & lawful mechanisms in place to prevent *that* from happening, or remediate it if it occurs.
1
I thank these two military officers for publishing their opinions in the service of protecting our democracy.
30
In the old days if a platoon didn't care for their NCO's behavior in the field they took care of it in the field with a bullet to the back. Perhaps "military justice" will now regress back to this quieter, less politically provoking model.
2
@dk - You have it backward, no doubt you have never read any military history. Actually in the "old days" officers stood ready to shoot any soldier who did not fight sufficiently to his liking, that is why the are issued pistols. The few incidences of enlisted men harming an officer are blown out of proportion and have become another overblown bit of false history.
2
Trump’s values: personal enrichment, xenophobia, immediate and violent reaction to narcissistic injury, disregard for human life
Values of the security apparatus: imperialism, suppression of democracy, policing and placation of the domestic population, disregard for human life
Some overlap there, the main difference being that Trump/his cronies are more interested in enriching themselves and instituting creeping fascism/excluding nonwhites while the security apparatus is interesting in pursuing American imperial interests abroad.
9
Oh, I didn't realize that Trump even had values, except maybe the love for his own ego.
12
Talking heads may say that Trump's actions don't reflect the views of the armed forces. But Trump undoubtedly did win and will undoubtedly win again the vast majority of the military vote. Whatever these people say about honor and respect is overshadowed by their unflinching support for war criminals and murderers as evidenced by their voting patterns. I'm an American who sees our armed forces as out of control death squads twisted by hate and xenophobia. I imagine the world would tend to agree with me after watching us leave our allies for dead and raise the murderers among us to the highest levels of hero worship.
15
Trump should not be allowed to rule the military. Up to now there has been a separation, if anything out of respect of a President for the Military Cheifs and their ability to lead their troops. I am sickened that Trump is allowed to step on all that has been routine which has worked pretty well in my opinion to now, especially just for support from fanatics who see some threat around each corner, if the "President cannot have his way." This is tyranny in my book.
7
Trump has never done any service anywhere, let alone in the military.
35
As someone whose profession has me deeply immersed in military culture, it is important to note that "the military" is not monolithic.
Younger people in uniform are more susceptible to the type of sloganeering used by Trump and his supporters that is deceptive and misleading. Older, more seasoned NCOs and officers can see the danger that Trump poses to military discipline and national security, but they have learned to keep their mouths shut.
They can make a difference at the ballot box, but they also have to summon the courage to put the best interest of their country above shallow, political ideology that seeks to mislead them. And they have been hearing it for many years. And, frankly, they have to get over the mindset that as long as military spending is maintained, they have little or no interest in what happens to the rest of the country.
Yet, there will be many members of the military who will still vote for Cadet Bone Spurs Trump, unaware or uncaring that this is the same man who trashed McCain, Mattis and McRaven.
34
Let's be frank; Trump has no values. None.
28
Trump’s action has already had the desired effect. We are focused on something other than his impeachable crimes, and his ego has been sated on the blood lust of Secretary Spencer’s firing.
15
The question is not if Trump shares the values of the U.S. military, but rather, does the military share the values of the military? Reported in the Hill:
'The head of the U.S. Navy SEALs recently sent a scathing letter to top commanders in the unit ordering them to detail issues with ethical behavior and conduct within the SEALs and to find a way to fix them. CNN reported Friday that a letter sent by Rear Adm. Collin Green orders his officers to submit their reports by Aug. 7 and states plainly that the SEALs "have a problem."'
Some SEALs in Gallagher's squad had to create a secret group of decency to combat the cabal that to which Gallagher belonged. One Seal in the cabal pleaded 'guilty' to the murder, once assured of 'no prosecution in exchange for testimony' --- thus freeing his buddy of a murder charge. Despicable. How did this situation develope in a once honorable naval unit?
27
Once senior military think they can defy the President and freely embarrass him in public if they disagree, we will have lost civilian control.
That is why Truman fired MacArthur.
It does not matter for this who is right or wrong. We have other ways to deal with that.
Open defiance of the President cannot be tolerated from senior military.
If he requires of them a crime, then they can resign and do a Nuremberg response, but if they don't, then they salute and follow orders. It can't be allowed any other way.
The more desperately the civilian opponents of the President want the military to oppose him and embarrass him, the more vital it becomes that they would never do that to any President. That is what Marshall and Eisenhower and Bradley all told Truman, when he was confronted by MacArthur's defiance.
10
@Mark Thomason
Amen, Mark !
I think part of what you and I observe in these pages is the fact that many, if not most, Times readers look down ferociously on the military, its members on a good day merely ignored, people in general paying no attention unless there is some "scandal" or it becomes a way to dump on Trump.
How many readers, I wonder, have considered military careers, or even doing stints in the Reserve or National Guard? How many even know members of the military or even vets?
6
Resigning in protest over deeply flawed decision making is not insubordination; it is the honorable thing to do and does not challenge presidential authority. Also, it is in no way similar to MacArthur/Truman.
21
@Mark Thomason Again, what are you afraid of? The issue is what matters and what Trump wants is merely to have brownie points for 2020 with those who support Barr's theories of Presidential omnipotence. We have 3 governing bodies still, not just one. Especially this has been tested to the full extent with Trump. He just ignores all that he does not want to hear. There is a military code in this case and Gallagher threatened his colleagues over his disgusting flaunting of the code. He should not have been pardoned much less propped up. This is another strongman approach by Trump, his rapture over people like Putin once more in evidence.
2
I believe many if not most Times readers look down ferociously on the military, its members on a good day merely ignored, people in general paying no attention unless there is some "scandal" or it becomes a (usually legitimate) way to dump on Trump.
How many readers, I wonder, have considered military careers, or even doing stints in the Reserve or National Guard? How many even know members of the military or even vets?
I would love to be wrong!
2
Me, for one. 11 years active and Guard.
I’d resign my commission now if still in.
22
@Steve Fankuchen
I enlisted in the Army in 1970 on graduating from college. It wasn't a fashionable thing to do at that time, but I've always regarded the time I spent training at Fort Bragg and language school, and then being stationed in Germany, as perhaps the most formative in my life.
Many of my closest friends also served. We share a bond that is very special, built on a set of values that are foreign to Mr. Trump's world. It is a shame to see him striving so mightily to undermine them all for the sake of his own ego.
21
If the Commander-In-Chief, were subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, he might face a court martial. Though a President is Commander-in-Chief of our military, he cannot be a member of the Armed Forces. One implication is that unlike any member of our armed forces who actually takes personal risks in service to our country, Trump himself is not subject to the high standards of the U.C.M.J.
The anti-American, anti-military nature of Trump's actions were well described in a 1994 community Memorial Day address given by Barry Smith in Ashfield, Massachusetts.
"I long ago learned while I was a cadet at the Virginia Military Institute that the profession of arms is governed by a stern moral code, which was there summarized into two principles: 'A cadet shall not lie, steal, or cheat nor tolerate anyone who does' and 'A cadet shall obey all lawful orders.' We came to believe that it was not merely a risk to our careers for us to infringe upon these principles but, more importantly, an occasion for shame. We were being trained in a terrible art, to deal out violence and even death. Unless we cultivated virtue -- courage, self-possession, devotion to moral duty -- we would be indistinguishable from brigands or common criminals."
For those on the Right and Left who mindlessly look down on the military in stereotypes, let me note that after serving in Viet Nam, Barry Smith served as a Smith College philosophy professor and as a public defender in Northampton, Massachusetts.
12
If the Commander-In-Chief, were subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, he might face a court martial. Though a President is Commander-in-Chief of our military, he cannot be a member of the Armed Forces. One implication is that unlike any member of our armed forces who actually takes personal risks in service to our country, Trump himself is not subject to the high standards of the U.C.M.J.
The anti-American, anti-military nature of Trump's actions were well described in a 1994 community Memorial Day address given by Barry Smith in Ashfield, Massachusetts.
"I long ago learned while I was a cadet at the Virginia Military Institute that the profession of arms is governed by a stern moral code, which was there summarized into two principles: 'A cadet shall not lie, steal, or cheat nor tolerate anyone who does' and 'A cadet shall obey all lawful orders.' We came to believe that it was not merely a risk to our careers for us to infringe upon these principles but, more importantly, an occasion for shame. We were being trained in a terrible art, to deal out violence and even death. Unless we cultivated virtue -- courage, self-possession, devotion to moral duty -- we would be indistinguishable from brigands or common criminals."
For those on the Right and Left who mindlessly look down on the military in stereotypes, let me note that after serving in Viet Nam, Barry Smith served as a Smith College philosophy professor and as a public defender in Northampton, Massachusetts.
19
I recall when trump was campaigning - a vet offered him a purple heart - and trump's reply was "he always wanted one of those". He followed it up with the Star Family takedown.
From day one - never had respect for the honor of those who serve in the military.
Clearly his bone-spurs aren't stopping him (again) from walking all over anyone who serves or ever served.
58
@Tom I am a veteran of two wars. Vietnam as a young Marine. Desert Storm as an OLD Soldier. All enlisted. Am active in groups of WAR Veterans. Not peace time prior service types.
We War Veterans love Trump! Please note. There are millions of enlisted War Veterans compared to thousands of cocktail peace time Majors and Colonels. Very few, very few who have offered their lives want open borders or socialism.
Show is an alternative and maybe we will consider.
@Sergeant Altman
No one is advocating socialism and open borders.
I would hope service members would support our Constitution—-which entails the right to discuss socialism and open borders—since that is the oath they swear upon enlistment.
If they can’t, they are supporting an autocracy, the very form of government they swore to defend against.
13
@Sergeant Altman Sir, I am not an American citizen, but I have had spells living in the United States totalling 20 years over the decades since I was a lad; and I have loved, and still love, (if I may 'patch' a well-known expression) "..the USA and all who sail in her".
I never encountered any among those many Americans I've met, though, who seriously identified "open borders or socialism" as real political likelihoods in the US context - even allowing for current election-fever and media pot-stirring hyperbole.
Taking a step back from your divisive and improbable fears, I'd have thought growing disparity in wealth and lack of investment in infrastructure of all kinds seem far more urgent 'social' (not 'socialist') needs for under-pinning an economic powerhouse like the USA before the current upside wave dissipates.
10
Future wars, like in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, will most likely be fought among civilian populations. While, yes, civilians can be combatants, our military must be exceptionally cautious to avoid causing civilian casualties. Besides the killing of innocent people, there is a very practical reason for this: the death of an innocent could cause a major uprising! Undoubtedly, the massacre of civilians in Vietnam was a major reason why we lost "the hearts and minds" of the people.
Trump's message to our military is this: "You have my permission to kill anyone you want!" What if we were to give the same message to every police officer in this country?
Remember, the goal of our military is to assure peace, not to cause war.
31
Why is it that a man without honor, courage or a sense of duty can dictate how our military judges and disciplines members who violate long held and necessary statues of justice. While it is true that by virtue of his office Trump is technically our 'commander in chief', he possesses none of the moral attributes or character necessary for him to command wisely. He is a spoiled boy who tantrums in an old man's body. Our military and country will be well rid of him when he's gone, and forgotten.
67
One of the very finest speeches I have ever heard was given by
Secretary Danzig. It may have been after the Cole event.
He is a stunning and extraordinary man.
10
Honor, duty, discipline: pillars of our military services. All anathema to the current occupant of the White House. And yet Republican politicians defend him, or at least do nothing. A long line of leaders, from Washington and Hamilton to Grant to Eisenhower to John McCain, would all be disgusted and dismayed.
59
@Cal Prof
Cal Prof, you refer to, "Honor, duty, discipline: pillars of our military services." I certainly agree. Yet here in the Bay Area, including at Cal where you apparently teach, the military is ferociously looked down upon, its members on a good day merely ignored, people in general paying no attention unless there is some "scandal" or it becomes a (usually legitimate) way to dump on Trump.
How many of your students, I wonder, have considered military careers, or even doing stints in the Reserve or National Guard? How many even know members of the military or even vets?
5
@Steve Fankuchen
Well, there's Travis Air Force Base in the Bay Area, and the population surrounding it most definitely supports the military. Then there's the Coast Guard base in Alameda, and most people in the Bay Area, especially those sailing on the Bay itself, are big fans.
What you say was definitely true during Vietnam, but today I think the Bay Area and the high-achieving students at Berkeley have a more nuanced view. The military itself is not the problem. It's the misuse of the military in debacles like the Gulf Wars and Guantanamo.
8
What does that have to do with a President undermining all three?
3
I honestly believe Trump is starting an insidious effort to cadge favor with Trumpers in the military, to rally them to his side in case he is removed from office, either through impeachment or election. He will move all the levers of power, legitimate or otherwise -- think of a rebellion in the military led by rogue officers -- to hold on to the office so he can continue his corruption and subversion of our democracy and standing in the world. He'll get all the help he'll need from Putin who couldn't be happier with his plant in the White House.
55
Once the rank and file of the military believe the UCMJ no longer applies to them just as long as they tweet in the right direction, then the discipline required by the chain of command (the very backbone of the military) becomes optional and the structure begins to falter.
50
All of our representatives in the House and all Senators should recognize the danger to our military and, therefore, our security when our military leadership is overruled to restore a war criminal to the ranks of our military. The House and Senate should push back strongly on Trump's dangerous decision, must have been fueled by seeing too many Rambo movies without having experienced warfare.
42
My thoughts exactly!
1
The military is one of the last trusted institutions in the society.Trump’s objective is to degrade that. He despises institutions because they check him and because he can’t use them freely for his self-aggrandizement and power. Like any authoritarian, he believes ultimate power comes from force, and he seeks to monopolize force in his own person. This is a first step.
72
Thank you for your sobering analysis and commentary on another one of Trump's unconscionable actions. I, too, worry about what kind of message this gives to our men and women in uniform. I am afraid that the cancer of this Administration will metastasize also in military, the very institution that is supposed to protect us and uphold our values.
34
It's really come down to this: if Trump loses in 2020 by a percentage point or two, will he accept the result? And if he refuses to, what will the military do? That we even have to ask these questions is a measure of the extent to which Trump has degraded our democracy to banana republic levels.
This push back by the military leadership over Trump's celebration of a war criminal is the first indication we have that the military has not lost its moral compass and, if it comes to it, won't follow unlawful orders issued by the criminal in the White House.
The courts are also standing fast. And the impeachment inquiry, whatever the outcome in the Senate, demonstrates that Congress is still a co-equal branch of government. We might just get through this.
56
@Barry Schreibman The military takes orders from the president. When Trump loses next November, he will no longer be president on January 20 and the military will escort him out on orders from the new president, if it comes to that.
1
@Barry Schreibman That we even have to ask these questions is a testament to Trump's total control of the Republican party. That the military leadership -- in this case Secretary of the Navy attempting to negotiate with the WH to keep Gallagher's status as a member of the Seals - forget that he pardoned someone convicted of murder by a military jury and sentenced to 19 yeqrw and pardoned someone who was supposed to stand trial for murder -- and the military leadership says nothing?
This is the God the military has been waiting for. Forget the fond fair wells of Mattis, McMaster and Spencer. Make America White Male Superior Again.
1
Donald has trampled the “office of the president” as well as the “Republican Party” - each of these institutions have lost credibility and respect. He is trying to do the same to the military. In effect he is nothing more than a cult leader, sitting in the most powerful position in the world. He cares only about himself, and he’ll sacrifice anyone and anything to maintain his perceived self-supremacy. However, he is not immune to insuring his own ruin, which I’m certain will happen at some point. But in the mean time he is about the task of ruining our country’s institutions, values and identity.
37
Although it’s been 51 years since I was required to exhibit a basic command of the UCMJ I have no doubt whatsoever that I understand still what it requires of a member of our armed forces than this President has ever exhibited.
He’s apparently never been schooled in his obligations under the law. No one in the service is obligated to obey an unlawful order and instead they’re obligated to disobey unlawful orders. Those sadly seem the only kind this CIC is capable of giving.
39
@John F McBride
He doesn't like to be bored with details. He basically ignores the briefs given to him and he goes by his more than ample gut.
3
Trump's Weltanschauung and values system and those of the military are antithetical. Just as Trump sees only Me, the military sees no I.
It really is that simple...
16
Trump's Weltanschauung and values system and those of the military are antithetical. Just as Trump sees only Me, the military sees no I.
It really is that simple...
Sadly, President Bone Spur is not acting alone even if all his broken bone-headed ideas seem to come from him. The Republicans in the House, and in the Senate, all the oil lobbyists, and Evangelicals, all have a hand in each and every decision by this unstable genius. And, all those Republican women who heard and saw the Access Hollywood tape? They too, have consented to each lie spewed out by those powerful women in the White House who defend the president each day.
All his supporters, veterans, and churchgoers, small business owners and executives alike, are in on every tweet and afternoon bark at reporters. All the professional athletes and club owners too, are on board with his every move.
And, so are all his friends on Fox TV in the morning and evening who sit dumbly staring ahead while this man rants like a guy locked up in a looney bin. And, we cannot forget the Murdoch family who bought the microphone and still leave it to Trump.
Every dark decision that Trump makes has been vetted with his base. And, 40% of Americans have all decided en masse that everything he does is perfectly OK, and fine with them. Any nonsense that they "don't like his tweets" or "I wish he wouldn't do this, or that" is pure 100% American Baloney because they are all in on each little nasty tweet.
And, that, sadly, is the real truth about our country at present.
He cannot act alone, don't believe it for second.
38
@cloudsandsea
Not 40% of Americans. Only 40% of VOTERS -- and remember, only half the voting eligible population turned out in 2016. So more like 20% of Americans. There is lots of room for a surprise in 2020. We can hope.
3
@cloudsandsea Of course the important thing is that the sane 60% of the country use their voting rights to change the system. Otherwise we're all doomed.
2
Way more military personnel are Republicans and support Trump than are Democrats. It’s just a fact.
7
With leadership from retired military, that may change.
@Jay Lincoln
So military personnel are easily fooled by the faux patriotism of Trump and many Republicans?
3
@Jay Lincoln That may be so. However, no intelligent person supports Trump. Very few still support the
Republican Party.
1
I hope Mr. Bloomberg lines folks like these patriots up so they can speak their truths often on media outlets everywhere.
4
Sadly, President Bone Spur is not acting alone even if all his broken bone-headed ideas seem to come from him. The Republicans in the House, and in the Senate, all the oil lobbyists, and Evangelicals, all have a hand in each and every decision by this unstable genius. And, all those Republican women who heard and saw the Access Hollywood tape? They too, have consented to each lie spewed out by those powerful women in the White House who defend the president each day.
All his supporters, veterans, and churchgoers, small business owners and executives alike, are in on every tweet and afternoon bark at reporters. All the professional athletes and club owners too, are on board with his every move.
And, so are all his friends on Fox TV in the morning and evening who sit dumbly staring ahead while this man rants like a guy locked up in a looney bin. And, we cannot forget the Murdoch family who bought the microphone and still leave it to Trump.
Every dark decision that Trump makes has been vetted with his base. And, 40% of Americans have all decided en masse that everything he does is perfectly OK, and fine with them. Any nonsense that they "don't like his tweets" or "I wish he wouldn't do this, or that" is pure 100% American Baloney because they are all in on each little nasty tweet.
And, that, sadly, is the real truth about our country at present.
He cannot act alone, don't believe it for second.
4
In donnie's malignantly self-obsessed world, everything is an extension of him. Everyone reports to him until they are discarded, everything belongs to him until he has no use for it. There are no boundaries.
11
Military Officers swear an oath to support and defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and (ahem) domestic. They are obligated to follow “lawful” orders of superior Officers and equally obligated to disregard “unlawful” orders. Unlike Cadet bone spurs, our nations volunteer military leaders generally have integrity and make every effort to ensure that we remain a nation based on the rule of law. They certainly don’t condone criminal acts nor celebrate war crimes.
20
First off, I was not a Navy SEAL, just a lowly mechanic, but I did my tour as well as many others. I as well as many servicemen was subjected to the hands of the UCMJ. For my part, I accepted summary judgement, usually a best practice for an enlisted man. Your CO and NCOs usually know your worth and what the military needs of its men. CPO Gallagher was reported by the men of his unit, that alone to me is enough. Yes, Navy SEALS need to be tough, its a tough job and much is demanded of them in the course of their duties. However, posing for selfies with the enemy is bad judgement because our mission is to maintain the national defense with discipline and skill. We aren't there to be bullies to other nations. That may be the preferred strategy of the current oval occupant, but it's not the way the men and women I served with and respected the most comported themselves in conflict. We are better than this, the Navy knows this, apparently the President does not. Too bad for us.
73
It is re-assuring, but certainly not surprising, that the men and women serving in our uniformed services, are far better representatives of American values than the current occupant of the White House.
14
I think we should all remember that there were desk jobs in Vietnam. Lots of paperwork in the military before computers. Bone spurs don't keep you from showing your love for your country by filling out requisition forms for more uniforms and bullets.
He could have accrued useful experience in military leadership that way. He chose not to, and now we're going to suffer.
16
Alas, the current occupant of the Oval Office only cares about his own power and ability to create headlines. He doesn't care who h hurts or what noble institutions he degrades, so long as he is the center of attention. In this he is aided and abetted by the Republican Party. Both are covered in shame - even though they refuse to see it.
4
The only person who shares the same values with Trump is Trump PERIOD
Or, as the British would say; "FULL STOP"
6
Correct.
The US Military is pro-US while Trump is pro-Russia.
The whole Republican Party is also pro-Russia as they have become Putin’s propaganda arm inside the US as exemplified by their eagerness to take the electoral interference off Russia and pin it on Ukraine.
Nuñes himself even went to Ukraine to plant the seed of this propaganda upon the order of Putin.
St. Reagan must be so proud of his party of patriots.
11
It there no sector of the American Government that this President will not sully? Dishonor? Weaken? Degrade? Apparently not. I am a 5th Generation American Veteran. As a US Army Infantry & Special Operations Officer I led troops domestically and overseas. I taught American Soldiers the Rules of Land Warfare and the Geneva Convention. I am astounded and disgusted at the President's pardoning of Military members accused of War Crimes. It will adversely impact our military members. It will give succor to our enemies. Most concerning, when US Military Personnel engage in combat, it will adversely affect their performance. Addtionally, if enemy forces expect no adherence to the Rules of Land Warfare and the Geneva Convention, they will extend no consideration to our military personnel. To those who say that our enemies already act in such a way, that ignores the fact that our Military personnel serve America. Enoiugh said.
20
Trump is commander-in-chief! You don't have to like it but a service member or retired service member should know better than to complain about it. You follow orders and it behooves you to follow them eagerly.
I know officers might be loathe to follow instructions, so used to giving orders as they are. However, you can both be served by learning some humility.
If Trump were a good role model for humility you might have a point. He’s not. He thinks like a king, not the leader of a republic. Do you disagree?
3
It is military code and duty to refuse unlawful orders. It sounds like you (and far too many others) want to do away with rule of law and have just one ruler. I pray people will wake up in time.
1
@John Brown
Following terrible orders was not an acceptable defense at Nuremburg. Your president is swayed by the pinheads on Fox.
1
They say Esper and Pompeo graduated in the same year from West Point. We’re there some important classes about the Constitution that they dint teach that year. They seem like they forgot who they serve. The American People! Not Trump or the Republicans!
13
@Lisa I like what they are doing. So they are serving me.
Of course Trump does not share values with the military. One needs values to share values. Trump has none.
16
The President this evening wanted us to believe that he "has the military's back". It appears to me that he has the back of a criminal. But what about the backs of those officers whose sworn duty it is to lead their men and protect the nation? He apparently could care less about them.
11
It is incorrect to say that Trump and the military don't share values when the President has no values to share.
5
When does the military proceed with a coup to protect their interests?
5
The problem is Trump sees himself as lord of the manor, not President of the United States. Trump continually tries to remake the world in his own image. He has always made his own rules and if these rules get results, who cares what are the means involved. Torture, war crimes; if these acts get results, who cares? In Trump’s world, there are no rules, only getting what you want. Add to that, ‘supporting’ soldiers will help Trump’s tough guy image and get him votes, or so he believes. If he is able to subvert military justice and its ability to maintain military culture, he will potentially destroy another institution.
6
What is understated here is how helpful this is in recruiting those who wish to harm the US. When your alleged opponent brags about war crimes, and the Commander in Chief implicitly endorses them: how much better a recruting tool does one need? Trump continues to be not just a loose cannon, but a genuine threat to national security.
13
Trump will destroy Military and thus finishing off our democracy with help from supplicant GOP Senate. That blame will also be shared by amnesiac media and hesitant Dem leaders not warning of beginning parallels to despots history of 1920-30s. Yes, it can happen here and one doesn't need binoculars to see that obedience to cult hero already taking shape among millions.
8
This could be the most damaging policy decision President Trump has made.
There is not just a risk of blowback against US troops but also against other NATO ally troops.
Moreover, it plays right into the hands of a narrative popular with those who are anti-US, anti-freemarket capitalism, anti-secular, pluralistic western society.
11
It is disconcerting and frightening that someone with no military experience, no governmental experience, and no obvious ethical accomplishment could be in a position to make unilateral decisions on all three matters. This president is affording the country the unique opportunity to ensure such an oversight and mistake never happens again. We are, a beloved congressman said, better than that. Let’s be so!
17
It’s too dangerous to give the armed forces to a President who decides to make bold moves based upon impressing his supporters with might, impressing his friends at Fox, helping Putin, creating distractions, and punishing US allies. Perhaps this is an overused cliche at this point, but “existential threat” comes to mind. Just because we’ve survived this long through his presidency, doesn’t mean that his next move will not cause Armageddon.
20
In over-riding military law, Trump is moving to control the Pentagon. Trump respects generals on a gut level, originally appointing many to his staff, while claiming he understands war strategy better than they do. Unlike Trump’s staff and Republican politicians, he bullies into being loyal to him, the military has independent rules. Military brass accepts Trump as commander in chief, but sees he doesn’t consult them, then makes ignorant, impulsive strategic decisions for his own benefit instead of the military’s or the nation’s. Winning battles and minimizing casualties requires detailed information, analysis, and decision-making, things Trump is incapable of. Military structure and culture are the opposite of Trump’s.
As Trump controls the Senate, has influence over the Supreme Court, and the Democratic House has been unable to stop his lawlessness, the military is the main quasi-independent power center in the federal government. Trump is going to escalate pressure to gain control. The military retaining loyalty to the Constitution, which officers pledge to uphold, above following the Autocrat-in-Chief could play a major role in the American government’s future as a republic with fair elections.
30
Trump is attempting to transform the US armed forces into his personal armed forces.
History tells us that one of two scenarios are likely to follow:
The military refuses, senior officers resign until the citizenry demands Trump stop via impeachment &/or removal from office.
The military displays fidelity to Trump and breaks their oath. The US becomes a failed state. Violent revolution follows.
Both scenarios do not necessarily lead to the sustainability or restoration of a republic.
Trump is putting all of us in grave and imminent danger. The GOP is aiding and abetting his crimes.
Trump never stops or places boundaries on himself. He stops only when he is stopped by external forces.
We are in crisis! Who is sounding the alarm? Who is marshaling all legal remedies? Adam Schiff can't carry this alone.
Chuck Schumer, like his friend, Joe Biden, are blind and deaf to the bad faith Russian assets that GOP senators have become, and they say and do nothing.
The Supreme Court has been infiltrated by extremist Federalists, and the majority is taking away citizens' rights as fast as their beer-soaked fingers can type.
It is happening here.
40
@aek Go to Dallas Morning News, Dec. 2017, for the complete naming of the GOP & Russian Oligarchs "How the Russians funneled Millions to the GOP" It's all there, with followup reports by a Russian Business Professor. I tweeted this report many times, hopefully someone read it. Trump, like all dictators, is creating his personal military to attack US when we revolt against his destruction of Democracy.
8
The best thing that can be done is for Trump to lose the election and Biden is working on that
4
According to the military code and duty, the President as commander in chief most definitely CANNOT do whatever they want. It is military code and duty to refuse unlawful orders, and this was exactly such a case. What the occupant of the White House ordered was unlawful and should have been refused. Multiple people down the chain of command violated their oath and duty to make this happen.
29
@Filmore
This is NOT new. Nor are the circumstances: an on-going and unpopular war and a POTUS with no military experience. Lt. William Calley spent less than a year of a life sentence in prison for his actions during the 1968 My Lai Massacre, thanks in great part to the intervention of President Richard M. Nixon.
Lt. Calley could have, but did not, refuse an unlawful command.
As a then Warrant Officer, helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson put his ship and crew between Lt. Calley's platoon and a group of Vietnamese women and children, saving their lives.
In 1998 Major Thompson and his crew were each awarded the Soldier's Medal, the United States Army's highest award for bravery not involving direct contact with the enemy.
3
How was his order unlawful?
@Doug
Generally, US troops are NOT commanded to kill unarmed civilians, especially women and children.
USN 1967-71
Vietnam 1968
Well is is Commander and Chief of our armed forces as much as it pains me to type that.
I think what is more unsettling is how no GOP Congressional members seem to be defending Mr Spencer and the honor of our military.
16
@Charles Smithson I am retired military... Enlisted. Vietnam AND Desert Storm.
What Trump did is fine with this war time veteran. combat types understand and applaud.
If you have not seen it, lived it, smelled it. You will never understand.
To the gentlemen who wrote this piece: Thank you. We need more voices like this.
I hope they are right - that the values of our military do not match the values (or lack there of) of Donald Trump.
17
Well put, Misters Danzig and O'Keefe. I feel a little better knowing that folks like yourself, and former Republican Senator Slade Gorton, who commented on the need for Republicans to start putting country ahead of party in his opinion piece today, are actually paying attention to what is going on within the very highest level of our government and are deeply deeply concerned.
I was beginning to feel that we, the citizens, who are extremely concerned and even afraid now had been hung out to dry by other so-called leaders who's job it is to protect our country from malevolent leadership like this.
The direction this administration has taken coupled with overwhelming evidence of this president's unfitness and self serving approaches to what are deadly serious situations be they foreign or domestic, should cause all of our faithful former public servants to yell out at the top of their lungs.
We are in deeper trouble if folks similar in experience to yourselves hide away. We need all of you now more than ever.
Please stay with us as this situation worsens, which I'm sure it will.
34
There IS an interesting answer contained within the Code of Military Justice - No member of the chain of command may issue an illegal order; No member of the US armed forces may execute an illegal order, and any member of the US armed forces can arrest a superior, properly turning said person over to the offices of the JAG for trial.
Question - is the President - as Commander-in-Chief of the IS armed forces an officer in the chain-of-command.
Mr. Trump had better consider the situation well.
For if he claims to be top member of the armed forces, any buck private can initiate a military coup, and place a President before the head of the military justice system.
And the Constitution was not designed for the Department of War (I am sickened by its renaming - for the last act of defending the nation should be military - we start with a good diplomatic corps - and, despite Trump’s insults and attempts to misuse it, we apparently have one).
According to the Constitution, despite post-Viet Nam laws, which I would hope a “conservative” court would declare null, the President sits atop the Executive Branch, both military and civilian, but cannot give direct orders - especially on the military side, unless Congress passes an Act of War.
The President has exclusive power to hand out a couple of special medals, but lacks the power to award rank or duty to individual officers.
That’s it.
At least this non-lawyer hopes so.
I hope the Navy will assign duty and rank, ignoring wannabe King T.
18
Trump's behavior is egregious but I have to question the criticisms leveled against him and the standards he is held to.
Compare Trump to George W. Bush.
On military service - Trump got a medical exemption, Bush got an appointment to the Texas Air National Guard (a difficult accomplishment at the time - one that apparently required 'connections') where he apparently never fulfilled his obligations.
Bush began an illegal war and then ignored widely accepted conventions governing the behavior of nations in wars. Bush actively solicited legal justification - or legal circumstances allowing the use of torture on prisoners (expressly forbidden under International Law). The US then actively employed torture on prisoners.
We saw the use of white phosphorous and depleted uranium against civilians and the abuse of prisoners at AbuGrahib. A few low level personnel were held accountable for some of these actions but it is clear we had a President who sought exemption from commonly accepted rules of war.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague found Bush, Cheney and members of his administration guilty of war crimes in 2015.
Trump excused a few individual crimes while Bush actually committed war crimes and encouraged our nation to do so.
Why is this situation so much worse? or is it?
19
@cynicalskeptic - apples and oranges. So because another president chose to be a scofflaw that gives license for the members of present military to be so, as well??
Trump has subverted the chain of command in the military as an INSTITUTION.
Think about it.
Presidential misbehavior does not give license to our SERVICE MEMBERS to disobey orders, ignore its code of conduct, ignore the military courts, or thumb their noses at their commanding officers.
Without authority, rules of conduct, accountability, respect for chain of command, the entire military is weakened and DESTABILIZED.
Do you really want that?
21
@cynicalskeptic, Bush got congressional approval for his war and under the patriot Act after 9/11 the administration was given great latitude. As bad as that all was, it doesn't come close to the continued erosion of all norms , laws, ethics by this president.
7
@cynicalskeptic - Perhaps because it's an attack on ourselves. From within no less. No matter. Being in current time makes it worse for current America.
1
The armed forces may not be "an extension of the White House" but Trump is still the Commander in Chief of the military - and he holds that status and the rights that come along with irrespective of how odious a human being he is.
If military leadership believes that Trump is a threat to the military or the country in general than the should speak up and/or resign.
Something that concerns me - and I don't think has received adequate coverage by the media - is what, if any, impact partisanship is having on the military rank and file. The military tends to be right-leaning - is there any sign the troops themselves are infected by the same sense of grievance and hostility that characterizes many of Trump's civilian supporters?
9
@Megan - military people who believe in the military institution and chain of command are opposed to Trump's interference as destabilizing.
15
@Megan The SEAL in question was reported by multiple members of his OWN unit. I think that, above everything, should indicate the level of seriousness of the incidents in question.
These are highly trained warfighters whose devotion to their own team is drilled into them with exceptional precision.
Simultaneously, they, like all first world military, are taught that there are limits to what is right and lawful in the inherently wrong business of killing in the name of your country (I know this for a fact. I've served in the Australian military and we are taught the same as yours).
What happened here was their loyalty to their unit came into conflict with their judgement as to what was right, and they sided with what was right. This should be lauded- celebrated. It is what separates an army from a mob, the professional soldier from a random killer. It is the definition of "good order and discipline".
However, instead of celebrating them as patriots to the ideals of your country, your President has kicked them, and the "good order" of the military, in the teeth. He has said it is they who did the wrong thing, they who were disloyal. There can be no harder decision to make than to report a person you have fought and bled beside and it would only have been done under extraordinary circumstances.
This isn't about left and right- it is about right and wrong. In this case wrong was done.
18
@Lee absolutely brilliant comment, cuts right to the heart of the matter. Thank you.
8
If the military leadership is truly offended by this and if they believe that this will undermine their ability to lead and control their forces, then they should do and say something en masse. If they don't, well...
14
@Steve C. The common quality among all ambitious military officers is that they will never ever do anything to risk their own careers.
7
Do we want the military “rising up en masse? Seems just a teence scary.
Trump doesn't have any values other than his own needs for riches and attention. There is not a place for that to overlap with military mission or standards or discipline. The same is true of all federal agencies. The role of government is to serve the American people and to preserve the constitution. Neither of those things matters to Trump and that is why he is able to behave with such abandon and to remain immune to consequences. Trump plays through his days at whatever amuses him for a moment while most other people are seriously trying to serve a purpose that benefits something greater than themselves. There is simply no common ground between what Trump views as his own interest and what the military views as national interest. The two will always be at odds.
34
@voyager2 - parallel universes.
It's discouraging to see young military people believing this action by Trump has anything to do with justice, chain of command priorities or anything else. His every action is based on one thing: currying favor with the people he perceives as his supporters.
Sadly, the top people in the armed services are the only ones old enough to remember when Trump had a chance to do his part for this country during the Vietnam era...and took a stroll instead.
41
@TJC
I doubt he took a stroll. He had bone spurs in one of his feet (though he doesn't remember which one) and it would have been painful to walk. Maybe he just drove a golf cart around.
1
Donald J. Trump is out of control. He always was, and always will be. The difference between Donald Trump in 1980 and now, is that he is the President of the United States.
I heard some statistics tonight on PBS. 75% of Americans can not name the three Branches of our Federal Government, and 33% can not even name one Branch.
Those who support Trump not only don't know, they don't care about our Constitution, our History, our Institutions.
"Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it" (said Churchill after Santayana). Yet what we face seems without precedent.
I believe we have, as a Nation, left Historical fact, and entered into the alternate reality of Television and the Internet.
Republicans and Trump supporters don't even care to distinguish between the two (alternate reality and reality), as long as they remain in power.
48
When FDR died the newspapers listed him as military War Dead because he was the Commander in Chief.
As a member of the military Trump has violated the provisions of the Geneva Convention by covering up war crimes.
This should be a separate article of impeachment.
We know that the Republicans in Congress think Trump is above US law.
Now Pelosi should force the Republicans to indicate if they think that Trump is above the International Law of the Geneva Convention.
51
Trump is trying to find the military leaders who will help him stay in power permanently. I am pretty sure he will find someone who thinks a coup is a good idea.
35
@Chris
Let's hope not. If the military attempts to keep him in office after losing an election then our Constitution is finished along with the country.
10
Trump's view of the military is that of a 13-year-old boy playing video games. Trump says the military has "too many rules," just like the teenager says his parents have too many rules. Apparently some of the military's extraneous rules make it unlawful to kill prisoners, or to pose with dead bodies like trophies.
Of course, the commander-in-chief has the authority to overrule the outcome of a court-martial, or to override administrative decisions by military commanders. Trump calls that "having the sailor's back."
Well, now every soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine knows that they can break the rules, and Trump just might have his or her back. That is the insidious threat to good order and discipline.
Who's applauding all this? The chickenhawk commentators on Fox News, and Vladimir Putin.
191
@Kevin Brock . About 30 years ago, my husband's nephew thought that his parents were too strict. So, on his eighteenth birthday, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps!
24
@Kevin Brock Trump proves once again whatever he touches, he degrades or ruins. He's the reverse King Midas, with a similar curse. Trump's the 13-yr old on the old black and white Twilight Zone episode, where he has powers, but no smarts about how to use them, and the town folk try to appease him to no avail.
2
Good leaders don't over rule their lower level managers. You would think a successful businessman from the private sector would know this.
36
@Hugh G "Good leaders don't over rule their lower level managers." Of course they do!
2
@Hugh G You're assuming that DJT has been a successful businessman from the private sector rather than just playing one on TV.
4
@Hugh G Trump's success as a businessman is highly questionable.
5
My father, who was a 21-year-old Lieutenant JG in the Navy during the final year of Word War II, and who was proud of his service all his life, would be beyond shocked by Trump's thoughtless desecration of our military's core values. Being an honorable man, I'm pretty sure he could not have fathomed how our country could have allowed this orange excrescence into the Oval Office.
92
There are and will always be people like trump in the service... but most wont be followed or respected and will leave either on their own or at the request of the military. Those that stay or aren’t discovered at first will eventually show their true colors but I’m not sure if they will get what they deserve in today’s pc military. And the. There are the types like e7 Gallagher who slip thru the cracks to be discovered by the likes of trump but they have to be an anomaly or we are doomed
12
Trump and the military certainly do not share all the same values and that is the greatness of our democracy which is not a military dictatorship. When a president is elected, change is expected and preferably one for the better in striving towards a perfect union. Which president started brutal endless wars of attrition and fatigue in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen,? Not Trump. At heart, Trump hates wars and if Americans are going to fight wars, he wants to be grateful to those in the front line who may or may not return home and if they do he wants to treat them with respect and dignity.
IS everything fair in love and when war is raging and survival becomes a serious challenge, it changes people and blunts their judgement and sets aside their decency and good men become vindictive and heartless?
This is not just the navy's business, it is the business of the com-in-chief and the nation to ensure that the officers show the same compassion to every seal and seaman as they expect the seal to have shown to the enemy. To sit on a high horse remote from the war torn region of the world and pass judgement on those with fewer stars and stripes does not mean one has the right to strip someone else's hard earned strident. Certainly it is essential to make sure that those being disciplined are extensively counseled and appropriately censured but to degrade and marginalize and humiliate someone who was ready to make the ultimate sacrifice is going too far
4
Joining the military is not enough to get commended. One’s actions once in the armed services must be commendable. Your argument does not stand.
10
Trump and the military don’t share the same values?? That’s mind boggling to me. As Americans we all share the same values.
2
@Girish Kotwal Let's remember that Chief Gallagher was found guilty at his court martial by a jury of officers and senior non commissioned officers. His continued service as a SEAL was also to be reviewed by a panel of his peers.
11 out of the 12 jurors in Chief Gallagher's court martial jury have served in combat. 10 jurors were veterans of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those jurors combat experience and long service certainly qualified them as peers capable of passing judgment on the actions of Gallagher.
I don't imagine that jury service at Chief Gallagher's court martial was duty that any of the 12 sought. I'd also wager more than a fair amount that none of the 12 thought of themselves as "sitting on a high horse...and pass judgement" on Gallagher.
Another panel was to review Chief Gallagher's continued service as a SEAL on December 4. That panel was to be comprised on one officer and four senior chief petty officers, all SEAL qualified and all very likely combat veterans. Again, all peers of Gallagher based on length of service and combat experience.
A goal of military justice in this case was certainly not to "degrade, marginalize...or humiliate" Chief Gallagher. Rather it was to render appropriate conclusions based on the evidence and actions of Gallagher.
Conversely, a primary goal of military justice is to maintain good order and discipline. The actions of President Trump in this case run absolutely counter to this goal.
6
Trump has a right to do what he did.
No one should be in any doubt on that. Disagree, OK; deny his right to pardon CPO Gallagher, no.
Having a right to do something does not mean it's necessarily the right thing to do in any given circumstance.
Gallagher was acquitted of the most serious charges. This despite the testimony of his team members that he committed the acts he was charged with. I'd certainly like to hear from the team members (or examine their testimony) if I was in the president's position. I don't know whether he did.
So what's left is the conviction on posing with a corpse. Gallagher cannot be punished for the charges on which he was acquitted.
My complaint is that the president did not let the rule of law complete its mission. Was what CPO Gallagher was convicted for enough to take his pin and drop him a rank?
Now we'll never know. If the president had wanted to honor the rules of war as well as to cushion a warfighter, all he had to do was wait until the Navy had completed its process.
16
@Andrew S. ...."Trump has a right to do what he did.".....And Congress has the right to impeach him.
1
@Andrew S. Trump never lets the "rule of law complete its mission" b/c he does not value the rule of law. This is a surprise?
2
How can we expect a man that has never had an iota of self discipline, personal comportment and order in his own life to understand that this is the backbone of military service?
He actually believes that he is pleasing the average Joe in our armed services. This may win him a few votes. In actuality, what he is doing is undermining the chain of command and setting the worst possible example for all who serve.
93
How many of "the average joe" is he pleasing? Are we in crisis here?
1
@Mary Jolly i think that is what Trump believes, but is not the reality.
1
The authors, former Navy secretaries, make the point that the President does not share the military's values. That is true.
More important is the authors' quote from current Navy secretary Spencer: "The rule of law is what sets up apart from our adversaries."
That too is true. The problem is that President Trump, having willfully flouted the rule of law time after time, -is- one of our adversaries.
Having spent the last 3 years using the Presidency for his personal gain, ignoring the US Constitution, and ignoring his oath of office, he has now trashed the special code of military justice.
Remove Trump, and make America -good- again.
115
I proudly wear a white hat that says "NAVY, U.S. Naval Academy because my nephew is a Second Class student in this 175 year old and honored institution. I have learned that the ethos of The Academy in no way shares Trump's values and of all the military branches, the Navy is showing itself as being ready, willing and able to defend our Constitution regardless of who attacks it.
The president does not know who he has messed with.
77
@A Goldstein I'll believe it when I see Navy officers resign.
6
McCarthy was brought down when he went too far and took on the military.
Where are the leaders of the military now? This editorial is hardly representative of the body at large.
But even if the leaders speak out, I suspect the largely conservative ground troops will support Trump and march in step to his outrageous actions.
7
@John Brown
Please say more about why you and the ground troops support him. The country does count on all of you, but I’m not sure what you mean by that statement in this context.
16
@John Brown: thanks for proving the point of the authors.
2
This sounds like a threat to mutiny more than anything else.
This another instance of Trump not respecting the rule of law. What’s new about that? He doesn’t respect it in non-military matters either.
33
Assuming Trump was able to give the notion any serious thought (not going to happen), the idea that the military does not exist to do his arbitrary bidding would come as a shock to his brittle ego. In his own mind, he is not only legendary in all respects, but deserves to rule our country as the modern equivalent of a monarch or a medieval pope--that is, with unchecked power.
25
I thought Trump and America didn't share the same values. I'd been led to believe that the Republicans cared deeply about ethics, moral character, family values, religious convictions, law and order, respect for the military, an almost obsessive view of the constitution and it's checks and balances and a patriotism that filled them from their toes to their lapel pins. Little did I know or suspect that all that was conditional and could be tossed aside at a moments notice. I appreciate your points of view but after John McCain, the Gold star family, the humiliating retreat from Syria, I have to ask, what took you so long to view it. Blacks, gays and women in the military were supposed to erode unit cohesion. I can't think of anyone who has done more for that than our own Commander Bone Spurs.
184
@Rick Gage I think after McCain died the conscience and honor of the GOP died too. Now all we're left with a greedy, craven, and sinister cabal.
3
One of the cornerstones of American democracy has always been a firewall between politics and the military. The military exists to carry out the orders of the commander-in-chief as mandated by Congress, but it has always tried to separate itself from the day-to-day scruff of politics. By obliterating that firewall, Trump threatens us all.
64
This is beyond "shared values", it is about dictatorial power over all elements of the political system. That includes the Senate, the judicial system, and...the military.
I am using the word "dictatorial" for a reason. Many people will think it is not as bad as that.
It is.
145
It is that bad. What do you think his end game is - to rule like the king he thinks he is.
2
@Hilary Tamar
It is as bad as that. I agree with you that that President
of the United States acts like a dictator - an immature egomaniac without merit or honor.
4
"Trump and the Military Do Not Share the Same Values"
A more accurate headline would relate that Trump and top military officials don't share the same values. But among troops in the barracks and recent lower level veterans Trump's views are likely to encounter more resonance.
Or at least Trump believes that will be case. This is a purely political play. No higher principle is at issue. Trump plainly believes that enough resentment exists toward the upper officer corps to make this symbolic gesture of resistance to its authority a political winner for him. Time will tell whether he is right.
Trump has strongly hinted that if he loses the 2020 election, he may opt against leaving office peacefully, claiming electoral fraud and inviting his supporters to defend his claim to power. If he believes that criminal indictments will await him immediately upon his White House departure, he may conclude he has nothing to lose by attempting a coup. Trump may now be making an early effort to sow the seeds of rebellion, or to at least assess the strategy's feasibility.
In developing his plans Trump would appreciate receiving an answer to the following question: If the top brass issues an order for troops to put down an insurrection of his supporters, will it be followed?
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@woofer If the enlisted agree with Trump, then our military training has failed entirely. Any Seal who is turned in by his own team must be doing things that are totally heinous. I cannot imagine anyone going through basic training who does not grasp that basic fact.
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@woofer Of course troops in the barracks support the commander-in-chief who has just given them license to ignore whatever regulation they feel is inconvenient.
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@woofer Yes. It's the same thing he's been doing with the CBP, breeding resentment to the restraints imposed on them by law with the expectation that they will follow him if he tries a coup.
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Nixon intervened in My Lai. The Obama decision on Chelsea Manning to commute a 35-year sentence is another example. Each case had its partisan advocates. Each case presented its reasons for action. But then I think about Abu Ghraib prison incident. How did that happen? How did things unravel so much and for how long? Did Nixon's actions on My Lai set the stage for a breakdown in the military's ability to control its troops? Or was it Vietnam itself? Or was it the lies the got us into the second Iraq war? What problem, exactly, are we addressing, if not all of them? In this respect, Trump is the root cause of nothing.
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@K.Kong False equivalence: Trump had already pardoned the Navy SEAL.
Because it happened before does not make it correct now. Trump has encouraged violence with his language and his love of brutal dictators. He elevates the ‘killers’ and minimizes the protectors. It just ain’t right
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A member of the military is required to obey all lawful orders. A member of the military is not required to obey an unlawful order, and in fact does obey an unlawful order at his or her own moral and legal peril. It is clearly unlawful to order that a war crime be committed. Can it possibly be lawful to order that a war crime be exonerated? Should not the person so ordered refuse and stand his or her ground (as opposed to resign)?
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@Bruce Arnold - This!! An absolutely perfect summation of the requirements for adherence to the constitution and the rule of law for service members.
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@Bruce Arnold Military crimes can be pardoned. Lincoln reportedly did it frequently.
If you read Spencer's letter, he did not resign. He acknowledge the termination.
He’s the enabler supreme.
“Trump and the military do not share the same values.”
That hits the nail on the head.
The military supports endless wars to exercise and expand U.S. influence/control around the globe.
Trump does not.
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@John - Interesting that you think it’s the military that looks for and starts wars. No Sir - the military just fights them. The causes by contrast are quite varied as it turns out, but sometimes they start because someone flies a plane into a couple buildings, or bombs a fleet in a harbor, or keeps unlawfully annexing its neighbors forcefully into an autocracy. The word for folks who stand for nothing and risk nothing is coward and that is not something to celebrate. Lastly, I do believe it’s Trump who threatened North Korea with nuclear annihilation so your argument that he is trying to stop wars is a bit flawed.
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@John
Please. The military caries out political policy. The wars were political policies of the Republicans. Trump has no policy, no intellect, no values, and no understanding of how the military, our rule of laws, and the world works. He has sold us out to the Russians - the Commies - and Republicans are still in his corner. I do not know who is worse - Trump or his apologists.
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Um, US troops are back in Syria, fighting alongside the Kurds again. Another day, another “ policy” switch. How do you know what Trump believes?
When you have a president like Donald Trump who acts and views himself not as above the law but as the law, this politicization that has already infected the Justice and State Departments is what you get. Trump's attempts to do the same to the Defense Department have already led to the resignation of a highly-regarded and respected general in Jim Mattis over his Syrian policy; have put allies and our own forces in Syria and around the world by his betrayal of our Kurdish allies destroying trust in our military commitments; and now his ill-advised political interference in the military justice system threatens total chaos in the "good order and discipline" that the chain of command requires for an effective fighting force. With rogue actors like Chief
Petty Officer William Gallagher avoiding justice due to the actions of a rogue Commander-in-Chief it is no wonder that some military like four-star Admiral William McRaven (ret.) have called for Trump's removal from office in an Op-Ed in these pages last month.
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At work today, I heard two colleagues, one of whom is a Navy veteran, discussing this case. To my utter horror, the veteran shrugged and said it’s the same as a hunter proudly posing beside the five-point buck he just shot. This military man and trump apparently do share the same values.
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@Drusilla Hawke ... ever been in combat, faced hostile fire?
To share values, one first has to have them.
Values are a person's beliefs about good behavior and what things are important.
In his personal and public life, I have never observed in someone for whom situational expediency solely defines his behavior to have anything that remotely meets that definition.
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Majority of the WORLD does not share the same values as Trump.
When I was in the Navy, they kept emphasizing 'Honor, Courage, and Commitment' as the Navy's values.
Trump clearly has no honor, since he's defrauded college students, those donating to his 'charity' and countless others.
Trump has no courage, since he used a fake doctor's note to get out of service.
Trump has no commitment, ask one of his wives.
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No one should be surprised by the actions here of a president who claimed to know more than the generals. No doubt he included admirals as well. But this needs to be taken one step further for those searching for a rational explanation for a totally emotional decision.
Can anyone here recall a single time when the name "Donald Trump" and the term "good order and discipline" were in the same sentence?
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I believe that the United States military is unequivocally adhered to the principles and the essence of our democracy. The military is the "elephant in the room" when it comes to this presidency. If there was a threat to our democracy the military would act to prevent a Trump takeover.
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@w. evans davis
We hope the military would act to prevent a Trump takeover. We really don't know that. It seems that by his recent decisions to pardon these service members, Trump is trying to sow dissension in the ranks and encourage a mutiny of the lower ranks, loyal to him, against the military brass, in the event that the military is called upon to defend our democracy. Getting rid of Spencer, enables him to put another loyalist in high command. We Americans have to be prepared for all eventual outcomes...
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@w. evans davis
I hope you are right, but I have my doubts.
May we continue to hear the brilliant voices of highly qualified persons such as Mr. Danzig and Mr. O'Keefe. Their Opinion provides an education based in wisdom and insight for all of us.
I want both men to know that I receive their words with gratitude and respect for their willingness to stand firm in the midst of the chaos pervading our government.
Reading through the comments to this Opinion proved very reassuring. May we continue to encourage many such voices of reason.
With Deep Gratitude, Kanjin Abrahamson, Zen Buddhist Priest
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A superb article. I served as an officer of Marines, and I assure others that the authors speak for all the naval services regarding military honor and duty.
Regarding the administration's "values", since when are lying, bullying, oversized egotism, and (in the case of Esper, the unqualified Defense Secretary) craven toadyism, properly called values?
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Too many military - active and retired - voted for trump, support him no matter what, and will vote for him again.
I remember all too well how military and law enforcement personnel HATED Bill Clinton for having had a student deferment that kept him out of serving in Vietnam. But no issue with trump’s lies about bone sours and his daddy’s payoff to a doctor who signed off on it.
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@Gardengirl Sadly, I think their support of Trump is explained in part by the authoritarian, bully streak that they share with Trump. They want to make the rules, "call the shots", flex their muscles, put the boots to other people's necks, while never being told what to do and never ever submit to those same rules. It's a huge contradiction. The same people who support "law and order" would never submit to the same being applied to them.
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@Gardengirl
Thank you for the reminder re: Clinton. Hypocrisy is the principle tenet of conservatism.
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And you know this how? I’m a retired Marine, service in two wars. I’ve also ceased to be a Republican. I’m not alone.
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