The recent deployment of active military personnel to our southern border, ostensibly to 'defend' us from an 'invasion' of desperate men, women and children may be more than a political 'stunt'. It may very well be a dress rehearsal for some future 'trumped'-up excuse to dispatch the American military throughout the continental United States not as defensive measure but rather to remind its own citizens of its offensive capabilities within the 'homeland'. Either the Joint Chiefs of Staff were played by a chicken hawk pretending to be a Commander In Chief or worse, they are derelict in their duty to truly secure and defend the core features of our so-called democracy.
13
The rocks and cabbages these invaders are "planning" to use as weapons as they "invade" us must be spectacularly destructive weapons of war. I certainly hope that the nearly three troops per "invader" have spectacular defensive armor to use against this horrible threat. ...and, why isn't the defense department trying to "turn" a few of these horrid villains so that we can reverse engineer these doomsday cabbages and rocks and then use them to rule the world? President Trump, you should be thinking bigglyer!
3
Hey Mr. Maitland,
You might want to check out the news .
All troops send as Trump shameless political stunt are being recalled. All will be back in December. Leaving another national disgrace that many of our service men and women will be separated from their families over the holiday. Now there’s respect of our military and their families.
Wonder what could we have done as a country with the $250m in taxpayers money Trump spent to buy some votes? Maybe feed some American citizens?
Hope you enjoy time with your family over Thanksgiving, All best, your Vietnam veteran friend in NYC.
5
As soon as the troops are not needed wasting time at the border, they should come back to DC and get ready for Trump's parade.
3
Actually, defending or borders and our culture is what most of us signed up for. Obama's 5 wars? Not so much.
5
Well written. Thoughtful. On point and with merits.
I see the beginnings of proper public discourse,
I thank you.
1
When the Honduran Caravan was passing through southern Mexico, the townspeople offered them food and clothing. A few let strangers sleep in their houses. Others offered rides. Mexico’s president announced a project called “You are at home”, in which he invited all members of the Caravan to apply for asylum. Those who qualified would receive shelter, medical attention, schooling, and jobs.
The federal police stopped the Caravan to make sure everyone learned of this offer. Over 2,000 Hondurans decided to apply for asylum in Mexico. Why didn’t the rest? Why did the vast majority of Hondurans decide to continue on to the U.S.?
Do some know they would not qualify for asylum, and so plan to enter our country illegally?
4
Wow, finally, more and more good people stepping up to the plate and calling this deployment ( and Trump) a sham. Let your local politicians know your opinion...
10
Here’s wagering that Mattis gets canned within 30 days.
4
Donald Trump combines the patriotism of Benedict Arnold with the greed of Scrooge McDuck and the high-minded politics of Boss Tweed.
It is no surprise that he plays footsy with Putin and Kim, treats the troops like toy soldiers, and wants a glorious military parade like the French do for Bastille Day. Cadet Bonespur is a disgrace to the office he holds, and every day he holds it decreases the national security and military morale.
9
When your supposedly the “Commander in Chief” of our US military and you spend $250 million of taxpayer dollars and embarrass our troops and undermine their moral for a cheap political stunt.... this should be more than enough for both a Court Marshal for breach of Uniform Code of Military conduct and empeachment for violation of oath of office.
One of the most shameful acts by a President in my lifetime, right up there with Nixon. Bone spur Trump owes and apology to the servicemen, their families and the nation.
Don’t hold your breath. Instead vote.
7
Since when is securing our borders considered a ‘stunt’? It’s our government’s obligation to do precisely that...defend our sovereignty. And with tens of thousands of foreign nationals brazenly exploiting our porous borders, our immigration laws, and our public services every month, calling in the military is the least that they can do.
Failure to take decisive action would be the real betrayal...of the American citizenry.
4
No please! Mattis shouldn’t resign!
We are better off because he’s there even if he has to acquiesce to a childish president.
3
The American military should only be used to protect vital American interests, such as those in Niger, Yemen, and the Hindu Kush, rather than to protect trivial objectives like preventing a column of young foreigners from marching across the United States border.
Our national grand strategy must remain:
Invade the World!
Invite the World!
What could possibly go wrong?
Most of all, America must never fall so low as to mind our own business. Our philosophy must always be: Aggression abroad, submission at home!
2
Hundreds are living in make shift tents in Mexico Beach, FL. Town is a wreck yet Cup Cake head sends 5,000 troops to the border.
Then we can discuss the CA fires and the help they need and the help NC and SC still needs from the summer hurricane.
What a jerk and we are now $200 million more in the hole.
2
Military forces have been used to protect the lands and borders of every nation on earth for as long as there have been nations and armies. Apparently the authors have forgotten this, and think (as do many in the think tanks inside the Beltway) that the current job of the military is to beat up on hapless Third World countries located half way around the globe. SMH.
It really does not matter if an army of beserkers or an army of doe-eyed moppets are marching our way, the job of our government and military is to keep them out by any means necessary.
5
@Ian Maitland - regarding your point #2, it was reported in today's Washington Post that the administration is immediately standing down troops deployed to the southern border. There was no threat. The 'invaders' were mostly women and children. How long will the public endure the shenanigans of this administration? And...lost in the onslaught of headlines is the fact that all immigration efforts are costing - on average more than $2M a day. This administration reminds me of the movie "Dave" where several ordinary citizens, including a CPA, spend a weekend in the White House and using just a calculator and spreadsheets figure out on their own how to balance the US Budget. Simplistic, yes, but educated amateurs could do a better job than this administration.
5
So what is anybody going to do about it? Just keep shaking our heads in disapproval?
3
If U.S. troops -- which include a significant Latino contingent -- were to be ordered to fire on migrants who look like their padres, hermanos, ninos y abuelos "invading" across the Rio Bravo, that will be a day that without any doubt will be remembered in American history...
4
No, the true betrayal was the American electorate electing a five-time draft-dodging coward as our President.
12
Seems like there is a daily, perhaps hourly, account of what bad thing Herr Drumpf has done. That won't budge his base. Hillary got lots of things wrong, but "deporables" wasn't one of them. So, given that he can denigrate war heroes and get praise from Republicans, those military lovin' folks, what is one to do?
3
“The comment you are looking for is currently unavailable.”
So whose acute anti-Trump sensibilities did this comment offend--those who believe that our patriots’ lives weren’t thrown mindlessly into the firepit and firestorm of the Iraq and then the Middle East? Bush-Cheney? NYT Opinion Kingdom?
Once again:
That's rich "profound betrayal"--try Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of American military dead, trillions spent--for what?
Trump is using our military to prevent further invasions from the south, something that should have been done long before Bush-Cheney began feeding American lives into their CIA lie machine.
Finally, a military defending its own country rather than the nations of others.
5
Trump had no comments for a real life- consuming cauldron crisis in California, but lots to say about a crisis made up by himself involving immigrants at the border that had political perks for Himself.. When a real crisis comes he has no stomach for it, but he loves political stunts,especially if he is the one grandstanding in the middle. Perhaps if he could be set up on a pedestal with the wildfire as a background, while pontificating on his ability to stop the fire, as if he alone could do it, he might put some effort into a real humanitarian crisis.. Otherwise, forget it. The focus is on the fire, not on him. It is as if he is playing a star part in a film that is only a film in his mind and has no real connection to the real world. Just what we need right now.
6
These soldiers in tents along the border will surely remember this Thanksgiving, as they consume foods possibly quite distant from typical holiday fair. Or worse, having to stay in the tents after being denied leave to visit family for the holiday. Their holiday predicament is based on defending our nation from the national security risk of near shoe-less immigrants hunkering down by the border as they await weeks-long (months-long) entry to speak to an USA official about asylum.
You have to imagine these soldiers are questioning their mission. It's probable this questioning will lead to many abandoning the military as a career choice. I mean, some of them are smart. Thank you Donald, for pushing the smart ones out ... (push sarcasm button now)
2
Oh no! You mean being a soldier doesn't mean getting what you want when you want all the time? You mean soldiers have to endure some hardships and go where they are told to go? No Way!
3
If "threat" was not so ridiculous it could justify the use of the military. First it's a caravan that has been on our radar for months. They are walking, poor, women and children 100's of miles away. They are on a caravan to protect themselves from thieves. A drone and a plane can keep them under servailence and presumably under control if need be. Oh, by the way troops are now being withdrawn.
3
The United States has become a joke.
3
One point missed: this was the action of a mentally challenged, wannabe dictator. Call it for what it was.
7
Let all of them in! Let's give them free homes, food, education and healthcare.. If you don't agree with me then you are a xenophobic, populist, racist neo-fascist!
4
Our President's betrayal and abuse of our military sew the seed of his own destruction.
If I bust my knuckles on a monkey wrench or cut my arm on some razor wire as part of his mid-term border stunt, both I and my family will exact our revenge at the next election.
3
I don't know about betrayal. And I for darn sure don't know about profound.
2
This stunt, as you call it, it's certainly among the less dangerous things this imbecile could do. Perhaps it serves a purpose he didn't intend by illuminating again his unfitness for the high office he stumbled into. Every disillusioned former voter of his will be one more vote against him in 2020, as the nation addresses the tremendous damage he has done to the country. The ones who still back him after this insanity are, like the elderly lady who argued with Senator McCain that President Obama was an Arab, beyond all help.
5
It's a small price to pay if it leads to soldiers ultimately questioning authority.
No wait, that's not a good thing.
1
For the first time in this century, I think the use of the military not for regime change overseas but to plug our porous border is the appropriate deployment of our military. I applaud president Trump for his courage in standing up to those who call it a betrayal. This is not to say that we should not be sympathetic to the plight of over populated failed and impoverished countries of central America. Make it easier to come to the USA legally.
The caravan is not all made up of women and children and includes mostly young adult males and there are reports that criminals have infiltrated these caravans. Mexicans on the border do not want them but but the government have offered them jobs and security.
Whatever the perceived intent is does not matter if those who elected the president expect that he keeps his promises, at least some of them and one of them is securing the border. If congress had given the president the wall, he would not have to send the military to form a wall against the defiant mob. All the military personnel deployed on the border are happy that for once they are truly defending the country and not sacrificing their lives to depose some overseas dictator or stopping the spread of communism.
Professor and Pundits can say whatever they want, the president has a responsibility to protect and defend America in a way he feels is most appropriate based on advice he receives from his cabinet.
6
"...defending the country"? Fabricated out of thin air. Do you hear any firefights?
So . . . if the standard for being accepted as an immigrant is the ability to contribute to our society, would somebody please tell me what the immigrant who married Trump has contributed or is contributing or is capable of contributing? I'm talking about measurable contribution. Search as I might, I can’t find anything.
9
Trump has created the chaos by amplifying a refugee caravan into a crisis on the level of full scale war, very likely for political gain that never came. I still assume that the strength of our armed forces is unnecessary beyond routine border patrols, but with the fog of spurious garbage passing as news emanating from this maladministration, it's hard to keep one's head on straight and come up with a righteous position. So I'll go with my gut and agree with the authors: this is another trumpist travesty. And at Thanksgiving, too. How wrong; how sad.
7
So vets still think he's your friend? He's:
1. gt troops stationed at the border...for Thanksgiving. Doing exactly what?
2. Cutting the VA to shreds
3. Dissing Joh McCain AND Navy Seals
i truly do not understand why any vet would think positively of this assault on the American military.
WHY?
9
Only 200 million spent? Tell that to the folks in Paradise, Ca who desperately need shelter and their homes and businesses rebuilt. That sum would replace a lot of homes.
13
Trump's demand for a military parade up Pennsylvania Avenue
would also have been a political stunt and a waste of money.
At least the Pentagon scuttled that idea. The problem is that
the President can declare a security threat as he pleases, just as he imposed sanctions on Canada because, he claimed, Canada presented a security threat to the US. The Congress needs to insist on its oversight of these fabricated security threats before Trump's obsession with "winning"
poses a serious threat to the nation.
8
I mean no disrespect to the authors of this piece, but presidents and other politicians have been profoundly betraying our military for a long, long time.
Consider Vietnam, conducted after the completely phony Gulf of Tonkin incident. It was a war we had no plan to win, no way of winning, and no intention of winning. Probably our first "corporate" war, designed solely to enrich the military industrial complex.
Then there was the post-9/11 invasion of Iraq, built entirely on cooked intelligence, as the Downing Street Memo clearly and comprehensively revealed. Oh, and let's not overlook Afghanistan, which is now our longest war. Just exactly why are we there again, and what would "winning" in Afghanistan look like?
At least with this farce on the southern border no American servicepeople are likely to get killed.
10
Many years ago and Bush2 Rep. Presidents simply like to play war games while claiming to be the biggest supporters of our military and vets, but gladly put them in danger. Who picks them up every time Dem.
2
As a former US soldier, I must say that I would much prefer being used to stop hopefully unarmed invaders from crossing our own borders than having my life placed at risk in fighting useless, endless wars on other continents; being hated by the local populace in still more campaigns that are doomed from the start to end in failiure.
The arms merchants who profit from the latter, and their DC toadies would disagree.
Yes, and I do consider any organized group that attempts to cross our border uninvited to be invaders.
6
Trump is out to destroy our institutions, partly due to ignorance and stupidity and partly due to pure malice. I expect nothing to change while he's in office.
We need a new, reasonable immigration policy. It then must be followed and people no longer allowed to game the system, as happens now.
2
The president would accomplish more by working with Congress to change our immigration laws. They are actually encouraging the poor and uneducated to make their way here. For example, a law known as Special Immigrant Juvenile Status gives immigration relief to any foreigner who is a minor and who claims to have been abused, neglected, or abandoned by one or both parents. It is this law that has been giving unaccompanied Central American minors the legal right to stay in the U.S. This law was written so broadly that just about any minor could qualify under it.
In Central America, it has become common place for an unmarried teenager to give birth and raise her child on her own. Once the child is grown, he can come here and claim Special Juvenile Immigrant Status by saying he was abandoned by his father.
This includes any minor who is on the cusp of adulthood. There are minors who are about to turn 18, who have attended only a couple years of school in their own country, who have no employable skills, and who do not speak English, who qualify for Special Immigrant Status.
The President needs to have his staff work with Congress to change this and other ridiculous immigration laws.
2
I think that Trump should be the first person to leave the country.
He didn't show his tax return.
He has been accused of sexual misconduct.
He is under investigation for collusion.
He lies about everything.
He squanders taxpayers money going to play golf every weekend at his Mar-a-Lago private golf club.
The list would be too long for this space, longer than any imaginary caravan.
7
Trump should spend HIS Thanksgiving with Melania at the border feeeing the troops who are the victims of his childish stunt.
Won't happen because Trump won't tolerate a chance his lacquered pompadoo might get mussed.
5
This retired AF officer agrees that this was a sham paid for with taxpayer money and military personnels' time and effort. It was a stunt!
9
I read so many unhinged replies here that I wonder if any Trumpsters really care about the real problem; MS-13 has driven them out of Honduras. This a humanitarian crisis of enormous size and we as" the great America" can only cry like babies about what these poor people could do to us.
If cooler heads prevailed we would join forces with Honduras and Mexico to help them and deal a military blow to MS-13 in Honduras. There by solving the problem at it`s source. Instead we will see more caravans forced out of Central America desperately seeking humanitarian aid from the country of immigrants.
Here we are days away from Thanksgiving and the Trump mob can only hate!
4
It is disgusting to have us sent 5,000+ troops to the border on an election stunt and have hundreds or thousands of our citizens homeless in tents because of the fires in CA.
7
@Don Feferman
Many Paradise citizens are low-income. Most of those who lost their homes will not be able to find low-income housing anywhere in California, partly because much of it is being rented by the undocumented. Professors at the Yale School of Management estimate that there could be over 29 million people living in the country illegally. Even if the undocumented are living jammed together in inexpensive apartments and houses, they are still taking a large percentage of affordable units off the market.
Many of the undocumented are living in California. Their presence will prevent low-income Paradise residents from finding new housing in their own state.
If the members of the Caravan claim to be fearful of returning to their own country, and so, are let into the U.S. to await an immigration hearing, where do you think they will live? Most of the undocumented live in big cities where affordable housing is hard to find. All of the large west coast cities have high numbers of undocumented migrants and of homeless citizens. The latter include people who work 40 hours a week, but cannot find affordable apartments, as well as the mentally ill.
We could try helping Central Americans in their own countries with food aid (they have been going through a long drought), teachers (the average Honduran has only a 4th grade education), and counselors who could explain birth control.
2
Both Mattis and Kelly should have resigned long ago.
Both men have had their reputations irreparably damaged by their ties to this president.
Using our troops as election day props deserves opprobrium from Congress.
We hear nothing from our Congress because they too have hitched their wagon to this president's black star.
Imagine the disgust felt by normal people here and around the world at the thought of American troops being called up to "protect" the border from a rag tag band of refugees and asylum seekers.
Reagan's shining city on a hill has turned into little more than a latrine in a dark and dirty ditch.
3
Trump himself is a betrayal of everything this country has fought and died for.
7
"The deployment is a stunt, a dangerous one, and in our view, a misuse of the military that should have led Mr. Mattis to consider resigning, instead of acceding to this blatant politicization of America’s military."
Mattis should have resigned, period.
3
Will our well and expensively trained essential military, the best in the world, have to rake the forests after they finish hanging barbed wire? Our service personnel are not Trump's go to worker bees. The border has a processing problem, not a domestic militarization problem.
4
I hope Republicans read your article but I doubt they will....they'll just turn away and lower their integrity, once again.
6
The fact that the waste of $100-200 millions is not considered a significant economic issue speaks volumes about how bloated our military spending is.
Our priorities are completely out of wack.
11
Refreshing to read criticism with force of logic behind it. Cheap political theater with Pancho Villa rationale not Mattis' finest hour.
6
Thank God that President Trump, his immediate family, and all of his former wives will travel down to the border with Mexico, to celebrate Thanksgiving with the troops!
3
Those soldiers could have been deployed protecting the people of Paradise, CA from a climate-change-accelerated wildfire. If we're going to protect Americans from a Honduran caravan, why not from a Chinese hoax?
3
So it took three people to come up with this opinion? I did not realize our Liberal base was so fragile. Stop it people your frightening me
1
This is just trump showboating at taxpayer expense. Once a reality TV show man always a reality Tv show man. You could laugh if it wasn't so pathetic and juvenile.
7
The ultimate betrayal of OUR Military is having this draft dodging Charlatan as Commander in Chief. PERIOD.
8
There seems to be a fairy tale commonly accepted at the Times that the United States is a nation of immigrants, and everyone showing up was always welcome. Very not true.
At least since the mid 19th century, immigration was managed and based on the nation's needs.....not those of the immigrants themselves. At Ellis Island, the flow of people was managed so that they had to climb a long flight of stairs. Those having difficulty doing so were singled out as having poor health, and sent back to where they came from. The nation did not want people who could not be productive, or would be a drag on the incumbent society.
When we needed unskilled laborers, we got them. But the borders were never wide open for anyone based on their needs alone. It was based on the nation's needs.
After World War 2, with the Cold War against Communism, we often would take in refugees fleeing Communist nations, such as Hungary in 1956. But the Coast Guard would intercept Cubans before they hit the shore so they could not claim to be refugees. And if you were fleeing places like the Congo, forget it. Our taking in of Cubans and Hungarians was probably more motivated by the nation's anti-Communist policies than the welfare of the refugees, and the propaganda value.
If we were so welcoming of refugees, why did FDR deny entry to the boatload of Jews fleeing Europe in 1939?
Fairy tales, just fairy tales.
@RM With the exception of native Americans, the rest of us here now descended from immigrants. I think that is why we refer to our country as a nation of immigrants.
3
I believe it is a profound betrayal of the military to send them beyound the border too.
I think our time and money would be better spent helping the government these people are fleeing to route out the gangs causing these people to flee in fear of their lives. Since there would be little political payoff for Trump to assist in trying to solve the cause, I don't expect him to lift a finger to do so. Instead, he threatens to cut funds to these countries.
3
The military has an admirable tradition of staying out of politics, and respecting, even holding sacred, the idea of civilian leadership. This betrayal by the President threatens to destabilize this mutually understood relationship which has been in place since the very beginning of the republic. The President doesn't use the military for politics, and the military respects the sanctity of civilian rule.
Of the very many norms Trump has broken, this one is near the top of the list of those I hope are soon returned to, and bolstered, when the scourge of Trumpism has passed.
5
Trump has no exit plan, no mission accomplished speech. HE needs a border issue to rally his base, material for his rallies. Without border fears, Trump is not elected. So, in truth, Trump will do everything he can to magnify the problem. Furthermore he has no interest in seeing a bipartisan, level-headed bill reach Congress. Anything presented under his watch will be filled with untenable, draconian "solutions" -- like the wall -- doomed to a down vote. Then, tee up anger, go to next scare tactic rally.
4
Fantastic article. Thank you for pointing out the folly and despicable abuse of office that donny has made with this horrendous stunt. Thank you also for pointing out that Mattis should have resigned in protest. But, that would take honor which neither Mattis or donny have. Our good men and women in uniform should not spend Thanksgiving in tents on the US border. Shame
1
How much money have we wasted having tens of thousands of troops continuously for 65 years at the DMZ? Quite frankly, its a much better use of our troops to guard our borders and prevent brazen attempts to storm the border. Essentially none of these caravan migrants will qualify for asylum. It is a joke to throw this word around like they have legitimate claims. Let them see that the border is secure, otherwise the floodgates will open from Central America.
2
And the vast majority of the military still voted for Republicans despite multiple inconclusive wars and neglect of veterans. Conclusion....the military is just fine with these shenanigans.
2
The real failure is that of the President and his party to work with the Democratic Party to legislate a comprehensive immigration policy. The rights desire to use fear of the other as a campaign plank needs to be abandoned.
1
Trump's ego, self-serving stunts, and disloyalty to the United States know no bounds. He appears to betray if not violate our Constitution every day. Is there no way to hold him immediately accountable? Is there not only no backbone in Trump but also no backbone in the Republican Party?
3
Also, I hear tell that the quarters are uncomfortable. The military is accustomed to discomfort, but this publicity stunt is hardly an excuse to mistreat those who serve in the military.
3
This is an unfair and irresponsible op ed.
1. The dispatch of troops to the border to support border control is NOT unprecedented. Both Obama and Bush did it.
2. If the dispatch of troops was simply a "stunt" to manipulate the midterm elections, why haven't the troops been sent home now that the midterm elections are over?
3. The writers play semantic games over what counts as a "threat." There is a very real possibility that there could be chaos as large numbers of people try to cross the border.
4. The writers are willing to play dice with the safety and probably the lives of the unarmed refugees and border guards. If a handful of border guards are overrun by large numbers of refugees, things could get nasty in a hurry. Trump is doing exactly what the doctor ordered -- he is proposing to use troops in large numbers so that the situation doesn't get out of control.
5. If the borders are undermanned, and refugees overrun border guards, then there will be even bigger caravans to follow, with even greater danger to life and limb.
6. It is the writers who are irresponsibly playing politics with other people's lives. Trump-hatred is no substitute for cool heads and wise precautions.
40
Military troops are NOT supposed to be used for border protection. Even if the so-called “caravan” were as dangerous as Fox News claims it is (which it isn’t) why not handle the situation with the Border Patrol? That’s what they’re for. If there aren’t enough, then increase their budget.
To solve domestic situations (particularly those hyped up for political reasons) is a dangerous precedent towards the militarization of our society.
128
@Ian Maitland
It is nonsense to say there was a threat of "chaos" at the border that merited the sending of more than 500 troops and spending $100,000,000. There is absolutely no valid information to suggest that these people were dangerous, disease-ridden, or planning to storm the border, or that the readiness of the existing personnel (not "a handful") and resources was insufficient to deal with them. Yes, this was a blatant political stunt. Trump tried to frighten 325 million Americans into believing that their "life and limb" was threatened by a few thousand migrants hoping to escape persecution or terror in their own countries.
115
@Ian Maitland
It is nonsense to say there was a threat of "chaos" at the border that merited the sending of more than 5000 troops and spending $100,000,000. There is absolutely no valid information to suggest that these people were dangerous, disease-ridden, or planning to storm the border, or that the readiness of the existing personnel (not "a handful") and resources was insufficient to deal with them. Yes, this was a blatant political stunt. Trump tried to frighten 325 million Americans into believing that their "life and limb" was threatened by a few thousand migrants hoping to escape persecution or terror in their own countries.
45
Have we no shame!
When will we address serious issues like automation, climate change, sensible gun control, infrastructure, poverty, the electoral college, etc.? We are now likely to have another two years of gridlock while other countries are making real progress.
7
@Frank Walker: We're waiting for divine intervention.
2
@Steve Bolger
It's been a long wait! :)
1
The Army should just send an itemized bill to the RNC.
12
everything is just a tool to this man. nothing is intrinsically of value except its momentary value to him. he has repeatedly insulted better men and women and the institutions they serve. there is no news here. just updates on the continuing decline of civic values by a leader who has none.
7
If your house was on the US side of the border, right where the migrant caravan was going to cross, would you want troops there? Its very easy to sit back here far away from the path of the caravan and criticize what the president is doing, but if something crazy happens and there is nothing but a handful of border patrol officers per 20 miles, he would be criticized then too. Better to have troops ready and not need them than need them and not have them.
8
@Mark,Iowa Do you really believe what you wrote? If true, your logic would say that the troops better be everywhere. Do you realize the people coming to request refugee status have very little and are coming from desperate situations. let's be a little compassionate.
2
What tires me most about articles like this is that it describes just one more in a long list of outrageous acts that the current President does with impunity. All of the checks and balances our political system supposedly has are nowhere to be seen. The so-called conservative constitutionalists have nothing to say. If anyone is wondering why Americans are losing faith in their political institutions, this is one of your answers.
18
Instead of supporting political stunts such as this, Republicans would do well to force Mitch McConnell to place the pending Immigration Bill that has been collecting dust since before Obama's last term . This bill passed the Senate but Republicans refused to bring it to the House floor for discussion, debate and a vote. What hipocrissy, with Trump accusing Obama of doing nothing on immigration. Truth is that the "immigration" problem is the gift that keeps on giving-- promoting hatred and alarm about the country being invaded by illegals, when it is politically convenient, but at the same time doing thr bidding for the agricultural industries on the border states who benefit from cheap, unregulated labor of the poor devils who risk life and limb to cross illegally. The malevolence of the Republican Party and Trump has no limits!
9
Apart from Trump's ingrained irrationality, sending US Army to the border is not an act of "Profound Betrayal of Our Military". The military's "is not to reason why/Theirs is to do and die", if unavoidable. I do not know, how would they stop the incoming wave of migrants, many of whom are most probably legitimare refugees, but I doubt that the soldiers would fire upon them or impale them on the bayonets.
1
Americans are fed up with the largely unfettered flow of illegal boarder crossings that only seem to be getting worse. Using the army to protect the country from an anticipated multitude of these people is a completely valid move. Nothing else seems to be working.
7
So the army sends troops to the middle of the desert to train stringing barbed wire, setting up fire bases and creating defensive positions.
These troops were sent to the border to do the exact same thing but instead of useless barbed wire stringing this serves a purpose.
Why isn't this just training for deployment with an added benefit?
2
You can't say that a group of thousand coming to rush our border isn't a threat. Saying "let's be clear" doesn't give what you say any authority. If anything, I need you to explain how this is a good thing for American citizens. None of this "they take the jobs we don't want" nonsense either. Theres q reason those jobs pay garbage rates. Which is actually a misnomer since garbage men make more money than farm workers.
7
@Kaygee. I do not see people lining up in my rural agricultural area for farm jobs. If you would like a farm job--- haying in 110* weather, spreading manure when it is 35* below, milking every day at 4 AM and again at 4 PM, in winter being in the dark both ends of your day, with hours of hard work feeding, cleaning, repairing, book keeping, possibly a second job as a school bus driver or other occupation, juggling any sort of a personal life with these endless chores, keeping your house and barns in repair--- I am sure I could find any number of my neighbors who would be happy to have you. Of course most of this is minimum wage work, if that, and even US citizens of low melanin are often paid "off the books", so be prepared to lower your expenses and obligations. No lines, no waiting. Call me!
2
Someone please explain to me how sending 5,000 troops to the U.S. southern border for a few months costs an extra $100 to 200 million. That is $20-40 thousand per soldier.
This political stunt coupled with the President's inability to cross the bridge to Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day is a stark message to all those who have served and those still in uniform. The Trump Family has never had anyone serve in the American military. We are talking generational dodging here. And yet the imposter in the White House still wants people to believe he is all about supporting "our" troops. No one is buying it any more.
9
To all who would twist themselves into pretzels to rationalize this reckless politicization of our military, I have only this to say:
if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck.
Think about it.
2
The real test of Trump's ability to act as our Commander & Chief will be when he sends our troops into a military action based on his lies to enhance his political status. Trump has said he could shoot someone on 5th Ave and not lose a member of his rabid cult. The same may be true of if our brave young troops are killed in action to serve his political purposes of our cadet bone spurs president . Attacking real war heroes like McCraken and McCain is the height of hypocrisy by this carnival barker blowhard who spent his days pursuing sexual conquests while married and paying off porn stars he bedded. Morally corrupt to the core.
2
Exactly what we've come to expect from an egomaniacal, silver spooned, umpteen time draft dodger like Cadet Bonespur. Hello, Republicans in Congress! Are you still there? GRUSTNYY!
2
How do you solve a problem like Donald Trump?
How do you catch the clod and pin him down?
How do you find a word that means Donald Trump?
A flibbertijibbet? A will-o'-the-wisp? A clown!!
Many a thing you know you'd like to tell him.
Many a thing he ought to understand.
But how do you make him stay and listen to all you say?
How do you keep a wave upon the sand?
Oh, how do you solve a problem like Donald Trump?
How do you hold a lunatic in your hand?
3
Is there any limit to the indignity our men and women in uniform have to endure under the heel of this malignant little despot? In fact, there is a limit, but our morally destitute Republican Congress won't lift a finger to impose it. Happy Thanksgiving, Congress! Maybe after you finish stuffing yourselves at dinner you can scrape up a few of your table scraps and mail them to the troops! You people would hang your heads in shame — if you had the capacity to feel any!
3
why are they still there
military stunt should be seriously discussed with pentagon and leaders of all branches of service
if he can do for an election stunt, what is next?
a president that cannot remember Paradise burned, not Pleasure
or that the Finnish president told him they rake to prevent forest fires, a lie.
so much stupid
2
"The president used America’s military not against any real threat but as toy soldiers, with the intent of manipulating a domestic midterm election."
Almost like the Iraq invasion and its attendant "Mission accomplished" pageant and Thanksgiving dinner photo-op. Pity that in that in the Iraq case the consequences of, preening as a "war president," the jutting jaws of cabinet officials and retired generals on TV, and the constant invocation of "Churchillian leadership" were so deadly. A little reminder: Churchill had nothing to promise but "blood, sweat, and tears." Bush II gave us tax cuts and urged us to go to the mall. Churchillian indeed.
Act I of history comes first as tragedy. Now we're in the Act II: the farce. What will Act III be?
2
Thank you. We live in sad times when the Commander in Chief moves his soldiers around like toys, first wanting to have a big military parade and then positioning them against exhausted families who have walked a thousand miles, often with children.
Not that far away are the detention camps for all the imprisoned children. They also are in tents. Their facilities are not licensed. They will have no school, and I am uncertain about medical treatment. No child should ever be treated like this.
Trump Tower and the Trump golf resorts are enclaves of luxury and privilege. While Trump tweets, California burns, the Middle East gets ever more unstable, a Saudi prince may have gotten away with a horrific murder, and Americans will have a Thanksgiving following yet another record warming spell.
I'm truly glad there are experts looking after the interests of America and putting things in perspective. It may do no good but it is reassuring the world hasn't gone completely mad following some White Rabbit down a Trump rabbit hole.
9
The most perplexing aspect of this stunt, was not Trumps obvious intentions, but the wide acceptance from his base that this caravan is a threat to national security. The fact that his supporters are so malleable that Trump lie and they will swear to it. History has shown us that these types of blind loyalty are extremely dangerous.
If only we had had a most sensible amendment to prevent unabashed deliberate draft dodgers from holding the position of commander in chief, we would not only not be suffering Trump but also George W. would have never held that office. Gore probably would not have destabilized the Middle East.
7
Trump advocates will complacently acknowledge this and more, saying "Let Trump Be Trump". Be careful what you wish for.
2
I can guarantee that many soldiers deployed to the Southern border have roots in countries south of the border. If you ask them to fire on the migrants should they throw rocks is like asking our soldiers to fire on their families.
@BWCA
So the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II was appropriate because they too looked at the Japanese as their families?
At some point, becoming an American means foregoing all previous allegiances, especially if you decide to join the army.
2
What's the difference between the intent to obstruct justice and the intent to manipulate an election? Not all that much if the same person, acting as a President of The United States, has done both as well as committing quite a few other egregious acts including collaborating with a sworn enemy of his own country for political gain.
Few, if any, would call these actions presidential. Many, if not all, would call them dictatorial.
5
This is just more garbage news that’s meant to spin nothing into something that looks bad for Trump. I’m a former Marine and “border Hops” has always been a duty that active duty Marines pulled. There has been active duty marines assisting on the border with Mexico, for sure, since the early 90’s and probably longer. I will only verify what I know so that’s why I’m giving those years. We also assisted with drug busts while being assigned to coast guard ships. These were all temporary duties that we volunteered for.
9
I wish someone who knows would explain how the military would respond if Trump does given an illegal order, like to fire on a group of citizens in a nonviolent protest demonstration?
I understand the point made here. However, one way or another, at home or abroad, all military deployments are political, at least some part of it, as are all wars.
3
The military should have just not gone. The president's attention span is less than 30 minutes long. That's why his aides can steal papers off the top of his desk and Trump forgets they were ever there. If the military just said, "Okay, we'll go," and then not gone, Trump would have forgot he sent them.
1
In many ways, those who wish to come to America today from south of our border are no different than those who immigrated from Europe in past centuries to pursue a better life and escape crises, both political and economic. Yet there is an important difference: America has played an enormous role in creating the very conditions (e.g., poverty, gangs) that make so many people try to flee here from Central America and other areas in Latin America. During much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the US has interfered repeatedly in the governments and economies of the countries in our backyard to secure economic advantage and support dictators friendly to US corporations. They are not simply unlucky or poorly educated. We poisoned their well water and now we refuse to share ours.
8
I would not have objected quite so much if the RNC was paying for the deployment. But that would have made the true meaning more obvious.
7
There is one aspect of trump's behavior - of using our military as "toy soldiers" - that has been rarely discussed.
With trump showing so many authoritarian behaviors, and his words that so often resemble that of a fascist, we need to consider the possibility that his intentions are just so.
If trump is taking our nation towards fascism, he needs a sufficient number of armed persons to do his bidding. He has two groups for this: (1) a sizeable number (some estimates of 100,000) of white supremacists who often are heavily armed, and (2) our military and associated (border patrol). The border patrol forces also included within their ranks sufficient white supremacists (demonstrated by recent arrests of their staff).
So trump needs to know how to manipulate our military leadership, and our troops. He has found, in Mattis, a willing patsy who will not defy him. And these "maneuvers" are giving trump an understanding of how to control/use our military.
This is the same behaviors that hitler exhibited and successfully learned, in 1938, to grab Germany before they realized the level of psychological and physical power he wielded.
trump wants to be like putin and hitler. He wants our military to do anything he orders - even "mob control" (against democrats or patriots).
It's foolish to believe trump can be stopped easily. He is a cancer.
10
"Is there truly a threat to American security from an unarmed group of tired refugees and asylum seekers on foot and a thousand miles from the border?" This straw man argument is simply designed to reduce the importance of border security. The authors here are less concerned with the very serious problems that have plagued American citizens because of uninterrupted decades of just such an invasion, and more concerned with smearing Donald J. Trump.
6
Just like invading Iraq?
2
The use of our military for personal and partisan issues weakened America tremendously. Our military commanders will, in the future, question the wisdom and reasons of any deployment and open the door for a fractious military where many high ranking officers may simply disregard the president's orders.
1
At least Trump's betrayal of Our Military is not as deadly as the betrayal that resulted from Dick Cheney's yellowcake uranium hoax (tragically aided and abetted by Col. Wilkerson's former boss Colin Powell) -- unless its possible for a soldier to die of boredom.
4
If sending troops to the border for political purposes is not a 'high crime and misdemeanor', I'm not sure what is.
258
@dmckj
That argument doesn't carry a lick of weight, unless you want to also raise issues with past presidents sending troops to Korea, Vietnam, Gulf 1, Gulf 2, Panama and Grenada.
Even WWI was a political war, not a truly defensive one. Heck, lets go all the way back to Tripoli.
Point being: troops are used for politics all the time, most often by ensuring the president shows they are reinforcing the country's geopolitical standing.
I disagree with the troop move as much as the next guy, but because its legal, over-the-top "GROUNDS FOR IMPEACHMENT!" rhetoric isn't doing anyone any good.
10
@htg
While I agree with you on most of these military endeavors, this was done just before the elections. The threat was not military, and the stated goal of the refugees was to ask for asylum. It is a pattern of this lunatic we call president to use anything at his disposal to make him look tough or change the discourse if it against him.
19
@dmckj: Whenever troop are sent to prevent others from crossing one's national border, it is for political purposes. That is the basic reason why we tolerate politicians and have national armies.
2
Let's face it: He couldn't get his multi-million dollar military parade for Veterans Day, so the border stunt was his own gift to himself as a consolation prize.
6
This is nothing compared to what this imbecilic, mentally disturbed psychopath might do if becoming more unhinged - like starting an all-out war to distract from the Mueller investigation closing in on him and his family. The danger we are in cannot be underestimated.
15
@Sam Kanter Where did the quaint old idea go that only Congress could actually declare war?
The slippery slopes of authoritarianism do not get any steeper than the politization of the military for domestic purposes.
In 2020 are we to expect a presidentially declared national emergency to prevent wide-spread election fraud?
7
Best part about this is they sent 15,000 soldiers down there.... with no guns. Those E-2 through E-5’s get to be a bit testy when they are sitting around for no reason.
2
Who would you want in your country? A group of people willing to walk thousands of miles to escape a brutal crime ridden country with the hope of building a better life elsewhere? Or would you want your country filled by the likes of people who are afraid of what a little rain and wind will do to their hair; and whose idea of exercise is walking out to a golf cart?
Those people in the caravan are no different than the waves of people that came to America over the past couple of centuries.
If you ask me, I would choose the people who will get off their butts and have the energy and will to overcome significant travails that it takes to leave home and go elsewhere to build a better life. You know, the types of people that are similar to the great-grandparents and grandparents of the troops that Trump sent to guard the border. The only difference is that they are coming in on your southern border rather than through places like Ellis Island.
17
FDR in 1939 didn't deploy the US Navy to turn back the SS St. Louis with 937 German Jews on board trying to escape the Nazis. As heartless as this act was, he did it without fanfare.
Different time, much different President but same results...
1
The bill for the troop deployment should be sent to the Trump reelection committee. He has plenty of money to cover this campaign expense.
8
Right on. I'm a recent military retiree and couldn't agree more. Troops should not become political pawns. Trump has led us to yet another step and dangerous slippery slope. There are reasons for the norms and standards of government. Smashing all the China in the shop doesn't give you a better functioning store.
6
I have a friend whose daughter was sent to the border as part of this deployment. This young woman and her unit have no idea why they are there. They can't be used for law enforcement within the borders of this country. Presently they are setting up barbed wire, and living in a tent without electricity and eating cold MREs. All for a photo opp during the mid-term elections.
12
I’ve now lost faith in General Mattis. I thought he had guts and was a restraint on Trump. No more.
He should have refused Trumps order. Period. And resigned, if forced by Trump to send the troops anyway.
Sad.
4
@Ronn Robinson
General Mattis is walking a high wire and is doing it the best he can before Trump cuts the wire in the middle. I hope he hangs on as long as he can. I have no confidence that Trump will appoint someone who is not his pawn, and that is a very dangerous situation for the military. Mattis is playing a great game of chess and I hope he can continue to checkmate!
Unbelievable. And yet, with this president*, completely believable.
3
Those of us who live and work here in the Rio Grande Valley know that this stretch of the border already is very well patrolled.
The crossing points are well-staffed 24/7/365 and documentation is thoroughly checked for anyone re-entering the U.S. When crossing on foot or by car, I must show a U.S. passport or crossing card. Passengers arriving at McAllen airport are required to open every suitcase for customs.
inspection.
This deployment is a political gesture and nothing else.
17
It seems the President has already forgotten about this issue. He surely hasn't tweeted about it since the election.
6
The $100 to $200 million that the authors flippantly label as a tiny fraction would be better spent sending it to Honduras and Guatemala in support of the law enforcement efforts in those countries. The reason why a caravan of hopeful people are heading our way is that there is no hope for them in their home towns and villages.
But pointless political posturing is worth more in the US than real humanitarian aid going where its needed.
4
This is just one in a long line of actions by Trump that demonstrate ignorance of and contempt for the Constitution, the rule of law and democratic institutions.
Each action constitutes a material erosion of the Constitution, the rule of law, and democratic institutions.
As as each one has been acceded to by officials in government who know better, the erosion intensifies and is "normalized."
On aggregate, the accumulation of these actions constitutes high treason
Those in government who have acceded to these actions have aided and abetted the high treason.
And all this for Donald Trump?
1
@cfxk All of Trump's staff should quit. They are complicit in his unconstitutional and ill advised actions.
1
Those troops should have been deployed to California to help save lives. Instead, they were deployed to boost Republican votes in the mid-term. Trump has brought us shame we will not live down for decades.
8
The most important thing to remember is not what Trump did or does but the fact that Republicans support and approve it. Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan have supported every Trump betrayal of the American people. McConnell refuses to even protect Mueller, much less denounce this latest betrayal.
11
Immigrants are pushed and pulled to the US. They are pushed by terrible conditions in their own countries, conditions that are often caused by US foreign policy like sanctions and political action against "socialist countries", military participation in the War on Drugs,etc. They are pulled to the US by US employers who much prefer cheap labor under threat of deportation than hiring Americans who must be paid more and treated better.
Many years ago Republicans said employers should be punished for hiring "illegals". They wanted the Social Security list to be updated and corrected and used and heavy employer fines. This could have worked but punishing the well off? We were already politically corrupted by donation money. Employers beat that back by stirring fear of a National ID requirement (the horror!).
The other possibility would be to change foreign policy in Latin America where we have a long long history of interference. No chance. Instead we are bombing and trashing in the ME and waves of refugees are heading for Europe.
Calling refugees an invasion is the ultimate in dishonesty.
6
It is essays like this that give credence to Trump's claims that the NY Times fills its pages with fake news.
It trivializes the concerns of America's poor and those who formerly worked as middle income workers.
Americans have a right to be concerned about an invasion of foreigners who might overwhelm the safety net and cause many of the poor to fall through the cracks of a fraying health care system.
The US population has increase by 86 million since 1986, when the US Congress passed the last comprehensive immigration reform bill.
That is an increase of population of 36%. Since the US fertility had achieved replacement level, almost all of that increase can be attributed to immigration. Much of the increase is due to illegal immigration, not just illegal immigrants themselves, but the high fertility of illegal immigrants and the sponsorship of immigration of family members.
The rate of training of physicians has not increased as much as population growth, and that partially explains soaring health care costs.
Yes, putting troops on the border will most likely not be needed. But liberals need to remember WHY Trump was elected.
Many of the poor no longer believe the mainstream media which doesn't even DISCUSS the impact of population growth on quality of life in the US.
That failure to discuss is even more outrageous since worldwide it is population growth which is one of the major contributions to global warming.
Resources are limited. We need to admit that.
7
Oh, I remember quite well why Trump was elected.
Beyond our Democrat-to-Left screwups and the press’ outting sales over everything else, it was massive ignorance, open bigotry, male backlash, nutbar Christian fanaticism, and a pandering set of right-wing media networks that were helped along by Vlad the Putin.
This created just enough suckers who bought the fantasy that they could sit around on their duffs as the money and the bennies rolled in because a born-rich greedhead like Donald Trump loved them and would take care of them.
4
Mission accomplished. Now that the election is over, the president could use the military to help Americans. Because he's so vindictive, it's hard to imagine help coming to California, but our military could help in Texas and Florida. In fact, that suggests an idea for Democrats. Work to give Puerto Rico the right to vote.
1
What's even more remarkable is that this editorial had to be written at all, it's like reading in the New York Times that the sky is blue. There was no ruse here, no guile, no subtlety; Trump's xenophobe-provoking motivations and the absence of any real military threat were obvious to even the least-trained eye. Only the wilfully ignorant claim otherwise.
And yet, here we are.
10
Trump (and by extension the Repubs who support him) has seemed to delight in alienating one group of people after another. In the past couple of weeks he seems determined to add "the military" to the list. It seems to be working.
In retrospect I should have seen it coming, but I'll admit that this took me by surprise.
5
This was a "stunt" created by a stuntman and master criminal. The asylum seekers headed our way should be welcomed and treated with compassion, and the underlying causes of the violence in the Central American countries should be addressed with aid, compensation after years of the U.S supporting military strongmen in that area.
The kidnapping of children at the border, separating them from their families with no intention of reuniting them is a crime, and those responsible should be prosecuted, but alas, Trump has been appointing fellow criminals to head the Justice Department. Basic human rights doesn't stop at the border.
The authors tell us the military spends $716 billion a year. Tell us how this is spent. To tackle such a large sum, perhaps divide the work up into 716 parts and assign graduate students to tell us specifically about each part, including how much oversight, no bid contracts or pork for Congressmen, comparison of DOD spending and private contractors for the same service, revolving door kickbacks, etc. Break it down and tell us how much is necessary, and how much is corporate welfare or just "stunts". This not just academic or esoteric. If we are threatened by missiles from N. Korea, belligerence in the S. China Sea, or military aggression from Russia, it may be necessary to go to war. Wasteful spending should be eliminated.
There is also $5 billion promised by Pres. Obama to address climate change. Let the military do this.
str
3
Trump: "Well, I never said "caravan." Fake news. I said "carnival." My holiday gift to our fighting men and women, a beautiful carnival at our southern border. They deserve a break from their families over this holiday season. Many have thanked my for my kindness. That I can tell you."
2
We are better off with Mr. Mattis in place to head off any other blatant misuses of the military. Trump's exercise of power, here, is only the beginning as he tries to evolve into dictator. Think voter and protester suppression. This is only the beginning, brothers and sisters. Eventually the military may have to make a choice: work Trump's ambitions or work a rolling coup.
5
Mr. Trump's inability to appreciate the proper role of our institutions and public agencies (which amounts to a fundamental disrespect for them) is definitional and unchangeable in him. He presents an interesting case: Whether he has crossed any "high crimes and misdemeanors" bright lines is still a murky question, yet (even if only for the reason mentioned above) he is unfit for the office he managed to occupy. Maybe that's the point of the Oath - it explicitly extends his obligations to "faithfully" executing the office. Unfortunately, even that doesn't totally clear the fog - what does "faithfully" mean? The rest of the Oath of Office doesn't help much - "[I] will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution...." Mr. Trump IS performing to the best of his ability, alas. So in the end this appears to be not a matter for any court but rather for the citizenry to adjudicate on Election Day. In that regard, the outcome we just saw was resounding and suggested that the country will shake him off completely two years from now. In the meantime, one must hope that the genius sluggishness of government will be enough to prevent him from levering the country right off a cliff.
3
We don't need Mr Mattis to resign. Trump will replace him with someone like Erik Prince. Trump is the one who should resign.
6
An American town of 27,500 has been wiped off the face of the earth. Panic-stricken survivors, huddled in makeshift tent communities, are worried sick about their fate and the fate of their loved ones. A rainstorm is approaching; sanitary conditions may deteriorate. Many hundreds remain unaccounted for.
Meanwhile, the commander-in-chief's self-proclaimed "very wonderful brain" can't even muster sufficient neuro-electrical activity to correctly name the place he visited: Paradise. Pleasure. Whatever.
Then again, the victims, living and dead, are "losers" to his way of thinking; and we all know how this "very smart" man hates being even remotely associated with losing!
If they are not worth a minimal effort to commit to memory the single-word name of their incinerated home town, how can they possibly deserve the assistance of our troops, so desperately needed to defend America from the impending onslaught of bedraggled refugees?
Instead of twiddling their thumbs at the border, the US Army should be immediately redeployed to northern California, where an ACTUAL catastrophe cries out for their logistical and moral support.
6
This exodus of Hondurans has a legitimate asylum claim.
For a century the Honduran people were beholden to the needs of the United Fruit Company and other U.S. corporate interests, which bent the country's laws and politics to their favor. In 2009, the Honduran military trained at the School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, Georgia ushered out of the presidential palace at gunpoint the democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya. Prior to the coup, he had planned a legal non binding referendum for a constituent assembly to rewrite the country's constitution. Days before the coup, Zelaya also intervened in the Bajo Aguán land disputes, signing an agreement to start talks on redistributing the land. A handful of families controlling much of Honduras’s land and economy. all the agricultural land. Zelaya`s critics at the time including the country's political and financial elites and the Obama administration, especially Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ultimately acquiesced to the coup. Galvanized opposition took to the streets and turmoil reigned. The government suppressed protests with force. Honduras was plunged into extreme violence and drug cartels exploited the confusion to solidify their control over trafficking routes. The U.S. push for new elections after the coup helped legitimize the actions of the Honduran military, destabilize the country and pave the way for the extreme political violence, extortions and murder that followed. The only escape was North.
4
This is honoring our troops?
The person who sent these troops to our southern border (for nothing other than his own political purpose) is the same person who declared that taking a knee prior to a football game is a dishonor to our troops.
2
That the president pulled this stunt is not what is so disappointing, but what is disappointing is that there there were voters who were influenced by it.
3
If they help keep out the illegal hoard, they will have done their job well.
3
The troops could be used to ease the suffering of the California fire victims, setting up tents, distributing food, etc.
2
This is an embarrassment to our military, just as Mr. Trump's refusal to call out Vladimir Putin personally is an embarrassment to our intelligence agencies. This man has no shame and will stop at nothing to play his political games.
Mr. Trump however is very dogmatic which means he will not learn a lesson from his losses and the uselessness of his stunt. He will pull stunts between now and 2020 and you can bet he will embarrass all parts of our government and the people of the United States, as he desperately tries to avoid the inevitable; political and legal accountability.
3
Give it a rest. The US military can be called upon for an assortment of responsibilities, both foreign and domestic. Sending them to the border may speak of a political tool, but so was the use of the military to engage in the NGO efforts in East Africa that lead to our involvement in those conflicts. Engaging in military maneuvers along the borders of our political foes is less a practice of military readiness and more a political statement. So take your fake drama elsewhere.
3
Remember the anonymous op ed piece in the NYT outlining the ways we were being protected from Trump? How long ago and far away, as well as inconsequential, it now seems. Instead of seeing our usurper-in-chief constrained in any way, we see even more crazy hanging out and flapping in the wind.
No, Mattis did not step up and it is beyond disappointing. All those serving in government positions need to stand up to this incompetent, blustering fool when he abuses his power. (I am so weary of hearing executive power used as an excuse to defend the indefensible.)
The real travesty, however, is how the likes of McConnell and Graham have allowed the corruption of our democracy to take place for their selfish goals. McConnell, Graham and virtually all the Republicans in the Senate are committing something tantamount to treason for shirking their oversight duties. History will not treat them well.
6
What do you expect when you have a political amateur in this position?
2
unless foreigners are hired by trump for his resorts, he doesn't want them in the country.
2
wives too.
2
It's "His" army & he will do what he wants with them. "His" generals won't stop him. He likes playing with soldiers & may even start a war or two so he can play supreme commander.
2
Please please, let the man go. He's doing a magnificent job. Of cementing his own failure to be re-elected.
There is nobody more stupid in the entire universe than the human being who thinks he knows everything. It requires an enormous amount of arrogance, which Trump has in overabundance.
These people live in a bubble and can never see past their own noses from which they look down on all the rest of us.
And no person or thing can reach that lofty level of self importance and as a result no person or thing will ever receive any kind of respect or consideration because it simply can't reach reach that high a level of arrogance.
I second the authors' motion. For his most dangerous stunt, I nominate Donnie's declaration that he can pardon himself, something not even MBS, Putin or any living despot has dared to do publicly. Such a ridiculous power would mean he could assassinate Acosta, Schiff, the members of Congress who are ready to vote to impeach him, a Scotus appointee he dislikes, etc. What higher crime can there be than the Potus, who has the US DoD, the CIA, the FBI reporting to him, declaring he can't be stopped?
2
@Ralph
Scares me!
Another part of the picture that might now change is the complicity of Congress. While the Republicans controlled the House and the Senate, they did not attempt a comprehensive reworking of immigration laws (aka - doing part of the job they were elected to do) .
So, with a split Congress, could we actually see some action on legislation? Who knows.
The GOP "leadership" seemed quite content to let Trump do it all with his pen, and with tweets to fire up his base, until exit polls in many suburbs showed that screaming about a wall, and taking a hostility-first approach to immigrants was souring lots of previously Republican voters. Now they lost the House.
Congress, please do your jobs. Work together on a bill with the compromises (Webster will help with defining that) that will let the Democrats and Republicans put a bill in front of the President.
3
how high should our troops jump?
this act can only undermine morale and weaken our military.
and as long as the Commander is an unhinged con artist eager to stir up paranoia in his ignorant, fearful base, this episode won't be the first.
Trump will cry wolf again if it suits his agenda, and to hell with the consequences.
2
Trump's action is the quickest way I can think of to demoralize troops who've already been deployed over and over again to Afghanistan and Iraq and who may have been looking forward to their first Thanksgiving at home in years, prior to the deployment. It's also a waste of taxpayer dollars. Yes, the amount it cost to deploy these soldiers seems small when measured as a portion of the defense budget, but throwing around $100-$200 million dollars to pull this off, in my mind, amounts to an illegal campaign contribution to the Republican party. I think Trump should be brought up on charges for that, and I also think he should be investigated for fraud, waste, and abuse of government funds and services.
6
Nothing more to say but thank you for your wise words. Most of us, that read the NY Times understand the implications of this stunt. Simply down right idiocy and shame on Mattis.
2
What would all of the Trump voting veterans out there have said if Barak Obama had publicly mocked the sacrifices and sufferings of American PoW's, had publicly insulted ANOTHER American war hero by name and belittled and insulted he and his units killing of the mass murderer of 3000 Americans, had failed to honor American war dead in Europe because it was raining and then had failed to honor American war dead here at home because...he had some phone calls to make?
Enough already veterans. trump and by extension his slavishly loyal GOP could not care less about you. Wake up already.
7
We have the PT Barnum of presidents: so expect some clowning around and trained dog acts. We have the lap dogs in Congress, and now the military is his other trained dog act...unfortunately for those in uniform. Barry B
2
Finally, an unarmed enemy, we can win this one bigly.
1
We all know what the Carvan scare was really about.
Once again, why is Trump being allowed to get away with it?
Lets face it, Trump is a distraction, not a President.
3
Nonsense. This article was written by memory deficit political hacks and sore-losers. The President is Commander-in-Chief.
2
It doesn't matter how in-chief a commander is, there are still rules to follow, including those of common sense. Sending active duty soldiers to do something that the National Guard could handle perfectly well is costly, both monetarily and in morale. The only reason that Trump is using the army is because he wants to intimidate the migrant caravan, which probably won't work anyway, when you look at some of the things the migrants are fleeing from. It doesn't matter whether the president has the authority to pull off this stunt (he probably does), what matters is why, and whether or not Trump thought about the negative consequences of his decision.
4
I'm not sure what frightens me more, that the President of the United States would use the military for purely political reasons, to that the US military leaders would so quietly go along. Each and every person in the military swore this oath:
"I, _____, 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; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."
Every day and in every way Trump is looking more like Hitler.
2
This conversation has gotten so polarized. The right think the left want to let everyone in without any processing. The left think the right want to let no one in.
Can we talk more about the process on both sides?
4
As with many things in politics, it is not what Mr. Trump did but how he said it. Rhetoric has played a large role in democracy since the time of Ancient Greece. And it is Mr. Trumps rhetoric with this move that is the problem.
1
What seems lost in the ginned up confusion over asylum seekers has been recognition that people and families - in genuine fear for their lives due to political instability and oppression - have been denied sanctuary, and often imprisoned and their children taken from them by American authorities, under direction of the President of the United States. In the majority of cases those imprisoned were not attempting to illegally enter the US, but had presented themselves to US authorities as required to make claims for asylum. This administration has ratcheted up the tension and confusion by its own creation and exacerbating of the situation. The deliberate mislabeling of the asylum seekers are "illegals" serves the reactive voices for political ends.
The political manipulation of Trump's rhetoric reminds me of the old joke about the police detective and crime: When asked if he didn't want to eliminate all crime forever, the detective replied, "Of course not; then I'd be out of a job."
5
Of course it was a stunt. And ultimately just another lie from an administration packed with liars. So glad I didn’t vote for this clown. The shame his supporters must bear has to be great. The deployment of troops is very hard on family’s and this is just a shame beyond belief but Trump did say he would visit the troops and its close to his Florida retreat!
2
I hope all serving members of the military and the millions of US veterans - 50,000 of whom are homeless - will wake to the fact that Donald Trump is not their friend. It is not unpatriotic to denounce the words and actions of a president who clearly believes that only a sucker would make a sacrifice for his/her country. Donald Trump is a physical and moral coward. He needs to learn that respect is EARNED.
6
President Bone Spur doesn't care about our Military.
To him, they are a prop, used to show how "tough" he is on children seeking legal asylum.
Sadly, this week showed Jim Mattis falling for and abetting trump's lies....comparing these children to Poncho Villa.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/17/opinion/mattis-border-trump.html
#SAD
4
I will rouse myself from my current state of outrage fatigue long enough to write, for the thousandth time, that what Donald Trump did here is, yet again, outrageous and a threat to our Democracy. And, before I slump back into my existential political stupor, I will scream to my empty kitchen that, EVEN WORSE, the craven ruling party does and says nothing. However this ignorant pompous man manipulates an army of GOP Senators and representatives to grovel and lick his boots is the mystery of this age.
Mad Dog: you were my last hope! This is not a political stunt? If Mattis folds............I can’t even go there.
Wake me up when they seat the new House of Representatives.
4
As long as a stinking cowardly self-worshiping serial liar can give "orders" to our military expect more of this baloney sauce.While this just ranks as stupid and wasteful separating children from their parents and keeping them in canvas prisons is cruel, inhumane and far from what Christ sought to teach us . Down at the Presidential Prayer Breakfast where all the congratulatory backslapping goes on the money changers always have the best seats. The comeback of the Golden Calf was probably great for show business but not mankind.
2
There is no possible excuse in using the military when the only purpose for their involvement was Political.
Trump made unwarranted attacks stating the caravan was populated with numerous gang member, crooks, murderers, etc,. This is how he described these immigrants at each and every campaign rally.
As mentioned from the Pentagon these are tired immigrants who are fleeing their country because of the lack of safety from gangs overtaking the communities, yes, poverty, crime, corrupt gov’t creating unsafe conditions, etc.
Trump knew his demand for military involvement was unwarranted. He wanted up to 15,000 troops ready if necessary. He knew his “base” would look very favorably on this maneuver because of their negative views on immigration.
Gen. Mattis is highly regarded and a level headed cabinet member whose presence is needed as the voice of reason. He should not have folded on this one. The cost is estimated to be around $100m to $200m, the morale is extremely down since they are aware their presence probably may not be needed.
He folded on this one, and he should not have done so. “No” was probably not an option. Trump was desperate to get all the Republican votes possible for the midterm elections.
He doesn’t ever take responsibility if things don’t work out. He has a need to blame others. I bet he will ask for Gen. Mattis’s resignation to solve this dilemma. It’s always someone else’s fault.
2
We are a sovereign nation with defined borders and rules of law....and it’s our government’s obligation, and our military’s mission, to protect and defend them.
When people you don’t know come, uninvited, to your front door....brazenly demanding access to your home and resources....do you let them in and hand them the keys? No. You do not.
We have tens of thousands....nay, 12 million+...foreign nationals demanding access to our home and resources. The borders are our collective front door.
2
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
aw, fageddaboudit, Emma.
1
Actually Bush’s and Johnson’s stunts were much worse than Trump’s. Nobody died in this more recent farce.
3
If ever there was an impeachable offense, this is it!
1
"If your country is invaded, don't use the army. Write an article in the New York Times, explaining that the army is not there to defend the country." Got it! it is all clear now.
7
When were we invaded?
4
This border stunt also shows how Mattis has allowed himself to be hollowed out, reduced to comparing an unarmed caravan of civilians to Pancho Villa of a century ago!
1
What about the Iraq war? What was the point of that conflagration?
3
If we cannot defend our borders from a bunch of illegal migrants how could we defend against an armed invasion? Is our Army that impotent. It is a crises. The caravan is now in Mexico City and an advance group is a poised outside San Diego.The Mexicans don't want this group anymore than the US does. Is that close enough for you? We have been unprepared for WW I, WW II, and Korea. We should not be awaiting this group until you guys feel comfortable declaring it and reacting. We are again being caught with our pants down. I guess if Trump did not act you would accuse him of ignoring a threat and being unprepared. If you have a different method of protecting the Border - what is it? No generalities like "a humane " solution. Please, a specific solution
3
Do you understand that these people actively seek border patrol agents to surrender too? To compare an unarmed group of Civilians who are seeking uniformed border agents to an invading army is absurd.
This is also insulting to the hard working men and women of ICE and Homeland security who are already in place and adequately armed to defend the border.
If we were truly under attack we would fly a couple drones and Apache Helicopters over and mow the invaders down in a matter of hours. We have night vision, IR, smart weapons and the meanest baddest military men and women on the face of the earth. I’m not afraid. Stop the fear and hate and stop acting like our current citizens serving along the border are inadequate.
6
Not as bigger problem as illegally invading Iraq, and killing 500 000 people.
2
do you mean that president Donnie Dum Dum cannot use his toy soldiers as he pleases? That the military is not there at his beck and call just waiting to jump into action to sate his fragile ego? Maybe he will just pack up his water pistol and go home
3
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
Not all the kings horses or all the kings men
Could put Humpty Dumpty together again.
Trump's entire life is one big stunt.
4
Thank you, gentlemen, for speaking truth to power, unlike the cowardly people who currently sit in the White House, in the Senate, and in the House. Oh, and cowardly Republican governors of border states. I'm looking at you, Greg Abbot. You sent the Texas guard when "Operation Jade Helm" was supposedly going to conquer Texas with the US military and black helicopters. I guess you think everyone's forgotten about that little episode.
3
I tired to quickly research (the Googles' stolen 'search engine technology' [see Amnon Waisman 1979 Wang Labs CBAM] ) the history of walls and border troops --- but found that the first dozens of hits only referred to video games like Castle Keep, and drawings of Emperors, Kings, and Proconsuls, who often looked a bit like more serious and fit versions of Emperor Trump.
However, history.com, provided some serious information about the Empire that built walls and/or staffed with troops of the Empire:
"Around 122 A.D., the Emperor Hadrian ordered the construction of a stone barrier to protect Roman Britain from the Picts and the other “barbarian” tribes that inhabited northern England and Scotland. The result was “Hadrian’s Wall,” a 73-mile rampart... The wall was roughly 10 feet wide and 15 feet tall and was dotted with forts manned by frontier troops. Gates spaced one mile apart allowed the garrison to control movement in the region—the wall may have even been used to levy taxes/tariffs". [These armed forts may be the inspiration for Coetzee's "Waiting for the Barbarians"]
Likewise, the Great Wall of China "3rd century B.C. under Emperor Qin Shi Huang" was used by Emperors for 2 millennia (along with similar Empires) to protect Emperors' elite and dynastic rule right up to the Berlin Wall.
Emperor Trump is well within his right and privilege to build armed walls to guard his and the UHNWIs current Disguised Global Capitalist Empire only HQed in and 'posing' as America.
2
Where is that caravan this morning, Nov. 19?
Trump's entire reign has been a profound betrayal of the military. The worst part of it is that veterans have been sucked into Trump's con game.
Last July in Kansas City, 4,000 members of the VFW wildly applauded Trump's every word. They booed the media on cue from the draft dodger. They got teary-eyed over his performance like teens at a pop concert.
It was the president who should have been booed that day for he is a president who has called armed, swastika wearing thugs fine people (remember WWII vets?); who has sided with brutal dictators and sworn enemies of democracy; who has shamed a war hero senator and a gold star family; who has stabbed in the back allies whose soldiers fought and died shoulder to shoulder with our armed forces from Yorktown to Normandy to Afghanistan; who has defiled his oath of office and subverted the Constitutional words, procedures and norms for which hundreds of thousands of American troops have given their lives.
Cheer Trump? The Vets should have ran him out of KC on a rail.
5
Trump knows this plays in places like Kansas City.
but he would never try it in someplace like Oakland.
that's the thing about being President Trump: you get to pick your battles and your battlefields (aka, audience).
1
Of the various so-called adults who have been part of the disgrace called the Trump administration, not one has resigned in protest. Not when “there are some fine people” marching with Nazis. Not when Trump groveled on global TV before Putin. Not when Trump fired the head of the FBI to evade the consequences of Trump’s criminality. Not when Trump had children separated grom their mothers and put in cages. Not when he refused to lower the flag to honor McCain. Not when he turned our armed forces into toy soldiers. And Trump rewards each of these profiles in cowardice in the same way, insults and a shiv in the back. Mattis will richly deserve his fate.
2
Hear, hear!
2
Will Cadet Bonespurs be spending thanksgiving with the troops anywhere?
The heat might melt the hair spray. Cause the old bonespurs to act up.
Only troops that have memberships at Mar-A Lago will share his company.
5
The Op-Ed seems right, but I hope General Mattis does not resign. We can be sure that our current president would replace him with someone even less willing to resist. Look at who is the acting Attorney General.
2
To the authors: thank you for this important and necessary reminder. It has been far too absent from news coverage.
2
All it took to take the invasion off the front page was the election of Dems to the House of Reps. Who knew it could be as simple as that?
336
There are facts here that are lost in the cacophony. People don't normally leave their homes and families unless there is a large motivating issue are several, climate change, war, unstable Governments and possibly a total break-down of the rules of society.
These facts are still in place and why, the Irish left Ireland because of the potato famine, Eastern Europeans because of civilian unrest due to Government and pograms, Syrians because of war, the American Indians because of Europeans pushing them from their lands. Africans because the land is too arid to farm. All migrants are seeking a stable home to live and raise their families.
Americans, other than the American Indians, have come from somewhere else we were all migrants. We have conveniently forgotten these facts. We were all those, unwashed others.
That said, laws are important, we are decades overdue to write comprehensive Immigration laws. Laws, although, written should be flexible, revised, discarded or adopt new laws as life moves forward.
4
The authors are mistaken on one count: it is just as wrong to use troops overseas for political gain as it is domestically. The former may be more common, but for that it should be no less harshly criticized.
3
The people who need to stop this are not doing their jobs.
The amount of money spent by this president and his administration are way above the average for past presidents. The delivery of value to the taxpayer is low.
Rein it in by voting for change.
Sure, he can do this. We don't have to like it.
1
Would that we heard more from our spineless Congressional leadership on this topic. Had Republicans objected more, they might have retained the majority.
We're looking forward to House Democrats' restoring us to normal before we entirely forget what it was like.
5
These troops could have, and should be, immediately deployed to fight the California fires and clean up after the hurricanes and floods across the country and in Puerto Rico, and to restore clean drinking water to the homes in Flint, Michigan. (Right now, in California, prisoners are being paid $1.00 and hour to fight the fires. The troops could be a great help.) The "tent jails" set up to incarcerate asylum seekers should be re-deployed as housing for those whose homes have been destroyed. The military could be deployed to help with the building of homes lost to natural disasters. Instead of spending billions of dollars on war, that money should be spent on homes for the homeless, healthcare for all and free, quality education from cradle to grave. Asylum seekers should be granted asylum—not put in jails. We need to build a better world with the wealth created by working people and held by the 0.001% in their private coffers. As Martin Luther King wrote to Coretta Scott in 1952, “Today Capitalism has outlived its usefulness.”
6
I've been viewing the most recent videos from Tijuana. There seems to be a lot of disorderly conduct from hundreds of members of this caravan. Who know how many of them have very questionable motives for entering into the US. The Mexicans are certainly not pleased with their unruly behavior and have corralled them away from the fences and into a confined area.
Up to now, our border patrol has been overwhelmed. Sending in our military to supplement them is perfectly reasonable. As some have commented, these immigrants are trying to forge ahead of others who have applied legally for entry. We cannot allow that to happen. I am certain that if a wall was in place, this wouldn't happen nor would the need for our military to be involved.
Attorneys from the US have abetted these immigrants by coaching them with ways to get around the law. Amnesty seems the best M.O. That's a farce for it seems the great majority of these immigrants want the economic benefits our country provides. That's understandable but it doesn't justify their violating our immigration laws.
4
@MCH
They are obviously trying to get in to steal your stuff. Don't panic, however... even after they swarm into the U.S., they'll have to walk all around the Gulf of Mexico to get to Florida. A saving grace is that with the current acceleration of global warming, Florida will be entirely underwater by the time they get there. So your stuff is probably safe enough if it's in a waterproof container.
4
@Remember in November How many of these folks are you inviting to stay at your home? Probably none. But if they decide to come to uninvited to my home to "steal my stuff", the 2d Amendment will protect me.
2
While this article is, of course, correct to chide the current President over the use of the military for "political ends", let's not kid ourselves that this is *the* precedent for such things in modern American history.
The invasion of a Iraq was prepared and sold to American public in very much the same vein. There is was no immanent threat from this country, yet a threat was manufactured using ginned up "intelligence". Why? In this case it was secure by military means control over another nation's resources. But it did have the effect of giving an false outlet the legitimate outrage Americans felt after the 9/11 attack. The bulk of attackers came from Saudi Arabia, and it was organized by son of a prominent Saudi family, who the US funded in Afghanistan, OBL.
The invasion of Iraq was *the* precedent in modern history of using the military for political ends. It basically secured the re-election of George W. after a mediocre start after a dubious victory. It is also the most consequential. Tens of thousands of lives lost, civilian and military, as well hundreds of billions in treasure squandered (that enriched a number of military and oil contractor companies). And that war helped made the following words household words: ISIS, Abu Ghraib, IED.
So, while Trump did create an "invasion" for electoral purposes. Remember it wasn't that long ago we were told we shouldn't wait for a "mushroom cloud" before invading a country.
5
One of his ardent supporters (a guy I went to high school with) posted a meme describing them as a mob over 10,000 strong armed with all kinds of combat weaponry. For this fellow, at least, the stunt worked, though I'm guessing someone could have said Democrats were planning to launch Republicans into space or use their babies as fertilizer and that would have worked as well.
Still, I'm guessing there are more rational conservatives or independents who were also swayed. If the USA ever sees Democrat control again, and the elected officials actually want to fix things, I'd suggest adopting Australia's system: everyone votes (by law), and a ranked choice ballot makes it difficult for wingnuts. The country gets nudged from left to right, right to left, instead of being jerked violently from side to side. Surely this would work out better for everyone.
2
The only way to make him understand how wrong this is would be to make him pay the cost out of his own pocket.
2
This total betrayal of his Constitutional responsibility as Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces should, must be a separate article of impeachment in the charges brought against this Fake President by the House of Representatives. The deployment of the military always involves risks to the life and limb of the dispatched troops, from transportation incidents to the accidental discharge of weaponry. Trump has no grasp of these issues, only an insatiable narcissistic appetite to do whatever he desires to do in his daily defilement of the Presidential office.
1
What’s ironic is that when Obama was President, the state of Texas freaked out over a planned military maneuver drill a few years back claiming that it was a ploy to take over the state, and half the state was up in arms ready to repel the invasion! The current president sends thousands of soldiers there and there’s not a peep. I guess it’s different when the invaders are brown skinned, impoverished and without hope.
4
When it is all said and done, no one will do a blessed thing about it!
1
This is vastly overstated, as usual. The Army has been sent to, or else over, the border numerous times before. The endless need to criticize Trump diminishes the effect when something bad actually happens
1
There is no way to make America Great Again, except by flexing your muscles against toy soldiers ...Hurray for Trump!
@Kenell Touryan Trump hasn't done much of anything to protect the US from Putin and his hackers. And Trump still hedges about the role of the Saudi Prince in killing an innocent reporter. Trump wants to be one of the "tough guys" and seems unconcerned with collateral damage.
1
I cannot comprehend the Left’s naïveté and obsessive cheerleading on behalf of illegal foreign migrants. What....we don’t have enough economic, social, and ideological divisiveness in this country that we have to import more chaos? Our cities aren’t crowded and violent enough?...we don’t have enough homeless?...our environmental resources, schools, healthcare, and welfare providers aren’t burdened enough?
Get real. We cannot absorb an endless stream....and I do mean ENDLESS stream....of poor migrants yearning to exploit our porous borders.
4
There has always been an endless stream. Actually the number of immigrants seeking asylum has actually decreased a bit.
1
Trump's lack of respect for the military, their families and their sacrifice to this nation is disgusting. He is using the military like a child with a set of plastic army men. Set them up over here, throw them over there, his thinking is they are his to abuse.
How does this affect the readiness of our military to REAL threats? How does this affect personnel who've been over-deployed during their years of service? Why is this man allowed to treat them with such disdain?
AMERICA! WAKE UP! Speak out against this abuse.
3
Before his trip to the border, I thought Mattis should resign out of principle. After his trip to the border, I think Mattis should resign in disgrace. Either way, Mattis has finally allowed himself to become corrupted by the Trump administration. Another one bites the dust.
3
Is there any doubt that Rex Tillerson was right?
2
Videos show hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Tijuana residents clashing with Mexican police as they protest the presence of thousands of Central American migrants in their city. Mexicans are outraged that their government allowed migrant caravans to force their way into Mexico. The protests shows that opposition to illegal immigration is no racist. Both the protesters and the migrants are Latino.
1
Better than that of the 'stunt' of Bush/Cheney in sending 1,000's of our troops to Iraq for 'yellow cake'.
As stupid as it may be, at least they are state side and not in harm's way. Trump could've sent them half way around the world for much, much less. Just saying.
2
The caravans were created to make political trouble for @realDonaldTrump, and he responded appropriately.
When caravans of illegals are organized to invade America, all of our military resources should be put to work. We have missles and other military assets set to defend against attacks, and we must put our troops where they can defend us against illegal immigrants.
If necessary, our troops should be sent into Mexico to arrest the invaders so they can’t use our flawed laws to breach our borders.
US presidents, all high ranking government officials and government workers nationwide, at the federal and state level should be banned by law from carrying out political activities, expressing partisan politics and using the powers of their office and/or resources, because they work for The People not for a party.
From reports this morning in the LA Times, the caravan’s numbers are already swelling and amassing across the border in Tijuana where the local Mexican residents there are protesting their presence. Given people’s feelings in tense and unpredictable times, it might be reassuring to have a strong force available here just in case. Better than the same out burning jungle villages in some distant place.
1
Trump was accused in three class action lawsuits against Trump "U" that accused him of fraud and racketeering, which was backed by evidence files, which pretty much nailed him. That was why he settled out court - to avoid being convicted of a felony.
Yet, Trump fans are willing to accuse immigrants seeking asylum of "breaking the law" before they've even reached the the border.
In Trump's country, there is no due process, you are convicted on his say-so.
In Trump's country, a possible misdemeanor - without evidence - is a heinous act, whereas a possible felony - (such as fraud) WITH evidence is without merit just as long as you're rich enough to settle out of court before a trial date and thus buy your way out of a possible conviction...
... of a felony. Las time I checked, a felony is a worse crime than a misdemeanor.
In Trump's country, certain immigrants are what Trump calls them, and these are the immigrants he's referred to as an "infestation"... and the enemy, while he refers to dictators as his friends.
Now he's sent the military to "protect" his loyalists from the immigrants he has declared his enemy.
When my father fought in the 101st Airborne, Yankee Infantry Division, during World War II, he fought for our country - not Trump's country. He fought AGAINST people who referred to "others" as an "infestation".
Trump's country is not our country. It is antithetical to democracy, morally bankrupt, and dishonors our country.
2
The significance of this is that one author was in the Clinton Administration, one was in the Bush Administration and the third served in tours of both Iraq and Afghanistan. This is a truly bipartisan statement in a time of increasingly divided loyalties.
4
The situation continues to degrade to the point we now have organized caravans of people proudly displaying the flags of their country which they are fleeing for, they say, murderous violence due to government failure to police. I don’t recall any other groups displaying the flags of their countries while escaping such terror.
This is obviously an attempt by someone to organize these groups and implant their operatives to enter the U.S. illegally. That demands a response such as we see. Someone is daring America to stop them. There is little chance this is spontaneous escape for asylum. That’s the political stunt.
I am a veteran and son of a career military member. I’m disgusted with retired generals or other senior officers joining the partisan political fray. Using their service for political reasons.
2
Maybe the military can be sent to Pleasure, CA. to help rake the forest floor to prevent forest fires. Trump uses everyone for his own purposes including the military who are being used as toy soldiers in this latest farce. Once he is done playing with them, he'll drop them where they are and walk away and forget about them.
1
By the way are those children still in cages?
Please don’t think that all those young people sitting around twiddling their thumbs for weeks on end are not aware of the real reason they are there, that they don't see the massive waste of money, the ridicule of their service. It is the best thing trump could have done to open the eyes of the military to his true regard for them. This is much better than the nonsense parade he wanted after his trip to France as a tool to gauge his willingness to plunder the defense budget and exploit our service members for his personal and political whims. When they finally do encounter the Caravan, their eyes will be further opened.
1
A few days ago moving the troops to the border was called a cheap political stunt to get more votes in the midterms and that the potential illegals were weeks away.
Seems like Trump got the army to the border just in time, so it's a good thing he doesn't let the mainstream media call the shots for him.
2
Only $100 to $200 million incremental costs.
Have we become that inured of Trump's and his administration's waste?
7
Trump lacks any leadership skills. He brags about how pro-military is his administration but he does not act with any consideration for morale. Without morale, the best equipped soldiers will not fight willingly. Even Presidents who have never had military experience try to lead as best as they can, but not Trump. He really does not take the responsibilities of his job seriously.
Even Nixon did not go so far during Watergate as to order troops to Washington or wherever else he might have thought politically advantageous. I lived in DC at the time, and there was no question that people were very afraid, for months, that Nixon, as Commander in Chief, might move to establish some kind of military dictatorship or hegemony to save his presidency.
Trump and his cronies and family have no such compunctions, although they no doubt well understand the underlying principles of our democracy. They just don’t care whether, with such tactics, they succeed in destroying it.
Then just imagine the money they can make—just like those Russian oligarchs and Putin acolytes Trump so admires.
And shame on Secretary Mattis— ow just another of the Trump gang. I honestly thought he had more character than this latest attempt at undermining American law and order and the honor of the military that has protected the country from many other threats that were not made up in some White House office.
1
President Trump is the Commander in Cowardice as illustrated by sending troops to the border and by failing to show up at a WWI ceremony for fallen US troops while in France.
3
@MFM Never forget Trump's hateful insults to the Gold Star Kahn family, and his tormenting the wife of the solider ambushed and killed in Africa. Trump is incapable of empathy, due to his toxic narcissism.
He does not say a word about the Saudis sadistic murder because they are buying lots of US weapons. Money talks.
Oh, it's a betrayal all right. Yet I wonder how many of these soldiers and their family members voted for Donald Trump?
When Trump goes to visit aircraft carriers wearing a military-style jacket and matching hat - when he is playing soldier - and the soldiers in the audience cheer his remarks and applaud his vapid remarks, I wonder how many of them voted for him?
And let's not forget that it's been two years since he assumed the presidency and yet he has not visited our soldiers in the Middle East as other commanders-in-chief have done. Cowards don't put themselves in harm's way, even as they have no compunction putting others there.
I wonder how many of them now are thinking that President Hillary Clinton might not have been such a bad choice after all.
2
This is a silly political stunt, I agree, but I'm still irked by the misleading title of this piece. The authors don't even try to explain how deploying troops to the border is a "profound betrayal" of the military. as their title claims. I guarantee you none of the soldiers deployed to the border feel "profoundly betrayed." And yes, I'm a veteran.
1
Trump himself is a profound betrayal of this country.
4
Conservatives advocating for tax cuts that deprive all of needed public services claim that there is plenty of money if the waste, fraud, and abuse were addressed. Here we have the darling of the right committing waste, fraud, and abuse flagrantly to support a lot of scary nonsense to encourage conservative voters to vote. Conservatives are silent.
2
Here is an idea to Keep America Great.
In my opinion, the press enabled Donny to become elected President and continues to enable him as he tries to keep his base.
How about it if the local, state, national and international press (TV, Print, On-Line) all agree not cover/repeat/report on anything that comes out of Donny's mouth or cell phone for a week. A Trump-Free Week.
Let Americans see what is going on in the world that really matters.
I think it would have an amazing effect. I might even turn the TV on again.
2
@Red or Green Without attention, Trump would shrivel up and die. I believe many of his stunts and absurd statements are simply to make sure everyone is paying attention to him.
This ridiculous deployment of soldiers has something in common with most other such US military events around the world. They are expeditions in search of a mission. So the generals should be familiar with the current foray.
Wasted money aside, Mattis made an intentional choice to dishonor his troops when he agreed to go along with DJT’s political stunt.
1
What people neglect to say enough is that the "caravan" is a group of people fleeing violence in their home country. They seek asylum which is their legal right to do. The anti-immigrant speakers talk about following the law except when it doesn't fit their view of what should happen. We forget that we are party to international treaties, which according to the Constitution are the supreme law of the land. Trump could have sent immigration judges and more border patrol to make the process more orderly without falsely accusing refugees of something nefarious. We don't have to let every claimant in, but by law we need to hear their claims.
2
The writers presume to know what is in Trump's mind and in so doing create the false distinction between acting for mere political purposes and electoral purposes, as if there is any real difference. By utilizing the military he's sending a message to the American people that this is a serious threat to our sovereignty and trying to spur Congress to act.
Trump is right to call it an invasion and right to publicize the problem as a threat to our national security. By most counts, there are 20 million illegal aliens in the country and many more who originally came here illegally and were granted citizenship due to a compromise in the 1980s.
It's not a military invasion, but it's an invasion nonetheless. Why do countries invade militarily? To seize ground and to import large numbers of their population to the conquered territory. The only difference between a soldier with a rifle and an illegal alien then is that the latter does not carry a rifle in most cases. But the outcome is the same. Millions come here and occupy sovereign soil in the United States. They are an occupying force of people who often do not speak our language and frequently become a burden on our various levels of government by expropriating our services.
The editorial is ill-conceived in my opinion and studiously avoids recognizing the severity of the problem of illegal immigration and its deleterious effects on our culture and institutions.
44
@Dougal E
The problem is not severe. Nor an imminent threat.
Just because Trump and Fox trumpet this over and over again, doesn’t make it real.
199
@Rita It's not only Trump, it's millions of people who live in border states. Do you live in a border state? Do you have any idea of what it's like?
The status quo is not acceptable.
12
@Dougal E
Invasion? Severe problem? Occupying the U.S.? Red flags for empty rhetoric not based on facts. Most immigrants are working, not thinking of overtaking the country. Get real. Using inflammatory language does not resolve this problem. By the way, how is the invasion going on? I do not hear any news that those soldiers are fighting invaders anywhere.." No trench war. Only rhetoric.
121
If this use of the military for political gain is unprecedented it's only because Trump managed to mobilize the US Military in the name of national security without invading a foreign country, like every other president who did the same thing before him.
1
Excellent article! You raise a good question. Why didn’t Mattis resign. It would have been not just the honorable but the correct thing to do. This is indeed a very serious issue. If he seeks office again in 2020 one shudders to think of how he might use our
Military.
2
"The deployment is a stunt, a dangerous one, and in our view, a misuse of the military that should have led Mr. Mattis to consider resigning, instead of acceding to this blatant politicization of America’s military."
The current occupant of the White House may ask for Mattis's resignation in the coming weeks or months, as he purges members of his Cabinet whom might invoke the 25th Amendment.
What if he tried to replace Mattis with John Bolton or someone else whom he viewed as equally loyal?
I hope Mattis stays as long as he can.
I whole heartedly disagree with the title and premise of this opinion piece. As a veteran myself I would like to think that I served a country that was defined by borders because a country without borders is simply not a country. I would rather have it that I served for the purpose and idea of the United States of America.
Using the misery of the border jumpers’ justification for their illegal entrance into this country is political diversion from the fact that our country simply cannot afford to better the lives and fortunes of every person on this planet. Being unable or unwilling to foster an economic environment that improves the lives of their countrymen and women, the governments of Mexico and others are simply exporting their poverty to the United States. Given that this is an action by a government, using our military to defend our borders is absolutely appropriate. Try waltzing south across their borders and sign up fo government assistance in their countries and see what happens. They defend their borders.
Legal immigration exists in this country.
8
There is no threat of invasion, here. No reason to use deadly force. It’s a made up threat by a notorious liar.
1
@Terry This isn't about immigration--this is about seeking asylum. The travelers are claiming refugee status, that they are fleeing violence and lawlessness. Under international law and treaties to which we are a signatory, we need to hear their claims. We may not grant asylum if their claims don't meet criteria. They are following the law. They come to our border, not to sneak in, but to ask for asylum. Trump is not following the law, by deploying US troops within our borders.
1
I would imagine that the president was trying to discourage invaders from illegally sneaking into our country and I would suggest that this had nothing to do with the election.
9
@MIKEinNYC....Anyone who thinks that the "immigrant caravan-troops to the border", was a serious operation and not a mid-term election ploy is hopelessly naive. In fact the move was obviously transparent that it is scary to realize that there are people who would actually fall for it. Wake up. Trump is a fraud.
16
@MIKEinNYC
Your suggestion might have some merit if Trump (and his Fox and Friends) were making as much fuss about the caravan after the mid-term elections as they did before it.
1
@W.A. Spitzer, this probably is all just a setup to undo the “babies ripped from mothers’ bosoms” bad PR from last time. The troops are probably ordered to form a human chain across the river border to gently pass the babies over in their arms to their awaiting mothers with a military brass welcome band playing to herald their arrival. Trump won’t be the first showman to turn out to be a fraud.
I did some due diligence and found this maneuver in Chapter 1, Section 666A of the Aspiring Dictator's Handmanual
6
This president continues to violate necessary norms, and his supporters like it because it "makes the liberals mad." Really this is beyond a problem of just one narcissistic man. The larger problem is his base has no inkling of what it means to responsibly govern, other than 'winning political power.'
15
From the Napoleonic era, Metternich is attributed to stating “when France sneezes, the whole of Europe catches a cold.” Move to not so long ago and more to the point here, is the statement "Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States! ...as stated by Profirio Diaz, Mexican soldier and politician, who served seven terms as the President of Mexico. The issue of illegality and legality in terms of immigrations from the southern borders of the USA has been used, mostly misused, since at least the USA-Mexican War over territories once Spanish, then Mexican, then Texican, now USA and Mexico, again. This country and most certainly this president haven't a clue as to how to be any kind of neighbor. The differences seem to outweigh any possibility of being good neighbors and resemble Robert Frost's words, too, about fences and neighbors. The great misfortune is that Trump is unaware of any history but his own or monetary deals, women, his family, and the most obvious symbols of country and faith, them and us. Whether it is this migrant malaise, the Saudis and their deplorable actions, our commitments to alliances as advanced by this country during the years of our young country with GB, France, yes, Russia but not necessarily Putin, we do not have the leader/president needed.
5
The other betrayal of the military came from Mattis who should have resigned in disgust, but instead went to the border and spouted nonsense about Poncho Villa.
11
Let's call it what it is. Trump's deployment of U.S. troops along our border with Mexico was brutal, naked RACISM. Trump hates brown people. If the caravan makes it to the border, I believe Trump will order our soldiers to open fire. And his base will LOVE him for it. Prejudice, bigotry, and xenophobia are now official U.S. policy. May God have mercy on us all.
13
Hey, he was in a bad mood. Those bone spurs in his feet were acting up. Give Dirty Donnie a break. Even Melania has begun to speak up (in violation of her pre-nup).
2
Right on. This is a President that cares little about the constitution or any other rules. Mattis is no longer a “Mad Dog” he is a lap dog for Trump.
13
Unfortunately Trump only cares about trying to hold on to his dwindling power. The whole country are his pawns. I hope over time more people see him for what he is and get out and vote in 2020. I have seen no good results from his bizarre actions.
3
Mattis is an amateur who looks good because he is the best in a cabinet filled with mediocrities and worse.
3
Mattis should have pushed back. But I have to admit his choice might have been to comply with the stupid order or resign. For the moment we are safer with Mattis than without him. However, the day is coming when Mattis hangs it up . Unfortunately, the impact might already be lost.
Where is Congressional?
Only the most naive partisan would actually believe that the so called caravan was any sort of serious threat. Combine that with the fact (real actual fact, not alternative) that Trump is a pathological liar and therefore bears very little credibility, and it amounts to what I believe should be viewed as a careless criminal abuse of power.
Trump clearly has no regard for the proper use of our military or the expense involved. The real outrage here is that we have become so accustomed to his monolithic farces that we are no longer outraged by them. The very notion that it irresponsible folly is to be expected means that he is unequivocally unsuited for the position.
8
I agree completely. Sending our troops in after non-existent WMDs and to stage a production of Shock and Awe is a much nobler use, without a doubt, than this tawdry border theatre.
3
I propose to say something almost unspeakable. Almost unthinkable. But it ought to be said.
How is it that the US military--perhaps the most powerful military on earth--
--has never attempted a coup d'etat?
A retired high school teacher, I used to put this question to my classes.
Why not?
It's happened in so many other countries.
(1) A Cromwell (very reluctantly) dissolving Parliament and taking control.
(2) A Napoleon dispersing what was left of the National Assembly. "Gentleman," declared one member, "we have a master!"
(3) Julius Caesar, invading Italy with his army (iacta est alea--"the die is cast")--launching the Roman Civil War--
--toppling a corrupt and inefficient Republic. It never revived.
Eventually, the soldiers themselves--realizing their own power--set up as kingmakers. Toppling emperors one after the other. Killing one, installing another--at their pleasure.
Sorry for the lecture! But you will remember George Washington--earning eternal plaudits--not by marching but REFUSING to march upon a stingy, recalcitrant Congress.
That set the gold standard for the next two hundred years. But it's not written in stone--or in the Book of the Fates--the US military will never interfere with our political processes.
It's the force of tradition. An honorable tradition. Going back to the founding of our country--and then some.
Don't mess with that tradition, Mr. President!
Don't play politics with our military!
2
Everything he does and says is in the form of a stunt. He is still in his reality show mode. It's hard to believe that one person could be so inhuman, totally without consideration for anyone except himself. The only problem our country has to worry about is that person in the Oval Office. His childish rants are about issues he knows nothing about. He makes himself look foolish....and that's just fine. His day of reckoning is just around the corner.
8
All one must do is remember who our President is and then your conclusions of improper manipulation of the military will have substance. He is dishonest and therefore his actions and motivations are of very questionable merit. Misuse of public tools by Trump is a given. With Trump, the allegory is a dog’s hind leg.
2
Imagine how helpful all those troops could be right now...in California.
This is just one tangible example of the "cost" we incur - every day - as we continue to normalize the behavior and actions of the President and his administration.
Our "pretending" what is happening with regard to immigration in this country is damaging thousands of lives, especially children, and deepening our dysfunction as a nation.
Freedom isn't free. Sometimes you have to stand up, speak up...and fight for it.
The only question is...will we?
5
There is this thing called Congress....and everyone of em probably should be replaced... unbelievable.... too much executive power IMO.
Only good part is thus far no wall. or am I wrong there?
2
Those troops should have reported to sick bay with "bone spurs".
5
Where's Colin Powell to voice his thoughts on this ?
3
"Electoral gain, not security, is this president’s goal." How do you know? Did you consult Spock? Find the Nixon recording system? You don't know. What you did is called "making stuff up." You don't like the policy? Fine. Everyone in the caravan is as pure as Ceaser's wife? Sure, I believe that because you told me. Really? I did my 30, 10 at the land of 10,000 lawyers (the Pentagon.) Would I have deployed the troops. I don't know because, like you I don't know. What a disgusting way to treat the troops.
1
How about giving each suffering migrant 100000 to go home and deactivate the troops. A lot cheaper solution. Or give each one 100K and let them buy a house in a downtrodden area like Detroit.
3
You are right; Trump is a most immature and insecure bully, in need of an excuse to show relevancy. Under normal circumstances, he would be confined to a toy room, locked in so he won't be running around causing trouble. Perhaps we are looking at the wrong picture...by ignoring the 'elephant in the room', the republican party and his immediate surrounding team of sycophants...allowing Trump's trampling on us (which includes the military). How is this even possible, in this supposedly 'mature' democracy? One crazy liar doing (and undoing) as he pleases, with no adult supervision? I suspect Pogo was right: "We found the enemy, and it is Us".
3
A profound betrayal? The country US soldiers have to defend, essentially overnight, adapted Progressive myths that have been and are being rebuffed in all but about a dozen countries. In some of those nuclear armed countries, that rebuff has come with threats of cyber and nuclear attack. From others, a host of various rebuffs --- mostly due to migration, some financial and climate.
I spent a few years with a Marine Corps Reserve headquarters detachment that did combat readiness inspections for reserve units and even a few active ones. Most inspections were during the scheduled annual two weeks in the field. Some were not scheduled. The article under-estimates the extra costs of deploying (for one thing, lots of equipment requires repair) but still the price in dollars is small compared to the Defense budget.
Several with experience have said that the cost in morale will be high. Troops don't mind deploying over the holidays if it's for an important necessary mission, which this one is not.
The cost in military units is even higher. When there is a real and present military mission, these units will not be available. Even worse, Stable Genius who says he's smarter than all the generals has ordered these units to quit training to fight a war. These units will be degraded months or years. And we don't have enough units as it is to defend against likely threats.
10
"... this act creates a dangerous precedent. We fear this was lost in the public hand-wringing over the decision, so let us be clear: The president used America’s military forces not against any real threat but as toy soldiers."
No, it wasn't lost. It was already clear to readers of this newspaper. We already knew that Trump uses the US government as a prop for personal electoral and financial gain. Just consider the statements he's made for the last two years about the personal support he expects from "his" Attorney General.
The authors go on to say that military personnel "need to have faith that those civilian leaders are using them for legitimate national security purposes." Yet recent polling shows that rank and file support for Trump is remarkably similar to the rest of the country: 43.8% military support Trump vs. 43.4% all voters. (https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2018/10/15/support-for-trump-is-fading-among-active-duty-troops-new-poll-shows/)
(https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_trump_job_approval-6179.html)
Now it's true the Military Times survey was taken a month ago, before the recent border deployment. But we have yet to see any tangible evidence of deteriorating support for him among the troops.
As with the electorate, Trump has tapped into some deep psychic recess in some military personnel. They pay attention to what he says, not to what he does. They're not disturbed by this.
That's the real problem.
8
As I was voting recently I overheard two elderly women talking while in line in front of me. They both remarked that they were not feeling too well but came to the polls specifically because of their fear of the invading caravan hordes. This event saddened me on the state of our Republic and the dysfunction of the citizenry.
10
We have done a major disservice to our troops, and to the country at large, by inserting them into domestic politics. Again, a new and dangerous precedent has been created by our current amoral administration, aided and abetted by the silence of elected Republican Senators and House Representatives. And note how quiet this storm has become post-election!
5
Living close to the border I'm aware of the desperate need of refugees; aware of the number who die of dehydration in the desert; aware of the number who live in the shadows. I'm also aware of the many vibrant residents of my city whose origins are Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador. There is no question that an humane workable solution is needed to the refugee/immigration issues we face but deploying troops to face off against unarmed and desperate mothers and children is not the American way. I speak as an immigrant.
Given the speed with which the military was able to set up camps along the border complete with bathrooms, mess halls and recreational facilitates, I cannot help but ask why those same troops and skills are not being deployed in Northern California to set up living quarters for the thousands of internally displaced people, victims of the wild fires. Maybe that kind of common sense humanitarian act doesn't get the president the showboating he needs to keep his base cheering. It will certainly get me cheering.
745
@Gerry H
Are you kidding? This administration does practically nothing to help the ordinary American in time of need. All it does is showboat for the ill informed, and waste enormous amounts of cash for their own benefit.
The trump crowd and their self-serving freeloading are large brown stains of shame on the honor of the U.S.A.
80
@wanderer Not true. During and after Hurricane Irma, the USG and the Navy were all over the Florida Keys helping people. In the first day or so a Sea Hawk helicopter off of the Abe Lincoln landed in the Publix parking lot in Key West and proceeded to distribute much needed bottled water. The Abe Lincoln’s away teams continued to work around the clock until the locals could get organized. I can’t tell you how helpful state and yes, federal workers were during our time of need.
6
@Dan Locker
Agree as also there was support the year before in Texas after that hurricane. Please remember what the political leanings are of those states. California is not a member of that political leaning group. Hence like the tax bill of 2017, punish your enemies, reward your friends. That’s not what our country was built on.
51
"Profound betrayal" is way over the top as neither of these words fits the situation on the ground. The text of the op-ed walks back the significance of the deployment while merely maintaining its anti-Trump rhetoric. In other words, perfect for the NYT.
1
There are two kinds of people who could read this article. Those who understand that trump manipulates everything and lies constantly. He is simple, dishonest and ruthless, and thus easy to predict. The other kind are those who believe in him and thus reject this article.
8
Our military (with notable exceptions) has been our best ambassadors. Having them placed on the border for a non-existent threat is stupid, but I trust they will show those seeking asylum compassion and do us proud.
The men and women I know who have served I would trust to do the right thing, and not what the Don wants.
It should be now clear, the Don hates the American (our) military, but he loves "his" military.
2
"The president used America’s military forces not against any real threat but as toy soldiers, with the intent of manipulating a domestic midterm election outcome, an unprecedented use of the military by a sitting president." Unprecedented except for Bush in Iraq.
4
If two years has taught us anything, it is that Donald is consistently malevolent and mean spirited. He always finds a way to debase and demean norms, people, institutions and so much more in staggeringly creative ways.
I have come to believe that this is his mechanism for distracting us from the fact that he is also astonishingly incompetent, unable to grasp even the rudimentary elements of the role of commander in Chief. The recent article about his inability to grasp key elements of military briefings begins to elucidate this. His garbled insult of Admiral McRaven reveals that not only is he petty and vindictive, which we all knew, but a larger truth. He doesn’t understand the complex interplay between the many parts of the government. He demonstrated that he does not understand the distinction between what the intelligence community does and what the special forces do. The SEALS were not scouring the globe for bin Laden. Highly trained troops shouldn’t be deployed to the border to stop imaginary hordes.
He is so incompetent that he does in fact, need to be told to stand down. I hope that a congressional investigation into this episode will be high on the agenda in January as it is quite remarkable in its brazen stupidity.
Like so many others, Mattis has tarnished himself by serving Donald. While I imagine that his intentions were noble, to pretend that this was anything other than a political stunt was to join Donald in an absolute whopper.
8
That's rich "profound betrayal"--try Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of American military dead, trillions spent--for what?
Trump is using our military to prevent further invasions from the south, something that should have been long before Bush-Cheney blew thousands of American lives away in the Middle East.
Finally, a military defending its own country rather the nations of others.
3
Of course it's a stunt. According to the Pentagon, the active duty troops are only there to provide logistical support to the Border Patrol. Huh? The Border Patrol needs 15,000 Army personnel to what? Make sure they have enough bottles of water or MRE's if they get hungry? This is a waste of our military in the worst way - a senseless, showoff performance. The bigger concern that I have is the increased risk we have dumped on the Army personnel carrying out this fools errand. When any army moves - things happen - vehicles, equipment, aircraft are all set in motion. Military personnel are no more immune from the risk of an accident than any civilians working in the same conditions. Stupid accidents - a truck backs up without warning, a chopper has a mechanical problem and crashes, heavy cargo shifts in transit and falls on someone. We ask a lot of our service personnel every day. Do we really want to put them at risk in this way?
It's Trump and he loves a show. This is his revenge for not getting the military parade he wanted so he could look better than the French president, Macron.
7
This current President has repeatedly shown profound disrespect for those who have served in the military: POWs, Gold Star parents, the dead at Belleau Wood. He has yet to visit troops in a war zone and couldn't find time for a brief visit to Arlington on Veteran's Day.
He probably feels diminished by brave and honorable men. He certainly should.
The pre-election propaganda stunt of a pointless deployment is indeed a shameful misuse of the military, but it is not illegal and does not violate the Constitution. This is just one more reason, added to the mountain of reasons, that the man in the Oval Office is unfit to lead this country.
4
We are all being conned by the people in the caravan. We owe them nothing unless they legally enter the US. The only people doing well with this situation are the organizers who are getting paid thousands to escort and facilitate their movement to the US. I hear people from the group and their supporters saying that they are entitled to come to America and get free benefits to live there. They compare their situation to the situation of the Europeans who came to America in the 1600’s. The difference is that these Europeans did not have handouts available. They had to hack a life out of the wilderness! Wake up guys. These people don’t want to be Americans and join the “melting pot” that is America. Do you see them carrying the Honduran flag? They are coming to “take” not “contribute”! We should support our wonderful troops on the border!
2
Astonishing abuse of power.
3
Not so unprecedented, gentlemen, what about Cheney raising the threat level before elections? Fool me once....
4
James Mattis should resign for permitting himself to be inveigled into this disgraceful politicization of our forced.
1
His continuation as president, is also a betrayal.. to our country.
4
And Mattis, Kelly, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and others at DOD assisted in that betrayal. For shame!
2
What the authors write did not escape me, or most likely many Americans. Who it apparently did escape were the politicians who control (for the moment) both houses of congress and who chose to not only to not speak to president about this inappropriate and yes, possibly illegal, use of the military, but to also do nothing about it. Their failure to do the right thing is an even bigger betrayal.
2
The POTUS will have extra ice cream and lots of TV while troops who were unnecessarily sent to the border will miss Thanksgiving with wives, children, and friends....
Have to be pretty naive to buy into a narrative that it was necessary to send thousands of troops to the border weeks before that caravan could even get there.
Even if there had been any chance of arriving before election day, women with babies and young children are not much of a threat, and that's a large proportion of the group.
5
I care not at all about military people missing thanksgiving. It is part of the job. I care very much about a stupid waste of taxpayer money. I care even more about the thousands of people displaced by an historic fire in California. I think our troops could be productive in helping these desperate americans.
1
The troops will likely not discuss their private opinions with the press, but they are stuck following this order, at least for now. I have little doubt that most think this is a useless exercise--or worse, a destructive and expensive one.
As I understand it the Pentagon initially declined to deploy the troops when requested for "crowd and traffic control," indicating that these were not appropriate functions for the troops: https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/02/politics/white-house-pentagon-troops-border/index.html . From that report:
"Defense officials have repeatedly emphasized the troops at the border are there to support civil authorities and that they are not expected to come into any contact with migrants.'
Our best defense against the president's ridiculous posturing remains the ballot box, and the knowledge and expectation that the troops will not follow illegal orders. We do not have much defense against the fiscal waste, nor the damage to troop morale--having to spend Thanksgiving away from home, stringing barbed wire for no good reason.
3
Wouldn't it be great if those 7,000 troops, who are already paid for, be sent to Northern California to help rebuild the communities devastated by the Camp Fire! That would be a responsible, peace-time domestic deployment.
7
One would think that even a Trump-voter would take offense at the traitor's disrespect for our military. True, the placement of the 6,000 troops at the border does feed a Trump-voter's racism, so perhaps that feeding is sufficient to justify throwing the troops under the bus. When Trump is charged with treason and the various other crimes he has committed, perhaps the vulgar Trump-voter will wake up, though that is doubtful.
2
I am a veteran, I have seen gross misuse of the military before, and some with dire results. I reference the Beirut mission of the Marines where they were not allowed to carry loaded weapons. This stunt by tRump is on the same level. 1- the military is not even close to where the asylum seekers are going, 2-it negates the real mission of the military. 3- should one shot be fired we will have a mess on our hands like no other. 4-these are unarmed, mostly women and children, what is the threat?--NONE.
tRump stated that STDs were his private Viet Nam, what else does one need to determine that this man has no concept of the military or what it does. Add to that he bashes the Admiral who led the Bin Laden raid and has the gall to say he did not act soon enough. tRump has his hand on the "trigger mechanism" of our country. With this egomaniac it is past dangerous. He has never, ever thought out any plan, or listened to some one else's wisdom, he did his business by throwing out glib answers. Remember he alone can solve the problems. Pardon me but I do not think running our government should be done by glib responses. He's a jerk, a very dangerous jerk. Where is Mattis and his cool head? Some one needs to step up and stop the misuse of our military units. Does not seem there is anyone capable or willing enough to do that.
5
Thousands of illegal immigrants are descending upon our borders and some have threatened to enter at all costs. We must defend our borders and if deploying military troops solves this massive problem then it should be used. These immigrants are brazenly breaking our laws and are flaunting their daring entry. The nerve of them to think they can just cross into our country without the proper documents. This is insanity. What gives them preferential treatment over those who wait their turn for years and come here legally. I say bring on the troops and stop the madness. Otherwise the illegals will be coming caravan after caravan and it will never stop. We will be inundated with illegals and it will be bedlam. These illegals must return home and apply through the proper channels.
40
@WPLMMT: They are NOT illegal! There's nothing illegal about presenting oneself at the border and requesting admission. And deploying troops does not in any way "solve the problem". The border is already fortified and manned by thousands of Border Patrol and immigration agents who are trained for this specific role. Military troops are trained for a different purpose and have little to contribute at the border unless we were threatened by a military assault.
127
@WPLMMT
We have treaties that obligate us to treat asylum seekers with dignity and to consider their cases. Orderly immigration is the law, indeed, and that is what these treaties and obligations support. These people have yet to present their cases. Thus, they are not -- nor is anyone -- an "illegal." Demonizing human beings is not an American tradition and will not become one.
106
@WPLMMT: Here's a good rule of thumb: when you repeat what Donald Trump and Fox News say, you are usually wrong.
You've missed the point of this column. Sending in troops will not deter the caravans at all. As Secretary of Defense Mattis noted, our troops are serving in a purely logistical role and will not have any contact with the migrants.
Regarding the legality of their entry, the people in the caravans are requesting asylum, a process which is perfectly legal under US and international law. They are trying to "apply through the proper channels," as you demand, and it's Trump who has directed that these proper channels be cut back or off.
There's been immigration, both legal and illegal, from Mexico for decades. The number of illegal immigrants in the US actually peaked in 2007 and has since decreased slightly. So when I hear someone thousands of miles away from the border using hyperbolic terms like "bedlam" to describe the border, I wonder what they imagine is going on in places like San Diego. You need to get out a little.
122
This is a very good article, but there's an error that needs to be highlighted: "(Think about) George W. Bush crowing about “mission accomplished” when Saddam Hussein was toppled."
Bush did not do that as this statement implies.
In no way do I support Bush as President. But facts are facts. This "mission accomplished" meme came about because of the large banner saying "Mission Accomplished" that was hung on the USS Abraham Lincoln's superstructure so that it would be seen just above Bush's right shoulder when he gave his speech. Bush did not hang it there. It was put there by the ship's crew as a congratulations for a job well done on a recent deployment.
To move our national dialogue forward, we need to focus on facts, and dismiss the partisan rhetoric about events. Bush was wrong to pull a stunt like flying onto the carrier, dressed up in his flight suit, especially since he dodged the Vietnam draft by getting preferential family treatment to not serve in combat. He was wrong about saying that combat operations in Iraq had ended. And he was wrong about a host of other things he did on this visit. Those are the facts, so let's focus on them, and put the partisan memes to bed, once and for all.
I'm not protecting Bush here. Not one little bit. A lot of negative things can be said about the visit Bush paid to the ship, and rightfully so. But not "Mission Accomplished".
3
A clear abuse of power.
3
How many troops were sent to the oh-so-blue state of California to assist with their devastating wildfires?
6
That Republicans in Congress can countenance this abomination of a leader speaks volumes about their moral emptiness. Everything they've espoused through the years turns out to be one giant lie. Most would trade their mothers for a pack of gum.
4
I remember when Obama wore a tan suit and Fox News had a week-long meltdown. Those were the days. They barely, if at all, mentioned the "President" skipping the cemetery in France that holds 2,000 dead US Marines, and they have not called him out on this ridiculous stunt. What a joke the right wing in this country is.
6
Trump missed every event over Veterans Day Weekend. He only wants sacrifice on his behalf. Our troops who have been on the border since before the election will be sacrificing their Thanksgiving holiday to be there waiting until sometime in December.
It is a waste beyond $200 million. The troops will have no contact with the refugees, even if there is trouble. Trouble, if any, will most likely come from the Nationalists planning to be there to help stem the “invasion.” Responsibility will fall to local law enforcement.
Unfortunately, our troops also will be a symbolic backdrop to Trump’s program of family separation. Taking children from their parents and sending them off to tent cities gives rise to another time, when the parents were sent to death camps.
My father was a truck driver for the 120th Medical Corps, which relieved Buchenwald Concentration Camp in April 1944. There, hauling away truckloads of extremely emaciated corpses to be buried, he saw the results of Nationalism.
My father is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He went on to serve as an officer in Korea, had two tours in Vietnam, and was IG of the SE Corps of Engineers. General Johnson told him we would have made general had he played along with Westmoreland’s fraud when he was a Senior Province Adviser--CBS didn’t have the whole story.
Make no mistake: Politics has played a major role in our military since Gen. Eisenhower warned us of the Military industrial complex while serving as president.
6
Trump has dishonored virtually every institution and citizen in this nation with his various stunts beginning long before the Obama birther stunt. His stunts based in fear and racism have convinced a sizable minority of citizens he is the autocrat to save them. Stunts have raised himself by eroding belief in our legal system, the press, free speech, religion, the financial system, our national moral tradition, and now he is attacking the military’s stellar standing. Trump is an expert at employing whatever tools he has to increase his power not by building but by knocking down all around him. Trump used ‘kick to the groin’ stunts to win the Republican nomination, tearing down all his opponents to the amusement of his fans. Stunt is a synonym for Trump- look it up, it’s a fact.
2
General Mattis needs to stay exactly where he is to protect this country against the madness in the WH. Yes, this deployment was a political stunt but it does no harm to keep troops on their toes.
Just think what kind of a person might follow Mattis - some Bigfoot, time traveler, and inexperienced incompetent like the new AG.
1
One unspoken aspect is the corrosive effect on the men themselves. They know they are being used as stooges and I can just imagine their embarrassment - being dupes for Trump's electoral ambitions cannot be good for morale. Although they are already paid, that hardly justifies their redeployment to stand around and put up razor wire along a fictitious 'front line'. They could have been deployed elsewhere for much better reasons. Just another wave in the continued swamping of this perverted Presidency. SAD.
A heartfelt "Thank you!" to Prof. Adams and to Cols. Wilkerson and and Wilson for their pushback to Trump and to Mattis, who should have known better than to visit the border encampment and thus lend an air of legitimacy to Trump's egregious misuse of troops.
Trump's pre-adolescent behavior is beyond maddening; the Republican Party's support of it, sickening.
The entire premise of this essay is beyond the comprehension of a president with the mind of a 10 yr. old boy. The same can pretty much be said for those who support him.
1
From what I understand of the justice system of the United States, the military are constitutionally barred from regulating/interfering with immigration systems (there is a very large governmental department that IS tasked with this duty).
That was (almost) acknowledged by the Trump administration when they declared that they would not use deadly force against the (Oh, so worrying) "Caravan" of refugees (there is a significant difference of opinion on this subject), but the USA is a signatory of the declaration of human rights, and as such cannot legally exclude any person (regardless of skin color, religion or any group that might attract attention from a xenophobic population).
Spending tax dollars on such self-defeating idiocy should be grounds for immediate impeachment / removal from office of anyone who would abuse the political system to use the military for personal political gain.
First, lets see the tax returns of the blowhard who has lied and cheated for his entire life. Then we can discuss the revelations from the White House staff that they would do anything and everything to avoid having the orange one taking the oath to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, because they regard that as a "perjury trap"..
"Two of us served in the military for many years."
Unlike, of course, Mr. Trump.
1
Once there is a transition in this Congress to a real check, it had better really be checking this criminal "president" and calling him out on his misadventures.
There are still children he referred to as an "infestation" who have not been returned to their parents, by the way.
I wonder if Mr. Mattis chose to sacrifice himself on behalf of the troops?
The troop deployment is a clear violation of military mission, an imprudent misuse of the military for show purposes, a pea-brained political stunt for an American audience, as the authors make clear.
Well it is also clear to the world, including everyone serving in the US military, that the great and powerful Oz, AKA the American Commander in Chief, just made fools of our military.
Mr. Mattis knows this. What to do? He could have resigned in protest. Doing so would be to leave the White House romper room without a babysitter.
So he lied to soften the blow to the military - that they are toy soldiers in the small hands of a bigly pompous fool; he lied in an effort to hide the foolishness of a president from his base (his lie could not persuade the best of America); he lied to stop the snickering of foreign leaders; Mr. Mattis lied on behalf of a fool so that he might stay to prevent more serious/dangerous behavior of the fool.
The authors have become political hacks and are not the “bipartisan” trio they claim to be. I know from my employment with a DoD intelligence agency back in 2009 that our southern border was a national security concern even then. It’s the liberal opposition media that is creating the shameful situation, including the authors of this opinion piece.
What ever happens at the border I don't want to see another Wounded Knee. God help us if that happens. Militia groups, soldiers and women and children......
2
Trump sees everything through the lens of electoral politics. He has to because he has to win - no matter the cost - because it is an existential threat to his own person. It's all about him, all the time. The troops are just props. He uses people as props.
Trump has never been held accountable for anything in his life. When it starts really happening (accountability from the voters, from Mueller, from Congress, from the courts).....watch out. It would be a good time for all of us to 'duck and cover' because the blowback will be huge for everyone.
But I can't wait. This man must be held accountable for his actions and his words (mostly lies). Trump is a crime against humanity. He is the president of his base only. At 67, this is the first time in my life I have felt that. He cares only about his base.
Two more years. I hope the country holds together so we can just wait him out.
And I wonder how the grunts in the military feel now? Still support him? Most likely. And that I'll never understand. Too busy to go to Arlington on Veterans Day because he was 'making phone calls for our country'. Yeah, calling Putin and asking what he should do next. With the Chinese listening in on his unsecured phone.
Some Commander-In-Chief. A total embarrassment.
3
Weak and intellectually stunted presidents will do things like this. Think of Argentina and the Falklands war.
2
Sorry to disagree with Patrick Turner whom I admire and thank for his service to our country. The point is not border security. The point is that this is a political stunt by 45. To use vital resources of money and man/woman power "defending our border" by sending troops there who might have been able to spend Thanksgiving with their families or deployed elsewhere is deplorable and a joke. The service Men and Women who are at the border cannot do anything according to the Constitution and previous refugee agreements if and when the people seeking asylum in the USA arrive there. Sorry to hear that you are supporting DT instead of your breatheren.
2
I agree wholeheartedly, but until Fox News decides to agree, we will see more of this junk. One of the so-called adults in the room at the White House is going to have to stand up against Trump and his abuse of power. Will it set a precedent for future presidents? Probably not. Trump is so outside the norm that it is unlikely anyone will follow suit. It is simply a shame, and perhaps worse (let's pray not), that he has hijacked the US for four years and that no one in the GOP has the guts to stop him.
The midterms are over...Let the impeachment hearings begin! The man who claims to be our president (accomplished with help from Russia) is an impostor...a fraud...someone whose first inclination when confronted by a difficult situation (brought on by himself) is to blatantly lie.
When it was first learned that Russia interfered in our election to assist Trump, the results should have been immediately voided. There should have been a do-over. We' the people, have a right to a "free and fair election" where there was no outside interference to produce a predetermined result.
Once again, Trump resorts to lying and cheating, his customary mode, when dealing with a crisis brought on by his own callousness and stupidity. He has no clue about what it means to be an "American"...our traditions, our values of freedom, justice, and compassion.
Congressional Imperative: Don't allow this man to do any more damage than he has already done. And if the Republicans continue to remain "mute", then they will lose even more seats in both the House and the Senate in the next election in two years.
1
Trump’s deployment of troops to the border is not precedent setting. After the Washington Post editorialized that local officials could not secure the border and declared “it is high time that control of the border should be assumed by the United States Army,” President Woodrow Wilson sent most of the Army to the border to cope with border raiders and a tsunami of refugees produced by the Mexican revolution.The Army began garrisoning U.S. border towns in 1912. The border build-up continued for several years. In 1914, the Army transferred the 8th Brigade—commanded by Col. John (Black Jack) Pershing—from the Presidio in San Francisco to Fort Bliss in El Paso.
1
A thousand miles away?? They have already started arriving at the border in the past few days and are overwhelming the resources and their welcome in Mexico.
1
Plus he didn't show up at Arlington...or the cemetery in France... and knocked McRaven...and suggests military absentee ballots were "found"... yet he has the nerve to criticize football players taking a knee.
So many of Trump's actions insure the deaths of innocent people...moving the Embassy in Israel, supporting the Butcher of Arabia in his genocide of Houthis in Yemen, giving white supremacists equal status in the fellowship of human beings. Using our Army against immigrants will undoubtedly be a disappointment to our Monster of Mar a Largo should no one die, but he has put all the ingredients in place for that not to be the case.
Oh how we wish this was the worst thing this unqualified disaster of a presidency will wreak upon our nation. Throwing red meat to an angered base is not a role model for the highest office in the land. Have you no honor at all.
1
Easy to say when you are safely ensconced 2,000 miles from the border. The poor and middle class US citizens (remember them?) who live at or near the border are not so lucky. And it is a small price to pay for drawing attention to the absurd theatre playing out at our border: Act I—aliens oppressed by the absence of the rule of law in their countries leave for the US. Act II—aliens arrive at border and are counseled by American leftists to lie about their reason for wanting to enter the US. Act III—overwhelmed US immigration system allows unvetted aliens to enter the US and disperse until granted asylum at some later date.
1
From his early days as a draft dodger, through his insults to John McCain, Gold Star parents and wife, his refusal to honor the military dead (twice) or to help struggling veterans since his election and now this latest insult to the retired admiral and Navy Seal who organized the death of Bin Laden, Trump has proven himself to be the most anti-military leader this country has ever known. The fact that most of his supporters give him a pass on these disgraceful actions says as much about them as it does about him.
645
@James Mazzarella
There is no reason to believe he cares what you or those in agreement think.
He can't understand why the Cubans do not speak Russian.
5
@James Mazzarella
Really? Anti-military? You must have missed the badly needed increase in the defense budget which gave raises to the military members and will give them the money they need for equipment and resources to train. You don’t remember under Obama’s watch that too many military families went on food stamps and aircraft were grounded due to lack of resources and parts were being scavenged from other aircraft just to train.
Anyone who can’t see the effort made by this president to restore readiness and capability knows nothing about the subject.
Trump talks too much publicly when he shouldn’t. Don’t think other presidents didn’t feel the same way about certain veterans. Like the ones who wrote this piece. Using their service to boost political persuasion is shameful.
Never before has America had organized and funded groups of militant immigrants daring our government to stop them from illegally entering this country. Their cowardly camouflage of truly innocent people coming with them is their usual MO. Have innocent people hurt or killed to stoke international outrage. Those people are just used. No doubt some are legitimate.
How Americans refuse to see the truth of it all is the greatest partisan betrayal of this country. Not defending our borders is national suicide. Only supremely duped, ignorant people can betray their own country. It has occurred before. After WWI Germans and Italians were duped by dangerous men that appealed to their desperation.
2
@MikeS Almost all of the increase in the military budget went to private companies. The raises to actual members of the US military was peanuts.
Our Military is being privatized and monetized with debt. That debt per person is way more than the pay raises going to the men and women who actually work for the Government.
44
Much of the criticism of Trump's actions assume the man is capable of rational thought. By now it is obvious he acts based on random ideas fueled by deep seated prejudices purely for effect and no thought about consequences. He has yet to grasp that a President cannot issue edicts as a whim and never will. What is nerve wracking is that so many Americans still refuse to concede that this man should not have been allowed within miles of the White House.
2
It must be also asked if the caravan itself was part of a larger political stunt. Did the members of the caravan get their " info " from social media or Facebook like the two opposing groups in Texas before the 2016 election? Was the entire thing a complete set up and fraud. The timing of all of it is just too suspicious.
2
The new congress needs to investigate this serious misuse of our troops. As indicated in the article’ they need to begin by asking Mr. Mattis some very direct questions. If the authors are correct in their assertions, soldiers deployed at the border now deserve an apology and perhaps compensation. The members of the armed forces should be treated with respect, and their time, energy and comfort should not be wasted for purely partisan grandstanding. This can not become a precedent for the current or any future administration.
6
These regular army troops will miss Thanksgiving with their families thanks to this wasteful stunt. There are ways of processing the asylum claims of members of the caravan without letting them into the US for long delay of a hearing. Maybe the $100,000,000 Trump is spending for the troop deployment could have been applied to recruiting immigration hearing officers for service at the border to process asylum claims. But that wouldn't have had the optics of a troop deployment.
11
All of these points are valid, and need careful consideration. But may I add one more? What are we, residents along or near the southern US border, to make of being garrisoned by the military? Are we now to expect that this 'defense' of the border is to include a defense against the residents here? We're already living under a hundred mile 'protection zone' where we may be and should expect to be subject to the control of ICE - where our rights as citizens are conventionally suspended simply because of our residence. Citizens born and resident along the border are now having their citizenship questioned because of where they were born - now we are expected to be under military supervision? When does this stop?
16
The following plain language of Article IV, Section IV of the US Constitution appears to contradict the author's assertion that Trump's domestic deployment of US military forces was "probably legal."
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence."
Based on Trump's own words , which described the "Caravan" as an "invading army" appears to clearly meet the plain constitutional language of Article IV, Section IV and, IMO, required legislative approval.
4
I would extend the analogy of "toy soldiers" to include ICE and the Border Patrol. Trump's astonishingly poor policies have created an image of thugs and Mafiosi controlling our borders, with no better results and far more controversy and expense than previous administrations.
Neither of these organizations will go away; they perform necessary functions. But policies that guide them can be shorn of the political bombast that is "red meat to the base."
7
I find very telling (and discouraging) that 100 or 200 million is treated as a rounding error by the authors. It seems an insignificant only because the 716 billion dollar military budget is obscenely high, more than the next 8 nations combined. And on top of it the DOD just failed its first ever audit.
14
Trump sent the troops to the border on the basis of lies about the people in the caravan, and on the basis of racist and xenophobic lies about immigrants. Moreover, Trump said our soldiers--our fine young people--should "treat rocks as rifles." Is that what our military is for? Is that who they are? Shooting unarmed, desperate families many of whom will qualify for asylum? Our own laws and treaty obligations require us to consider every application for asylum. Surely our military is better than that. Surely our military leadership should be better than that. They should have resigned before submitting to and aiding this right wing propaganda circus. That was their professional obligation.
332
@Robert
You are ignorantly blissful if you don’t believe this is a well funded, organized attempt to threaten America and our border. Never before has anything close to this happened. Have you never asked yourself why? Or are you just too blindly partisan in your hatred for Trump to recognize when you’re being played for a fool.
Innocent families are included as shields as evil people will do for protective cover. We have seen this many times before.
I have no concern for your political beliefs. You are entitled to them until they put others in jeopardy. If the majority of voters legally elect enough representation to dissolve our borders that will be their wish. You reap what you sow. Those of us who want a country will be forced to leave since our country will no longer exist.
That’s not bitterness or inciteful rhetoric. That’s just common sense. Something too often ignored in America today.
2
@MikeS
Wow.
Groups of families have been arriving together like this at the border for years. This one is no different than the others. They travel together because it is too dangerous for them to travel separately. No, I don't think this is a Soros funded plot to "threaten America." Are we talking about the same old whack-a-mole right wing theory again? That "Jews are funding the caravan in order to replace white people" thing? Democrats certainly don't want to dissolve the borders. Maybe Trump Republicans do? The borders were already very secure before Trump was elected. Illegal immigration across the southern border has been falling for years. I myself would like to see a sane and humane bipartisan immigration policy--you know, something like what the Congressional Democrats and Republicans agreed to, and Trump refused to sign?
15
@MikeS Your comments are not based in reality, they are based on feelings. You want America to play the victim in some deep "well-funded" conspiracy. Any patriot knows the United States is a magnificent country with many resources, including well established laws for asylum. You tell me why we should cower? How many of those military were met with an enemy or a skirmish or even any refugees? Your mind is running on fear. You should ask yourself why and who wants you to be afraid.
12
Trump chooses only those that will do what he wants, without question. Mr. Mattis is on of Trump's cronies, that is why he was hired.
2
Just think, we could have used that $200 million to rake out the forests of California.
15
Given today's political environment if he gets away with his border stunt it will be another rung on a ladder whereby the politics of this country keeps slipping to new lows. And it won't be only Republicans.
When will we wake up to realize that Citizens United must be reversed? Trump is simply a symptom, although a very dangerous one, that we are losing our grip on "one nation with liberty and justice for all."
Sadly this is happening as China is on an unstoppable rise as pointed out in a recent article published in the NYTIMES.
Shame on my generation.
12
The conclusion suggested at the end of the op-ed as to what the author suggest Mattis should have done presents a double-bind. If Mattis felt as the authors do, does he resign and make a statement, and we subsequently end up with a obsequious corrupt Trump hack as Secretary of Defense, or does Mattis hunker down as best he can?
There is not easy answer, or perfect answer.
4
Trump also successfuly stigmatized the caravan participants as violent and criminal and potentially terrorists. I heard VP Pence join in with remarks that claimed the caravan included middle easterners. Let us acknowledge the astounding practice of non violence by almost all southern immigrants who almost never react with violence to being apprehended even when their dreams and lives are shattered and their children taken from them. Trump and Pence have committed a grave injustice by painting them all with a violent brush and deploying our military against them.
14
It is difficult to convey the depths of my loathing for Him, without incurring the wrath of the comments moderators. As a very proud Veteran, married to a Veteran, Daughter of a Veteran, and the Sister Of my only Sibling who DIED in a Jeep accident while serving in the US Army, I am beyond furious. Cadet Bone Spurs dishonors every single person that ever wore the uniform, of any branch of the Military. It’s that simple.
42
Trump is the producer of this TV show called America. He needed an emotional hook for the mid-term episode and what better enemy to pick than one that doesn't have a voice. These people making their way to asylum are without resources with only the story hungry, Trump crazed media as an advocate for truth.
Anyone who listens carefully can find it between the news stories of troop movements and angry Trump supporters and Trumpian created villains. Asylum seekers have legal rights both domestically and internationally.
The real story, the real argument this editorial piece is making is the president of the United States does not follow laws, does not believe in his oath to the Constitution and does not govern for the people.
The troops are extras in Trump's TV show. We are all actors in his production. His policies drive his story arch, not driven by conviction. Trump supporters, time to turn off the set and return to democracy and fairness for all.
13
These troops should have remained at there bases training. Their readiness and morale will only decay at their border bivouac. This exercise spends good money to degrade the state of our Army. I pity the troops caught up in this charade. Nobody knowingly volunteers to be a pawn.
211
@Fred Frahm
Obviously you never served. Troops do as they are ordered and serve as they are sworn to do. And they act professionally in support of their nation.
Othewise you are punished under the UCMJ.
Their mission is to protect their country’s borders in this case. At only one other time in modern history has this been needed. But they did as ordered and served with pride, military bearing and sacrifice.
We must reinstate conscription such that every male and female be required to serve a minimum of three years in military service. That’s the only way we can teach them some discipline and national pride. The sooner the better.
Otherwise we have ignorant citizens who know nothing about what has been given in blood to provide you and others the freedom to express your hatred for your own elected leadership.
I never would have believed such disrespect for our national institutions and rule of law could become acceptable behavior by so many.
We are likely living in the era of the demise of America simply because so many feel superior in thought and belief. To the point they will betray their own freedom.
1
@MikeS: I enlisted in the Air Force in 1970, served a four year hitch, and discharged honorably in 1974. I had Viet Nam service (non-combat) and an Air Force Commendation Medal.
18
@MikeS
Fred Frahm didn't say that the troops shouldn't have followed orders. They shouldn't have been given the orders they got.
The demise of America is people like you, who believe the only reason anybody could possibly disagree with anything Donald Trump says, is pure and irrational hatred. You expect blind faith in the "beloved leader". You don't want America to be a republic. You don't want democracy. You want to have a dictator.
18
The migrant caravan is at our border. More arriving in the weeks ahead. I wish someone would actually say what they think should happen next. If you think they should all be let in, please say so. If you think they should all be turned away, please say that. If you think some should be let in & others turned away, say that. Please say something, anything, other than the usual political bashing. Some of these people are economic migrants who are making bad faith claims for asylum for which they clearly do not qualify under the law. The law says asylum is available for people who are being persecuted on grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, political views or membership in a social group. These migrants do not belong to any of those categories. Instead many of them are fleeing poverty, which are not grounds for asylum. I'm beginning to think the point is to overwhelm US border authorities. Claims for asylum are supposed to be determined by immigration judges. They can't just be forced back over the border (although that would be a sensible legal reform.) The backlog is now huge. The expectation is that the government will release the migrants pending a hearing, at which point they can just disappear into the hinterland and find work as gardeners or maids for the liberal gentry...yes? Troops at the border are an OK idea if they bring order. We don't want to repeat what happened last month when the caravan were halted in a confrontation with the Mexican police in riot gear.
46
@Bill Brown I don't know whether all the assertions you're making about who comprises this caravan are true, but, for the sake of this response, let's assume they are. Further, I don't know what agreement we might be able to work out with Mexico about whether some---or all of the refugees---can be temporarily settled on the Mexican side of the border. If that can be done, we should financially support housing and food assistance. Mexico can help with security. It would probably cost less than the troops we now have positioned on the U.S. side for no purpose whatsoever. Then, we set up and staff processing centers (ideally on the Mexican side, if it was possible) to fulfill the legal commitments we made long ago to receive and respond to petitions from refugees and immigrants.
59
@Bill BrownTroops at the border is not OK as assigned. These are not pests to be swatted away, but human beings who deserve to be treated humanly.
Agree they can not be let in en mass. They should be treated humanely and with compassion, and processed fairly. Those same troops could be used to help in that regard. I am certain they would embrace that approach.
That is an orderly way to handle this situation.
57
@Paul
Processed where?
Bill brings up a good point. Keeping aside politics which just blurs the real question, are we changing our policy re: economic migrants? (Don't get started about asylum status. 95% are economic migrants)
And then when the next batch shows up?
9
Mr Mattis is just the latest administration official to be tainted by Trump's touch; sad, because Mattis was the only one who didn't bootlick when Trump had that appalling North Korea-like cabinet meeting early in his first year. Everything and everyone Trump touches spoils, so Mattis should get out before his reputation is shredded. It would admittedly be a loss for DoD, but Trump's administration was beyond redemption from the start.
6
I agree with the other commenters, the election was a couple weeks ago and most of us, whether we agree with the deployment or not, saw perfectly well why Trump gave the order. He doesn’t do much of anything that’s not obvious and he then blatantly lies about it when it suits his objective. It’s amazing and disturbing that he gets away with it every day. His supporters love him for it. On one hand he seems to want to be president, his ego couldn’t handle it now otherwise, but on the other hand, he acts like he doesn’t really care if it all came crashing down. I suppose that’s how he’s always lived.
It’s also disturbing that we give the other players a bit of a pass when they behave civilly like Mattis or when they depart the administration. It’s like they’re unwitting members of a cult and when they break free we sympathize with them. My feeling is they’re willing co-conspirators and should be treated as such.
8
@B Eaton
Very well said. Understanding trump's motives is not difficult and by working within his "administration" they are furthering its goals, which are, with trump, financial gain and applause (as long as someone else pays the price).
1
What can you say? This description of Mr. Trump's action in deploying forces to the US/Mexican border is so obviously spot-on that argument or denial would be futile. I've recently been re-reading the late Tony Judt's "Postwar--a History of Europe Since 1945," and noting the similarities between Stalinist tactics in postwar Eastern Europe and Mr. Trump's machinations today. My point is not that Mr. Trump is a Stalinist Communist. It's that the tactics of autocratic demagogues recur and recur throughout history.
9
The core danger in Trump's stunt is that he is constantly expanding his authority in what is a clear move to make his presidency a quasi-dictatorship.
In a normal presidency, there would have been full consultation with the nation's military leaders. Certainly, they would have strongly advised Trump not to deploy, and a sane president would have likely taken heed.
But Trump almost certainly neither consulted with or listened to no one.
So, what we have is yet another outlandish and perilous act by a maniacal president bent on being as dictatorial as possible.
Trump, fully aware there is no national security threat, simply decided to use the troops as a prop in the midterm elections.
That he needlessly and callously disrupted the lives of thousands of American soliders was of no concern to him.
He will merrily spend Thanksgiving enjoying a lavish banquet, while troops eat MRE's far removed from their families.
One hopes that one day Trump will have to pay for his many sins.
10
The authors write, "this act creates a dangerous precedent..."
The dangerous precedent is that we have allowed possibly 22 million illegal immigrants to live freely within our country. That is one in fifteen people you pass on the street is illegally living here. People say, we live in a country of laws, but that is obviously a joke. Between illegal immigration and various forms of fraud including tax evasion, benefits fraud, insurance fraud, which all occur openly and with the support of politicians, it can be argued there is no Social Contract requiring Americans to follow any laws. If some laws are optional, then why aren't all laws optional. Now this is a dangerous precedent.
2
While everything you say may be true, pointing out this blatant misuse of the military post election is virtually meaningless. The damage has been done, the political goal has been achieved. Once again, those who are in a position to push back on the abuse and mis use of presidential power have failed to have the moral will to take action in a timely and meaningful manner.
7
The fact that the military can waste a couple hundred million dollars on a "stunt" is all the proof we need to know that our defense budget is bloated. If the budget were truly lean, the Joint Chiefs of Staff would never stand for this. By the way, where DO they stand on this?
The main reason for this deployment of troops is so that Trump can establish the right to use our armed forces to solve any domestic problem of his choosing. How will the country respond if Trump orders the marines to close down the offices of the NYTimes, the Washington Post, CNN and MSNBC on the grounds that they are releasing national security secrets or some other Trumped up charge?
Finally, the most chilling development surrounding this absurd border issue is that armed militia--private citizens--have deployed at the border to oppose the "caravan." I have not heard a word of protest from our president. Does this foreshadow a million man march on Washington to stop the "deep state" from "stealing" Trump's presidency?
2
I was serving in Japan in the summer of 1964, five days past my 20th birthday, when the war in Vietnam went viral. The Congress, at the behest of president Lyndon Baines Johnson, passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. Few knew at the time that it was merely jumped-up jingoism. A president who needed the war as a backbone for his election was to engulf America in a no-win, catastrophic quagmire that would end up costing 58,000-plus American lives as well as 304,000 wounded, many grievously.
What Donald Trump did by sending soldiers to the border to stave off the murderous, invading "caravan," was to put them in harm's way unnecessarily. He shamelessly used the military as prop in his nationalistic fervor to "make America great again" and further divide a country that has been deeply shaken by his presidency.
As a lowly soldier, one of the first things that I learned at boot camp was that a commander takes care of his troops. He does not abuse them. He does not use them for his personal wars. He has already learned that these are the sons of mothers and fathers. He does needlessly imperil them to make a point.
What America has done to itself, in electing Donald Trump, has been to endanger military and civilian lives at the cost of his personal and financial aggrandizement. Racism is the hook that he employs to accomplish his evil, an evil that is abetted by a complaisant Congress, one that is highly unlikely to hazard their own sons (or daughters) in needless combat.
13
@Soxared, '04, '07, '13
Thank you for your service! And thank you for sharing your wisdom and insight!
4
Many people are suggesting that Secretary Mattis should have resigned rather than accede to Trump's blatantly inappropriate use of the military in this deployment, and I agree with them. There's one hopeful explanation for his failure to resign, however: Perhaps he sees his true duty as remaining in place as long as possible in order to prevent Trump from embarking on some truly horrific abuse of military power should that occasion arise. With Trump, anything is possible.
1
Thanks. Too many associated with the military have come to believe that standing up to Trump is somehow unpatriotic. It's just the opposite. Trump is abusing our military and our country for personal and political gain. He should be embarrassed, but, of course, Trump doesn't do embarrassment.
4
Perhaps the troops should be sent to help the people of Tijuana. They apparently aren’t totally thrilled to have 1000s of would be immigrants coming to their city. I wonder why? The left here is ecstatic. The left has minimized the issue and the right has treated it as an armed invasion. It’s time to stop playing politics and try to figure out how we are going to deal with the millions of unhappy unemployed people from that part of the world many of whom are determined to come here.
This president is guided not by traditions, ideals or principles, but politics... just politics, aimed at the primal instincts of his white male base.
This president disdains the military that he regards as servants. He has yet to visit troops he sends to fight in foreign conflicts. He shows scant regard for his ceremonial duties as commander in chief. He has publicly denigrated soldiers, veterans and families who have sacrificed lives, loved ones and well being in service to their country.
Salesman turned politician, his only skill and concern is selling his brand
3
for Trump everyone is fair game in the political arena, the vets are not immune. Just ask the Boys Scouts of America.
2
Thank goodness Donald Trump and Mr. Mattis have a strong backbone and understand what an invasion is. Sure there are millions who see this Trojan Horse as a desperate, but friendly, caravan of people that need asylum from their homelands. The travelers are safe in Mexico but some think they deserve the better economic future the United States has to offer. Some also think no one should have to wait in line behind others who have applied to come to the United States.
Adams, Wilkerson, and Wilson offer no plan to defend our border and would likely be the first to complain if really bad people came across.
4
This is a clear and thoughtful piece, by authors with pertinent and extensive expertise. In other words, it is the kind of writing by the kind of engaged, highly qualified writers that the current (mal)administration routinely disparages and ignores. That the troop deployment was a stunt--and now we can probably say a failed stunt in terms of effectively advancing Trumpian candidates in key races--is also patently obvious to a non-expert, casual observer. That the troop deployment was a miniature fantasy-war moment for a president who thrills at his executive power to play with toy soldiers is also quite plain. That the troop deployment was a profound breach of longstanding, and widely held, commitments that mark out the proper roles of a professional military within a free, democratic republic is, well, a tougher sell. But a necessary one. The president is actively undermining, and endangering, critical national security values under the guise of a fake security threat. Is it too strong to say that this is a foretaste of, one modality of, fascism? Perhaps, but I'm willing to risk saying it now, rather than wait until it's...too late.
5
Let's not forget who Trump is his comments are often reckless as well his actions. He is unfeeling to others
(Trump said Thursday that US troops -- being deployed along the Mexican border in advance of midterm elections next week -- should treat rocks thrown by migrants as firearms attacks.
"Consider it a rifle," he said. "When they throw rocks like they did at the Mexico military police, consider it a rifle.")
He walked this back but his baser base got the message.
I hate to think what he will do when he runs again and the polls he is losing. How big will the boogiemen be then?
Starting a war not withstanding.
2
In May, 1970, president Nixon sent armed teenagers to disperse other teenagers who were protesting the government's use of our military forces. Killing and maiming ensued at Kent State University in Ohio.
That was a great tragedy during a tragic time, and the analogy is admittedly very loose. What excuses will be made, however, when desperately poor people who have walked hundreds - perhaps thousands - of miles looking for aid and sanctuary are gunned down over a misunderstanding?
The potential for tragedy is there, and Trump has lit the fuse with his reckless rhetoric.
I am surprised that Mr. Mattis did not resign in protest over this move by the President.
People of prominence and power are remembered and judged by the last acts of their careers. Did they leave on a high note on their own terms?
Mr. Mattis continues to support this President even when the President’s actions are continually disrespectful towards the military. Just looking at Trump’s disregard for honoring our WW 1 fallen and then his decision not to honor our veterans in any way on Veterans’ Day are an affront to all who have served and are now serving.
Why Mr. Mattis continues to hitch his stars to this democracy destroying meteor of a President is baffling.
I hope he realizes that he is not helping this administration, he is just another enabler of Presidential power at maximum abuse and debasement of American values and democracy.
1
What happened to the Posse Commitatus Act which limits military involvement in law enforcement?
Why isn’t this deployment a violation of that Act?
Crossing the border illegally is a misdemeanor, overstaying a visa is not a felony.
We need immigration reform.
We do not need stunts and the hatred and the vile rhetoric that has led the Secretary of Defense to violate the Posse Commitatus.
1
"When partisan actions like this occur, they violate civil-military traditions and erode that faith, with potentially long-term damage to the morale of the force and our democratic practice — all for electoral gain."
Donald Trump did not weigh the harm to military morale and democratic norms in deciding to send troops to the Mexico border. His thought process was simple: Losses in the midterms would make him look weak, but sending troops to the border would make him look strong and play well to his base. Period.
It seems that, even after two years, people haven't fully grasped how pervasively Trump's narcissism infects his decision-making. Moving into a period of dangerous uncertainty with imminent House investigations into Trump about to start, understanding just how far this president will go to protect himself is crucial.
America is led by a man with a pathological need to be seen as strong and as a winner. Further, his conception of manly strength is comically childlike. When cornered, by congressional oversight and the Mueller investigation, Trump will lash out to protect his image. Assuming his actions will be constrained by democratic norms, concern for institutions, international peace, the law, common decency or any other reason is the height of foolishness.
Understand, Trump does not care about America. Or his base. Or the law. Or the Constitution. Trump cares about Trump and no other thing on this earth. If you think he's out of control now, wait two months.
2
Armageddon on the Potomac but no one has the guts to throw an impeachment blanket over our naked king. As a disenfranchised Florida voter , I beg you non-voters to do your duty and vote in every election.
Outlandish as it may seem, deployment of regular military troops within the US raises the spectre of the imposition of martial law. It appears that Trump has no knowledge or care about the limits of his power, but all Americans, including his much vaunted base, need to pay special attention to how authority is applied and what new precedents are set. Recall the hunt for the Boston Bombers when armoured vehicles and militarised law enforcement blitzed the city in search of the suspects, eventually found by a homeowner? That was before Trump under the liberal Obama. Now, invasion in the form of beggars represent a blitzkrieg at snails pace, shod in flip flops armed with strollers to confront the US leviathan. I hope the defences respond with the offer of shelter, food, medical care, and sublime compassion.
Fortunately, the loss of the House roundly blunts Trump’s ability to rule by dictatorial decree, and that is the only way he can govern. He has no innate political skills or experience and only enacts mechanisms that he’s told to do by his handlers, like Bolton, who clearly manipulate him like Cheney twiddled Dubya. This is the MO of the GOP, to find perfect stooges that it can get elected by, albeit, skilful, if coldly machiavellian, manipulation of democracy, then get them to front the policies of the real power behind the throne.
Impeachment, if/when it happens, will not curb Republican agenda. Undaunted it will return a new stooge in time, taking up the reins.
1
Yes and those soldiers will be away from their families during Thanksgiving and X-mas to legitimate the stunt and prevent it from backfiring politically. At least give them some training in processing asylum applications - so their efforts will not be a complete waste.
1
If you were to ask the current occupant of the WH what was accomplished by the troops at the border his answer affirms his simplistic and dangerous view of the world and his belief that the office he occupies is unrestricted by anything (read constitution) or anyone (advisors, those elected to congress and the courts.
His answer, "they built a beautiful fence".
He simply plays to "his base" (38% of the electorate) who he believes will propel him to re-election. His actions and words do nothing to dispel this.
4
What if a soldier goes awol? Awol from what? Another question: will there be a ribbon issued like Desert Storm/Shield, etc.?
I feel nothing for the soldiers...they signed the dotted line. I for one wouldn't follow trump's orders and will be glad to serve any punishment.
Thanks electoral college!
@Scott Franklin You feel nothing for the soldiers? You wouldn't follow Trump's orders? Are you so certain that you wouldn't? It would be nice if you did feel something for the soldiers. Not because you're supposed to but because without them in past and in the present we would not be able to defend our country. I feel bad that they are being used in a game of political grandstanding. They didn't sign on the dotted line for that.
As has been obvious for too long a time, #45 is incompetent, treacherous to the U.S. constitution, and should have been impeached long ago. He will continue to manipulate others to undermine the rule of law and to attack the basic tenets of our democracy, and this with the full imprimatur of the GOP congress. I'm certain Gen. Mattis has considered resigning many times, with only the genuine fear of a lackey replacing him keeping him in office.
3
Previously stated, the impeachment shackles need to be locked on before Armageddon on the Potomac gets into the history books .I know how this is happening. Do you?
Trump does not show respect for the military, whether it is honoring the fallen at a ceremony in the rain or if it means that he has to travel to a far off war zone.He has politicized the military by ordering troops to the border as a show of strength to deter poor migrants.He uses the military for his own purposes but when it comes to the time to honor and thank them he is AWOL.
3
Thanks guys. Well said! Too bad Mattis did not say the same thing to his boss.
1
Well, the republican congress is down with it, and apparently anything he does, so unless someone is willing to stand up for what is right, you're spittin' into the wind, buddy. Impressive credentials, by the way. Send a copy of this to Mitch and Paul, see where that gets you.
2
When you write "some aspects of the deployment are at least defensible", I think you make a false equivalence. There i s no defense for the political stunt that was foisted upon us. What a low energy president. Sad. So sad.
2
This is just another dangerous example of how President Trump thinks the government works for him personally - that it's an extension of Trump, Inc. It's of a piece with him demanding loyalty from the FBI, Justice Department, etc.
For a president supposedly interested in saving taxpayers money, the $100-200 million used for this stunt would fund the yearly budgets for the NEA or NEH, agencies the administration sought to eliminate. Or perhaps the money could be used to pay back the over $80 million President Trump has already already spent on his many trips to his golf resorts.
If you support the President's decision to use troops this way, just remember that a future Democratic president could do something similar right before elections - perhaps send 15,000 soldiers to keep the peace at "dangerous" conservative protests, especially given the recent murders and violence propagated by members of the alt-right.
5
So, the three wisemen have descended from the heights of academia to identify unethical behavior. But, how do they know what Trump's motive is? Where is their solution to dealing with this issue (and the others that this will spawn?) Can they not conceive of a disciplined, unarmed peacekeeping force to maintain LAW and ORDER on the border?
@Septickal
The authors of this piece are speaking from actual experience. You, on the other hand...
1
Gentlemen, thank you for saying this loudly and clearly.
Trump was dissuaded from using our military resources for a personal ego-boost in the form of a parade he hoped would 'out-parade' the likes of France and North Korea.
"It was one of the greatest parades I've ever seen. We're going to have to try and top it."
— Donald Trump, regarding the Bastille Day military parade.
But as you said, these troops are no more than pawns to a man who fears personal harm almost as much as he craves adulation. He's a despicable coward, undeserving of the respect of the men and women who serve. Or anyone else.
2
5900 soldiers away from family for Thanksgiving, just hanging out in the desert. They deserve so much better than Trump and the GOP dominated Congress.
2
So, what would this illustrious panel recommend when 8000 migrants arrive at the border and potentially overwhelm a border patrol geared for a daily flow of tens of people? Are they positive there wouldn't be any violence? Do they know with certainty that there aren't any armed people mixed in with the poor women and children?
@Pragmatist in CT
Do you have any facts to contribute to the discussion, or just the propaganda you've been spoon-fed?
1
I applaud these three respected gentleman for clearly articulating what was so blatantly obvious. Why is Mattis so willing to throw his sterling reputation under the bus for Trump, who demonstrates loyalty to no one? Why isn't Congress stepping up? Can't a MOC or Senator make a formal statement in the halls of Congress so that this assault on our Republic and abuse of the military is formally documented? If impeachment is not on the table, why not censure? Why not harp on it? If Obama had pulled this kind of stunt, the right would be screaming at the top of their lungs, not for hours or days, but for months.
1
The borders are not "open" and there are processes to vete people coming through. Trumps use of the military is totally inappropriate and unnecessary. As a tax paying Texan, I deplore this dehumanizing and wasteful squandering of money.
4
Just yesterday I watched a special on MSNBC (or HLN; I cannot recall) about the political rise and fall of Gary Hart. He had affairs during his marriage most of which his wife came to know about and had come to terms with. Then the picture of a woman sitting in his lap on a friend's boat came out during the time he was campaigning for democratic presidential primary causing him to drop the bid and then reenter and eventually lose. Though Bill Clinton overcame similar accusations and served two terms as POTUS he eventually got caught for his affair while in office and was rightly subjected to the embarrassment of impeachment. I cannot not help but think about the one that we have as POTUS and all that he is allowed to get away with, by a political party that claims to be the champions of moral and christian family values and patriotism! The supposedly immoral and corrupt Dems could not get away with anywhere near as what Trump is getting away with!
2
Historically, immigration in the US has peaked previously at a rate around 15% of total population since the 1800s. We are approaching the peak again thus part of the reason why this is again a topic of concern. While not a fan of Trump or his racism, unregulated immigration is not a recipe for success either. Are we really running out people and skilled workers in this country? No.
Wish the Dems and NYT would be a bit more balanced. Take a look at Plano Texas home of large corporations like HP, JCPenney, Frito-Lay, PepsiCo, Toyota, Capital One, NTT Data, Liberty Mutual. The influx of Indians to the area has been staggering all the while people that were these companies for 15+ years are being forced out. One can't say this is just a skills issue based on the numbers; its all about companies looking for ways to pay their new employees less, plain and simple. In fact, JCPenney moved their entire IT organization overseas.
Maybe next time, the military should get its toy soldiers to give Trump a parade. Now would be a good time to start practicing the goose step.
1
Calling it a stunt is not a fact but merely displays your values. I could say that this article is a "stunt" by Adams et al. That would express my feelings, but would say nothing about the article or whether you are right or wrong.
1
@Ludwig
It's unquestionably a "stunt," whether you choose to recognize that fact or not.
1
Yeah, just a little incremental cost of $200 million.
Good lord.
We are brushing aside astronomical sums of money like its buying a candy bar from the girl scouts.
While agreed this political stunt is just that...our and your military et al went along with it.
You all did it.
2
Yes, Sec. Mattis should have resigned and should resign now.
It's a measure of the enormity of this man's dishonor that he brings all those in his orbit nearly as low as he. The formerly respectable are rendered instantly contemptible. It's the man's one talent.
Of course, they can still always say, at least I'm not as bad as Trump.
2
Betrayal is Trump's middle name. It fits his pattern. He has always used other people's money for his personal again; why would he stop now?
2
This is how Trump supports the armed services.
How unnecessary and demoralizing for our troops.
Yet another profound embarassment on a global scale.
What an abuse of power.
Next time we elect a POTUS, I suggest a basic competence test. (maybe like the one new citizens have to take to become citizens).
3
The blame for the cynical stunt of moving troops to the border on the eve of the election to stoke fear and increase Republican voting isn’t entirely on Trump. Also sharing the blame is Defense Secretary Mattis. He knew full well this action was 100% political. He could easily have stopped if. Mattis could have privately told Trump that he will resign and publicly criticize the stunt if forced to do it. Trump would have either backed down or Mattis could have exposed the scheme right before the election, and the Trump GOP’s horrible election would have gone even worse.
1
I am very concerned Trump is hoping for protestors so he can further divide us. The Tucson Sector has its own long running arguments with border residents. I hope folks understand these deployed troops don't want to be here, either. We haven't had an Apache raid since they sent Geronimo and his band to San Augustine Prison.
Tecumseh Sherman once suggested we should go to war with Mexico to make them take Arizona back, he was so sick of the demands for stands of soldiers to fund the fledgling territories businesses.
So stand up to him, please. Obedient, compliant, complacent, ho-hum indifferent. Keep deferring to the incompetent one, and you lose your credibility. Where are the Joint Chiefs in this? Why is it OK for Trump not to sit and listen and engage the daily briefings? In the end, military leadership's full embrace of this sloppy work just makes a stronger case for the public to conclude that funding trumps all principles and integrity.
1
Military uniforms include ribbons that tell of the different excursions. I wonder what ribbon will describe a service person's pride in being deployed to shoot at frightened, tired refugees.
4
For me, the main impression that this article creates is that the authors are truly scraping the bottom of the barrel to find reasons for criticising DT's timely intervention - the latter, a rare instance of shutting the stable door *before* the horse has bolted.
Our President is a threat to our national security, more than this caravan ever has been,ever will be. Much more so. The only thing Trump seems capable of doing is sowing fear and insulting people with his fifth grade vocabulary and his actions; his not visiting Arlington National Cemetery on Veteran's Day speaks to his not knowing what truly matters and speaks volumes as to how little respect he has for the sacrifices are armed forces have made for our country, will continue to make. Thank you for calling him out on yet another reprehensible act.
2
As bad as this is, I am more concerned that he will start a shooting war with a foreign power as yet another misuse of the military for partisan political purposes.
An interesting article but hardly memorable. Trump must be suffering from some dangerous neurosis--obssessed by walls--whereever you might find them. Perhaps he, the great one, is little more than an overgrown toy playing the Presidential game, albeit compulsively. But, that great nation, the USA will survive even the Trump--for he is mighty and enjoys building, and he knows which people he wants to alienate, the poor in body and the pure in heart--both can be suitable sacrifices to his depressive-compulsive-disintergrating, distructive mind-set. Call out the marines for they are choen to play political games, with due allegiance to Old Glory.
Your military are frequently used for political stunt purposes when they are seated behind a Presdient at a speaking engagement, (instead of in front of him), while he is ostensibly addressing them. Presumably this is for the camera's benefit - so that the President can be seen to identify himself with his troops, who in turn can be relied upon to be good looking, smiling and enthusiastic in the presence of their commander in chief. Why else would you seat part of your audience behind any speaker, let alone the President of the United States? A rather tawdry, but probably very effective tactic. I wonder who started it?
The NYT op-eds, like this one, and its news articles do not provide enough information to conclude the border deployment is a misuse of military resources. NYT needs to inform its readers on what type of troops that compose the 5,900 and what are these troops doing.
For example, if these troops are engineers building support infrastructure for the border patrol or UAS equipped platoons, then they may enhance the capabilities of civilian law enforcement. However, if this is a Brigade Combat Team, then we need a public debate on the purpose of these troops and where they are best suited to provide for our security.
This information will arm the reader with a more factual conclusion, which might change minds on the other side of this issue.
When Mattis told troops at the border to ignore the media regarding their deployment he joined the infamous club led by William Westmoreland in deceiving not only the public but his own army. So far no physical harm has come to anyone but there wasn’t supposed to be physical harm at Kent State University either. General Mattis will bear responsibility for what happens at the border along with Mr Trump so that for the forever of Google the two names may be linked inextricably. Nobody who rubs skin with Trump escapes his maladies. There’s a new sheriff in town, Nikki Haley told the UN General Assembly to her eternal shame and embarrassment after taking the bold moral step of removing the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state house. And now General Mattis has taken a swig of the Trump Kool-Aid too. Trump will leave corpses across the political landscape of this country but in doing so he will have revealed the shallow and feckless core of our public life in the age not of Trump but of plutocracy.
2
Betrayal, yes.
But it plays well with the MAGA set everywhere. These poor folks have lost their connection with the economic equation - partly as a result of their doing, partly as a result of things out of control, and definitely because of both. Their disconnection from the socioeconomic and cultural fabric, now increasingly shaped by immigration, has surfaced their anger and hatred, and produced a variety of regressive behaviors.
They love the thought of having tough guys in military gear menacing and firing at unarmed women and children at the border. These same bearded guys in pick up trucks were menacing women and children walking to a mosque in Irving Texas - to the utter joy of the American right wing. It makes them feel they are in control, they are in power, that they've told us who is in charge.
Shame on democrats for speaking of tolerating this, and aiming to win back the MAGA set. I suppose democrats now want me (at the receiving end of MAGA set's irrational wrath) to pay in taxes to take care of them. Never.
2
The negative impact on moral of such a cynical and trivial use of the military, an institution which holds duty and honor as sacred core values, is invisible to one who lacks both.
jd
3
As always Col. Wilkerson you are spot-on.
My guess is many people reading this article have never served and may not understand the difference between exploiting the military abroad and Trump's domestic abuse of military personnel to whip-up his base.
When home the troops should maximize readiness training and family time.
Both of the troop deployments cited above are unacceptable. However, the domestic deployment of troops for political gain is very destructive to the psyche of the troops. In addition, Trump's actions conditions our youth and the uninformed for future abuse of power by a president who, on a daily basis, corrupts the very ideals on which our Country is built.
For me the unfortunate truth is that when white-collar criminals occupy a country's seats of power one can expect both criminal and despicable behavior from top to bottom.
Unfortunately, Trump and his band of deplorables, from the White House to county legislatures across our Nation demonstrate how far we have fallen as a people.
6
The Army’s internal assessment the authors claim did not find the caravan’s a “very credible threat” actually rated the threat as “moderate,” but it was made more than a month ago and and has already been proven wrong. For example, it estimated the number of migrants at 7,000 and predicted only a “small percent” would reach the U.S. border. However, more than 3,000 migrants have already reach Tijuana, where they are now clashing with police. Some have already scaled the border wall and have been chased back into Mexico. Thousands more are approaching Tijuana, where officials expect the number to swell to about 10,000. The caravans forced their way through barriers on Mexico’s southern border. They would do the same at the U.S. border if sufficient force is not assembled to stop them.
https://www.newsweek.com/mexicans-protest-migrant-caravan-arrivals-us-border-they-are-invaders-1221716
@William Case
The article you cite contains no factual support for the President's claims.
1
@Brad Blumenstock
The article provides evidence that more than three thousand of an expected 10,000 migrants have already arrived at the border Wirth the stated intend of entering the United States with or without permission. It is not an imaginary threat.
As usual, it's not the reality-show "president" that's truly at fault here, it's the Republicans in Congress who go along like sheep. People who vote for them should know that they're supporting people who would rather waste our money on this kind of stunt, as well as lies about the caravan, than on serious problems. Are your portfolios worth it? Really?
1
Don the con has done it again use our Military as a stunt for elections, not one word has been said after the elections.Military can take no police action, another stunt by Trump
2
A small percentage of the trillions wasted "over there" might have helped our poorer American neighbors to secure their democracies and economies with aid for education, health care, crime prevention, family planning, etc. Instead we have consumed their drugs, shipped them guns, and transferred back their criminal gangs. The $200 million wasted on this show of farce represents nothing but similar opportunity costs. Trump is betraying the national interest in another grotesque display of his unfitness.
2
By extension one might say that all military deployments by the U.S. have a political stripe. This current one, however, makes a mockery of the military. What a terrible waste, all for King Trump's vanity.
1
Each week Trump manages to come up with a policy move or pronouncement that is straight out of a Banana Republic playbook---Which, for a country as powerful as we are, we look comical on the national stage.
2
There is a long and honored history of the use of our military for political reasons just in my lifetime and while our current leader cannot be excused at least no one is likely to die at our border. Viet Nam supplied every president from Kennedy to Nixon with political support.
Bush senior could be excused since he had very broad support from the international community and had the good sense to know when to cease fire.
Bush junior was at best too stupid to understand how he was being manipulated. The current war with Pakistan being played out in Afghanistan is widely questioned but at the least does not seem dishonorable.
So "Trumps War" as it will be called is 100% bluster and stunt but no one is likely be awarded a purple heart no flag draped caskets and even the most ardent Trump supporter can see it for what it is. So Bravo Trump!
Where were the writers of this article when the foolishly bloody wars were started? This is the best war ever!
For the life of me, I cannot understand why the good men and women of the military stand behind this most vile president. From (among other things) the naming calling of a Gold Star family and Senator McCain to the disrespect shown by not attending the WWI ceremony (due to rain) and Arlington National Cemetery (too busy) to wanting a ridiculous parade to not yet visiting an oversee base, and to now using our troops as a political stunt, I hope the military will finally wake up and realize that trump is all about himself. He doesn't deserve respect or votes of the military.
2
Unfortunately, Our Military now does stunts.
1
Nonsense. This is not "our military".
Since 9/11/01 a mere 0.75% of our fellow Americans have volunteered to wear the military uniform of any American armed force. And they have been ground to emotional, mental and physical dust by repeated deployments in ethnic sectarian civil wars that have no military solution.
While the rest of us pretend to be brave honorable patriots by rising to sing the national anthem and salute the flag at sporting events.
No family member of the Trump Organization Crime Family has ever worn an American military uniform. Indeed Donald Trump's Bavarian German grandfather fled to America in order to avoid criminal prosecution for dodging the military draft.
MAGA!
4
Trump's military stunt at the border was not only a betrayal of the military, but his own oath of office. The commander in chief is sworn to protect our country against foreign and internal threats, but using it as a political tool is to abuse this authority. Where was their threat from a handful of marches a thousand miles away with barely a stone between them?
Who knows what this president will do? Call them out against peaceful protests or against Congress when they don't agree with him? Who knows and we need to fear not knowing.
President Bone Spur believes that "his" military forces should be used to support his dictatorial fantasies, in the same way that "his" Department of Justice is there to protect his violations of the law. Military forces take an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States, not carry out the whims of a draft dodger. Perhaps President Bone Spur should read it.
2
The question is what to do about the migrant caravan, and America’s answer has to be that we evaluate each person’s request for asylum. Some are legit, some aren’t. Some get refused, some get to enter the country. Sorting it out isn’t a job for the military.
You can’t really blame this mess on Trump, who has no goal other than working a situation to his own advantage - the only problems he is interested in solving are his own. Who didn’t see this coming?? It’s clear that he has dealt with the “caravan” not only masterfully, but in a way entirely predictable and consistent with who he is. If you don’t like it, complain to the Republican Party, who thought tax cuts for the rich were so important that nominating a fascist was OK, as long as he could win them the White House.
2
Remember the adage about generals planning for the last war? And the Maginot line? Germany simply went around it, rendering it ineffective. The wrong force, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons.
Typical of Trump, he (and his wife) have no compunctions about stealing (that's the word) government money for himself and his causes. He stole $200 million for a de facto campaign contribution to the Republican Party. We've seen him steal millions and disrupt lives weekly in both West Palm Beach and Bedminster at OUR expense to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. We've seen the first lady squander inordinate sums of OUR money on hotel rooms she's barely in for 6 hours, $95,000 in Cairo, nearly double that in Canada.
The force, a thousand miles away from where the caravan of moms and their kids fleeing gangs, is likely to reach our border reminds me of the drunk looking for his keys. "Why are you looking here if you lost them over there?" asks the cop.
"The light's better over here" explains the drunk.
Yeah, no immigrant will cross where the troops are. And elephants won't be trampling our landscaping, either!
Where these troops need to be is in California, ready to house thousands rendered homeless by the cataclysmic fires...Maybe the President could order them to rake the forests! (sarcasm intended)
1
Obviously the Reality Star President thinks he is in a movie. His dramatic outcry during the Mid-term elections was outrageous. But it stands to reason that Trump would follow that up with sending Troops to the Border. How else could he distract us from the Mueller Investigation, the murder of Khoshoggi, etc.
Trump is the great Distractor who will do whatever it takes to gain attention away from what he is facing with the findings of Robert Mueller and his team.
What is really disappointing in this is the fact that General Mattis slithers around the true explanation and ends up covering for Trump. Mattis has forgotten that he is there, not for Trump, but for the Country. He has disgraced himself by defending this awful Trump decision.
I wonder if Trump and Mattis will spend the Holidays with the Troops or enjoy them in the sanctity of their own homes.
What a laughingstock they are making of the the Military.
1
President Trump's troop deployment comes straight from George W Bush's playbook: anyone recall Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge confessing that he was pressured to raise the nation's "terror alert level" (the infamous the color codes) just before the 2004 election?
The track record is clear. Republicans will lie, stoke fears, jeopardize national security, and waste our tax dollars just to swing a few votes.
Say you support the troops? Then demand they be brought back home by Thanksgiving. Shame on anyone who continues to be fooled by the Republican Party's hypocrisy.
1
Thank you, gentlemen, for your continued fidelity to the oath you swore — to protect our country from all threats, foreign and in this case, domestic — and for your continued service to this nation and its democratic norms and ideals. The misuse of troops for political ends is an egregious abuse of power by the occupant of the Oval Office; as you rightly remind us, in this country, the military is under civilian control, so we must all, as citizens, speak out against this authoritarian move. And I especially applaud your integrity in calling out Secy. Mattis. Again, I say thank you.
2
The military is authorized by the State to use lethal force, and to prosecute war. No war has been declared by Congress against this group of people, so Trump's military action at the border is illegal. If we need more Border Patrol, then do that. The new leaders in the House Appropriations committee should review this action and call military leaders up to the Hill for public hearings.
The only thing I can sort out about Mattis is his personal knowledge about Trump's thoughts and behaviors, and that he thinks going along with this is less a risk than whoever would be appointed if he resigned.
1
All of the money and manpower for this border stunt should instead go the the immediate aid of fire and hurricane victims.
9
Unprecedented use of our military?! Really?! No president has ever used the military for political gain?! It’s the oldest trick in the book - it’s a common saw that presidents go to war to get themselves re-elected.
36
@Bhj Try reading the article again and understanding it.
13
@Bhj God points, but still needs to be called out, especially when the president is trying to scare people to vote for him. Funny did not sound like the military thought it was a good idea - now that seems a bit out of the ordinary.
2
@Bhj Next time read the article. I'm sure those who recommended your comment didn't bother to read it either. your point is well made by the authors.
12
Trump is a corrupter of all. Mattis should have delayed executing this politically motivated order. The caravan was approximately 1,000 miles from the Mexican border when the order was given. He could have told Trump that, of course, he would carry out his order but given the lack of a real physical threat to the USA the army would respond in due time. In this way he would have negated the political ploy by sending the troops after the elections and still obeyed the order.
7
Another military stunt is the Iraq war. which is undeclared and was never funded. Trillions of dollars wasted and still it goes on. The U.S. will always default to a military option. What a waste of our resources.
13
These good people deserve so much better!
But then again, when it comes to Trump, so do we all!
10
The Rubicon is crossed. It happened and was simply "accepted". Where strong protest, resignations and political consequences should have been - there was silence and acquiescence. Next up ... the declaration of a State of Emergency with martial law?!?! Beware of what you allow by simply acceding.
11
Trump deployed troops to the Mexican border to reinforce his lie that bogeymen were marching on our border. The election is over and not a word from Trump about the troops or the bogeymen. But now he attacks Admiral McRaven. McRaven responded: “Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation”
As long as Trump is permitted to act and speak and threaten and lie like a dictator we are all in danger of losing America and our American ideals and freedoms.
Trump’s performance on FOX NEWS Sunday confirms everything Admiral McRaven and John Brennan warned us about.
22
He could have sent them to fight the fires in California but then he would have had to deal with the approval and thanks of Nancy Pelosi.
6
@Ivan W Why bring Nancy Pelosi into this conversation? Is there nothing that President Trump can be held responsible without mentioning one of the boogeyman Democrats?
This is why military dictatorships are so terrifying. When leaders can dispense troops at their whim, they open the door to more sinister terms. What if Trump had instructed our troops shoot illegal immigrants on sight? What if he did the same to, say, protesters at a rally? It only sounds ridiculous if you ignore the fact that our president sent thousands of troops on a ridiculous midterm 'mission' and got remarkably little pushback. If nothing else, Trump has laid bare the sad state of our democracy.
13
@NewAmerican--There's precedence for what you suggest. Remember Kent State?
I will never understand how any past or present member of the military can support this draft-dodging disgrace of a man.
15
The premise of this article is, on its face, laughable. It is strictly from a progressive, anti Trump view that is so blatant it’s bankrupt.
After serving our US Army for over 34 years, but now only as a civilian, I myself see the duplicity and abject anti Trumpism to not allow him to insure our borders and internal security is safe. At every turn when he attempts to see that unneeded people and illegals at that, who need to be vetted, the Democrats and their many allies refuse to insure our nations borders are safe and secure. We are a nation of laws. We are not a third world country. We are not racists nor are we unsympathetic to the plight of refugees. Wake up America !
31
@Patrick Turner
It's an editorial. Since this is not a fascist country, I welcome this editorial, and my father who fought with the 101st Airborne, Yankee Infantry Division in WWII was wide awake when he too would have welcomed such editorials.
We ARE a nation of laws and not a third world country - that is correct.
Speaking of your allegiance to "laws" you do realize that Trump got away with settling out of court on 3 class action lawsuits that were filed against him for fraud and racketeering. Considering the preponderance of evidence in those court case files, had he not settled, he'd be in jail right now for committing a felony.
Explain to me why you're outraged over a possible misdemeanor that might be committed but felonious acts backed by evidence are okay with Trump fans so long as he can buy his way out of them.
76
@Patrick Turner
President Trump and the Republicans have no monopoly on wanting secure borders. No Democrat I know would grant unfettered access across our Southern border to Central Americans. No Democrat would welcome 10 million South Asian or 10 million Chinese immigrants tomorrow.
But the Southern Border is a stunt. No wall will be effective. Nor will troops in tents. What we already have is effective.
Is it not significant that President Trump, your hero, recently called for MORE immigrants from countries like Sweden and Ireland?
Why do you suppose those people, in the President's mind, offer no threat, but those brown folks from Honduras, oh, those are just so scary?
44
@Patrick Turner
We have institutions to vet immigrants and asylum seekers. Those institutions do not typically involve the US Army in any capacity. The Army is not responsible for border security or immigration enforcement. Trump is therefore misusing the Army, wasting tax dollars, demoralizing troops, and making the Army generally less effective. All this so he could shout xenophobic outrage at midterm political rallies. The veritable silence following the election is proof of intent.
If you want secure borders, fine we'll secure the borders according to existing law. Sending a few thousand soldier to summer camp on the Mexican border is not securing our borders. Wake up.
25
What Trump is doing and what the GOP is supporting because it lets them stay in power, should be profoundly disturbing to a lot more Americans than it is. They believe that this caravan has thousands of criminals and drug dealers and other undesirables in it. They don't see that these people are leaving countries that have no viable economic or living prospects for them or their families. If there are no jobs there's no way to feed oneself or one's family. If there is religious persecution or political persecution and they are on the wrong side there's no safety. If there's no visible future for their children (or for them), leaving does make sense.
These people are not even here yet. They aren't illegal immigrants in America as of now. Trump is trying, with the explicit cooperation of the GOP, to rabble rouse Americans against all immigrants unless they are white and look like us. He's also violating our own laws about asylum and probably a few international laws. America first is not a good way to run this country when it comes to the economy or immigrants. In any case, Trump has proven, beyond any doubt, that he and the GOP are putting rich American corporations and people first, not most of us.
8
The Con Don is a profound betrayal of everything good, decent, honest, socially conscious and morally/ethically upright about OUR United States of America.
He actually thinks it's "his" military. He thinks it's "his" country. He actually thinks hes some kind of king.
Boy, do WE THE PEOPLE have news for him. We do not have "kings" in America. He is a traitor because he is trying to make enemies of OUR friends and friends of OUR enemies who would destroy us.
Plainly, The Con Don and his Robber Baron brethren inside and outside OUR governments are traitors. They should all be prosecuted and shot at dawn as we do with any traitors.
25
@njglea
As far as the military is concerned he is a king. He’s the commander in chief and if you were ever in the military you know it is a virtual dictatorship. That’s the law in this country.
Yes, Aristotle Gluteus Maximus. and I pray with all my heart that the military top brass will realize how stupid that is and refuse to follow his orders when he's trying to destroy OUR United States of America.
The destructive male power-over model that made up this rule must end if OUR country and the world are to prevent being destroyed again by insatiable, demented greed.
1
I was draft age during Viet Nam, (got lucky with a high lottery number), which was the first "politically motivated" deployment of troops in my lifetime.
Most readers here don't need me to list all the subsequent "dangerous stunts".
With one or two possible exceptions, and some admirable humanitarian work, political abuse of the US military is the rule, not the exception.
10
I'm so sorry you had to put your life on the line for that terrible use of OUR U.S. military, Larry.
Rachel Maddow (MSNBC 9 pm ET weeknights) had a special last night about Crooked Richard Nixon's traitorous communications with the South Vietnamese leader, through a female American/Chinese power broker, to stop President Johnson from getting the peace agreement he had worked so hard to put together. Nixon would do anything to "win".
President Johnson knew Nixon was being a traitor but decided not to make it public to protect the integrity of OUR FBI, CIA and other intelligence agencies. His decision gave Lying Crooked Nixon the "win". It also cost an additional 20,000 or so American military lives and countless Vietnamese lives.
The republican Koch brothers led Robber Barons have been trying to destroy OUR United States ever since with their demented lust for supposed power, their insatiable greed, their morally/ethically bankrupt actions and their total lack of social conscience. Hate-anger-fear-Lies,Lies,Lies-death-destruction-WAR-rape-pillage-plunder. That is HIStory and it's time that WE THE PEOPLE put that model of living into the trash heap.
OUR story of inclusion and relative peace starts NOW.
2
@njglea
I didn't claim to have put my life on the line. Did you put yours on the line?
Otherwise, I think we mostly agree about misuse of the military, don't we?
The Posse Comitatus Act bars the use of the army for civilian law enforcement. I’m sure the authors considered this in stating that the president’s decision was likely legal, and they are certainly more qualified than I am to speak on it, but I’m not so sure. Either way, I fully agree with their assessment of this action.
10
@Matthew
Defending the nation’s border is the purpose of the military.
The military was doing domestic law enforcement in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina, patrolling the streets with M4 rifles and commandeering civilian structures for their own purposes. There’s a video report from a major news network on YouTube
It has been said many times before, and is pertinent to this episode too: There is no one or no entity that Trump touches that he doesn’t ruin, taint or insult eventually. Welcome to Trumpland, U.S. armed forces. I hope it’s not true that you voted for him over the other candidate.
32
@RH
You know they did. (Vote for Trump)
1
I'm beginning to feel like I'm watching a really bad movie. There's no script, there's no moral, however, there is a theme:
Be as disruptive as you can be and make outrageous statements to get people to fear dangers that don't exist. It takes some propaganda and slight of word to convince people that a large group of people walking over 1000 miles will arrive in an amazingly short time and that every one of them will make it.
Unfortunately, there are no headlines to tell us that many of these people have either returned to their own country or sought and been given refuge in Mexico. No one mentions that the numbers have probably been grossly exaggerated to begin with.
SNL hysterically reported that the people in the Caravan were walking at 300 miles per hour, which they would have to have been to arrive at the border by Nov. 6. Many of us didn't need SNL to understand the absurdity of this "crisis."
This concerns me. Our naked emperor convinced thousands of people that this is an invasion and sends 6,000 soldiers to protect our border, when we desperately need more money to improve our schools and start teaching people critical thinking and how and went to turn off the TV. I fear for our country when we have so many that can't think objectively and trust their own judgement, blindly following a man for whom wisdom is sadly lacking.
35
@Elizabeth
Elizabeth, don't forget where this guy came from. I think we are watching a really bad movie.
1
I don't understand how a single veteran or a any person currently serving in our military can support a man that claimed "bone spurs" to avoid Vietnam, claims he has, "more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military.",and can't go to a ceremony to honor WWI soldiers because it was raining. But has zero problem using them as political pawns for a non-threat.
76
@GichigamiGrump.
The military serves the nation, not presidents. The military is generally indifferent to politics. Soldiers know that presidents are only temporary occupants of the White House.
@Gichigami
Anyone of military age who avoided military service in Vietnam was lucky or smart. The entire conflict was a war crime.
2
@Gichigami
The hypocrisy of those vets is breathtaking. Remember how many were willing to turn on John Kerry, a true hero who was running against two draft dodgers who were perfectly willing to give other peoples' blood in the Vietnam War but none of their own.
I couldn't believe that a vet running for Congress could demand an apology from a member of the SNL cast for a slight but didn't seem to have a problem with Trump denigrating the service of John McCain much less denounce him for this current stunt.
8
I don't see how any member of the military can support Trump after this stunt. It was clear from the first that he was using the troops to manipulate public opinion. Trump couldn't even bring himself to honor the war dead on Veteran's Day. He wouldn't walk in the rain with other world leaders to commemorate the end of WWI. He's done nothing to improve veterans' medical care. And, now he threatens to shut down the government and leave military families without paychecks. Trump sees the military only as pawns that he can drag out for parades and ceremonies and political theater, but he cares little for them otherwise. No wonder support for Trump among active military has slipped to around 40%.
48
@Ms. Pea
The military is funded during government shutdowns. It’s only the liberal opposition media that says it’s a stunt.
@Ms. Pea Makes me wonder about that 40 percent
2
Everything Trump does is a profound betrayal of his oath of office, of the Constitution, of the trust his own voters placed in him (!) because the Truth of Donald Trump is, and always has been, that he is loyal to no one and to nothing but the advancement of his own interests as he sees them and to the protection of his Self. Because the Republican Party stands four square behind him (their silence to pretty much everything he does and says tells us that) the Party itself betrays the nation and the Constitution and in the same lying fashion. May their betrayal become clear even in those places where they “won” elections and most especially to those in the federal judicial system which is now in the process (Thank you Mr. MConnell et al.) of being packed with judges who likewise have no problem betraying the citizenry and the democratic functioning of our nation.
30
@B. Rothman
The Constitution's "Take Care Clause" tasks presidents to "take care the laws be faithfully executed." U.S. immigration laws call for the arrest and detention of illegal border crossers and the deportation of all aliens residing unlawfully in the United States. In what way do you think securing the border betrays citizens?
You either believe open borders are good, or you don't. It's as simple as that. Trump does not believe in open borders, he does not believe in 'catch and release', he believes our nation has a sovereign right to decide who enters our country or not- and many of us believe the same.
6
@Rob Campbell
The military is not needed to defend our border with Mexico.
We have a Border Patrol for that purpose.
60
@Rob Campbell What Trump believes about borders has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that there is no border crisis and that he used US military troops in a political stunt to create a crisis where there was none. I, for one, am glad that SOMEONE has finally said something publicly about his. I'm a vet and I was horrified that he sent our troops down there for absolutely no good reason.
66
@Rob Campbell
But surely you can not believe that this deployment of so many active duty military personnel to the southern border is justified for the sake of a few thousand refugees who were highly unlikely to be able to get any where near actually crossing even withoput the soldiers.
15
I suppose it's reassuring to hear military veterans call it the President for what this was - an electoral stunt, one of but many he's so fond of. Also, while the cost is nominal because the forces already exist regardless of where they're deployed, those done funds could've been better used for humanitarian aid.
Ultimately, your question of whether the president can deny, in advance, what could be legitimate claims for asylum, without scrutiny, touches on the core of this administration's actions. Even if this decision was technically legal, who provides the scrutiny?
Until now, Congress has failed to demand accountability for any of his decisions, not just use of the military for suspect purposes. Each time he seems to have crossed a line too far, we see it's not far enough. There have been no consequences for his breaches of process or practice, regardless of the topic.
Is it reasonable the hope the military will join the voters of this country to say "enough!"? When and how do our armed services conclude that presidential demands are inappropriate or invalid for the circumstances and should not be followed?
Voters can only exercise their rights every two to four years. How close to the brink must we get before we find out if Congress or the military will stop the madness.
66
Donald Trump holds what can only be called campaign rallies at military bases regularly. Each time he uses troops as props in purely partisan political shows. Yet neither Congress nor the military leadership has raised much objection. We are moving incrementally, but ever more quickly, toward the time when our armed forces are, in fact, subsidiaries of the Trump Republican Party.
70
@SAB And that is also a move toward fascism and authoritarianism.
2
Thank you, Gentlemen, for having the courage of your convictions. While few of us see this as Trump's Joe McCarthy moment, it should come as no surprise that someone who did their very best to avoid military service when it counted pursues this goal in this way. I hope this is the final wake-up call to the Vets who somehow believed Trump would transcend his past.
62
US military can be more effectively deployed to nation build: establish/enforce local security; build/repair safe communities with food, shelter, infrastructure, local jobs; and eventually work with humanitarian groups that provide needed health services, birth control, and financial aid. Those efforts would address the primary needs of desperate people and greatly reduce the numbers of asylum seeking immigrants trying to find safety and economic opportunity in the USA.
10
By suggesting that the military could be used to “nation build” as defined is charming but also to have a profound misunderstanding of what the military do. Throughout history and in all lands. It is for defending sovereignty, by force and enforcement of foreign policy when State Department, CIA and financial hit men fail. To use force ie. Kill our enemy. We are exceptionally good at it too. Perhaps deep down the Mr Trump understands that and hopes for his “Remember the Maine” moment.
Trump's political maneuvering of US Troops to the border during the mid-term elections is just another example of his abuse of power. Unfortunately, no one seems to stop him from many or any of his actions. He has also painted a false picture of who these people are who are headed towards our border. While I have no idea how 7,000 asylum seekers get processed or where they go when they get here, I do not believe they need to get with hostility or force.
These soldiers did not sign up to be in the military to sit at a border when their is no threat or need for them. As the article points out, at times, there has been a need for additional man/woman power at the border to help with logistics and other technicalities.
I feel sorry for these soldiers, but I also feel sorry for this group of asylum seekers. They are obviously fleeing horrendous conditions. Who else would flee with toddlers in hand other than desperate people?
43
This op-ed is incomplete. Yes, this use of the military for a political stunt was wrong and probably illegal. But the military went along with it. The next time Trump creates a false "security" threat, it may be against some blue state for standing in his way on a principle of democratic government. If he sends in the troops to California, for example, to do a house-to-house check for immigrants who "threaten" our "security," will the military comply? Will they be ordered to arrest and imprison everyone with a latin surname? Or with a Jewish surname because they threaten our "security?" Will the military comply with requests to arrest people simply because Trump says so, even if by some miracle Congress disagreed? If you think this is improbable, think of the border patrol agents who are arresting people seeking asylum and who have torn young children away from their parents. Not even in WWII was this considered acceptable. This op-ed identifies the huge risks we are facing. As nearly as I can tell no government entity is willing to actually protect us.
105
@Eero Sad to day, it's my belief that we are indeed approaching a time when the distinction between our internal political structure and the armed forces used to carry out foreign policy are becoming increasingly blurred.
Our all-volunteer military essentially placed our armed forces into the hands of presidents. Congress has punted its responsibility to decide what war is and to declare it, leaving the president - in his role of CINC - answerable to no one except after the fact.
Our Founding Fathers greatly feared a standing army and argued that issue as strenuously as any in our Constitution. They feared that the chief executive might use a standing army as a political tool.
And here we are.
In this horrible "Trump Era", the wisdom of our Founders stands in higher and higher relief.
.
4
@Eero
"But the military went along with it."
I don't disagree with your sentiment regarding the failed accident in the oval office.
But it's important to understand the true dimensions of the issue before needlessly inflaming the situation and sliming the military. Perhaps you served, perhaps not. If you did, you should recognize the military was given a lawful order (deployment).
To do "house-to-house searches" in California would not be a lawful order; it would be a violation of The Posse Comitatus Act as amended (1878, 1956 and 1981). Any junior officer would be expected to order their troops to stand down and await a legal order.
The Border Patrol is an instrument of the federal government (and seriously flawed, at that) but it is not governed by the same strict rules that provide a bedrock of order for all services except the Coast Guard. The USCG, of course, has its own solid foundation, allowing domestic law enforcement alone among its sister services.
We can be alarmed without being alarmist.
1
I am not sure why Trump didn't just go to border himself to handle the problem rather than sending troops. He has, after all, made it clear that he would have captured Bin Laden quicker than the Navy Seals did and stopped the Parkland shooter by rushing into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
202
@banquo
He was probably afraid it might rain--or, more likely, be windy. As a woman with uncooperative hair, I can relate!
15
@banquo It's simple, his heal spurs were causing him pain on those days.
14
@banquo. And he could have ended the Vietnam war much sooner if it wasn't for those bone spurs.
12
Just for perspective:
If the US allocated $200M to support the asylum seekers instead of viewing them as a threat, we could claim to be a compassionate nation.
Simple math: If every one of the 3,500 were to be supported by this sum, it amounts to $57,000 per capita. And, of course, the unfortunate asylum seekers are primarily families, not individuals, so the amount available to support a woman and her children could be $100K or more.
This would allow sensitive processing of claims, humane and generous housing and medical care, careful situating of families within our nation, job training and, ultimately, benefit to our communities and economy.
All for the same cost.
70
@Barking Doggerel
Doggerel is the word.
You assume that all of these people are escaping mortal danger due to their citizenship or ethnic status. Those are the standards for requesting asylum.
The act that they cannot find a job, one of the fathers of their children beats them is not a reason for us to assign them refugee status. What they should be doing is pressuring their government for relief.
Read the quotes from these people: "I just want a job for a few years and then I'll go home." I need to send money to my family when I get a job here." These are not refugees and they are not immigrants. These people will enter this country any way they can. Legality is no concern to them. They will never contribute to this country, not if they are sending all the money to the homeland instead of spending it here. In addition they will be eligible for benefits paid for by US citizens like schooling, food and housing programs which are more than their meager tax contribution will cover if they contribute at all. Minimum wage workers with 2 or 3 kids don't pay taxes and may actually be paid tax money with head of household filings and other tax abatement. With the birth of a child here the real bonanza starts with even more benefits paid for our new citizen's care.
If these people are really refugees then they asylum should be provided by the first country they entered where they were safe. Mexico has tried to provide asylum but doesn't provide enough benefits to suit them.
3
@NYHUGUENOT
You deny the very real threat many of these refugees face of violence from gangs in these countries.
And the failure of their governments to protect their citizens from the gangs.
And the reality that those fleeing have little to no ability to change the government or combat the well-armed gangs.
The US can and should do more to work with these governments and provide financial and logistical assistance to combat the gangs. But Trump has chosen to withdraw the assistance.
Hiding behind the castle walls and expecting the moat to protect you from the world is not a long term strategy for success.
12
@NYHUGUENOT
Right on--these people just want to be Americans. Not like our wonderful ancestors who came here seeking...hmmmmm. To be Americans. But these people are "takers" not makers, like our ancestors and us.
If you don't want people to aspire to being Americans, perhaps you could do something to make America less attractive. You know, elect stupid, selfish, greedy inept leadership who will destroy our reputation on the world stage. It's not working yet, but I have confidence that Trump is doing his best to make America a place almost no one will want to come to any more. Mean, petty, and very protective of rich spongers like himself.
3
The soldiers don't get to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with their families. They have to spend the holidays sitting around in the desert heat, pretending they're defending the homeland, all the while knowing otherwise. They've probably read this article, seen the commentary on TV... they know everything we know and more. They're probably questioning their service right now. I would think, they're angry at being used by Trump to sway an election. With all his pro-military rhetoric, he has hurt the morale of our soldiers and their families.
57
This op-ed trio is to be commended for stating with utmost clarity the facts . Like in other matters ,the sitting president is making decisions distorting and actually disfiguring the essence of the country he presides.
I am not an American,but like so many foreign admirers of the values,generosity and contributions of the USA to world institutions, I keep hoping that the dark,self centered path initiated two years ago will come to an end by 2020.
Firm positions like those expressed in this op-ed ,help clarify matters on issues the majority of us readers cannot easily investigate. We need these assessments more than ever. Thank you to messrs Adams,Wilkerson and Wilson:mission op-ed accomplished!
117
@Marcelo Brito. Thank you for your comments and I agree. The facts are the facts. Hopefully, we won’t need to wait until 2020 to rid our country of Trump. He may implode before then. Maybe the facts coming from the Mueller investigation will be so compelling that Trump no longer finds his job fun. Watching TV much of the day is stressful. Ha.
4
If, as the writers of this article--distinguished academics and retired military officers--argue, the deployment of American troops on the Mexican border was a "political stunt" and a "misuse" of the military in order to involve it for partisan purposes in domestic politics, then the "stunt" was not merely norm-shattering. It was clearly an illegal exercise of the president's power as commander-in-chief. It was unconstitutional, and the kind of "high crime and misdemeanor" that ought to trigger the impeachment process.
148
"James Mattis, the secretary of defense, asserted that the Defense Department does not “do stunts.” But this was a blatant political stunt. The president crossed a line — the military is supposed to stay out of domestic politics."
I actually blame Mattis more than Trump for this blatant politicization of the military for his private partisan needs.
The country already knows how Trump acts. But now Mattis joins the crew of enablers that help this president corrupt just about every government agency we have.
What is it about the folks around Trump that makes normally sane and right-minded people cave to the whims of such a dangerous, manipulative man?
Won't anyone in Washington with the power to say no, actually do so?
As an ordinary American, it disgusts me to keep reading editorials condemning the acquiescence of people with the wherewithal to defy the insanity of our out-of-control president.
The longer this continues, the more America is weakened, both at home and abroad.
238
@ChristineMcM--Put the blame squarely where it belongs. Trump is Commander in Chief. Mattis is a soldier. It would be highly unlikely that Mattis would contradict his commander. It would go against all his years of training and experience. He might try to influence Trump's decision, but in the final analysis if the order is given Mattis would do his duty to carry it out, as would any soldier. No, the blame is Trump's, and Trump's alone.
8
@ChristineMcM
The problem is that if Mattis resigns, who replaces him? Most likely a Trumpist sycophant who will without qualms or objections do whatever Dear Leader says. This would be far, far worse. Mattis is trying to toe a very difficult line of reigning in Trump's worst impulses as best he can without being so openly insubordinate that he gets fired and replaced by a loyalist. It is a very difficult moral decision to make -- whether you are doing more good for the country by resigning or by staying and doing whatever you can to preserve American institutions from the inside -- and I don't think we can truly judge anyone's decisions until after the administration is out of power, when all of the facts about the inner workings and behind-the-scenes wrangling come out.
7
@ChristineMcM
POWER CORRUPTS. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
4
That ‘tiny fraction’ of $100-200 million spent on a political stunt was money not spent on breast and prostate cancer research, a large fraction of which is supported solely by federal funding through NIH.
When your metastatic cancer pain begins to kick in, you can take comfort in the fact that the Party of Trump could have lost even more seats this month, but for the fear factor of the caravan.
131
@Bill
Thank you, Bill, for bringing this stupendous waste of money into practical terms.
And yet another: the next time the Postal Service gets lambasted for budget overruns, give your elected officials a call and ask how far $200 million would have gone toward modernizing that service's equipment and infrastructure!
52
@Bill OR, we could agree that regulating the polluters across all industries might actually prevent toxins from entering our land, water, food streams at the start. Preventing cancer at the front end is worth the costs of the regulations that Trump and the GOP love to remove.
9
@Can you hear me now
The postal service would have more than $200 million if it would stop delivering junk mail with 5 cents postage on it. Kind of unfair to those of us paying 50 cents, no?
1
General Mattis now has a new star; one of a very different color for not putting his country first. If he loved the military, if he loved our country, he would have told Trump, "No way, not unless you announce the true purpose of this deployment; votes and fear mongering." And if the President wouldn't tell the truth, then Mattis should have - and let the President fire him. That, Mr. Mattis, is a profile in Courage.
296
@ijarvis
Gen. Mathis probably has enough courage already: he's hanging around as one of the few adults with access to the Oval Office. What he needs more of is skill in managing the narcissistic liar-bully (NLB) there who is pretending to be a leader and whose term expires in 2020.
"I am experiencing anger now, Mr. President", says Gen. Mathis -- in my imagination and drawing on my authentic experience.
"You are," responds NLB, and then after a pause, NLB, still partly a child, can't contain his curiosity, adds "Why do you have anger?" -- also in my imagination and drawing on my authentic experience as an executive coach.
"Well, thank you for asking. I truly don't know how to tell you, but I want to ..."
I leave you, jjarvis, to complete this imagined scenario, drawing on your authentic experience.
1
@ijarvis...sadly, Mattis was the only one of the Cabinet and inner circle that had any honor from day 1. Now, I fear you are correct, even Mattis has lost most of his dignity.
7
I suspect you really do not care for Mattis but only to the extent that he can be used as a cudgel against Trump.
2
There was a time when America would have sent food and water to the caravan instead of troops. I haven't met anyone, or read an article by anyone, who believes that we should simply allow members of the caravan immediate entry to America. But we don't need more soldiers to prevent them from entering. We must again become the one nation in the world that stands for compassion and decency.
405
@Disillusioned
I was with you right up to the last sentence. Where do Americans get the idea that they live in the only country that (fill in the blank)? There are lots of countries more decent and compassionate than the U S. Likewise, independent monitors rank several countries ahead of the US in personal freedom, democracy, health care, education, etc., etc. Do they teach this in school? America will become great again when it’s citizens become a little more clear eyed about its real place in the world.
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@Disillusioned We have never been that " one nation in the world that stands for compassion and decency." We are the only nation which used nuclear weapons on a civilian population. We defoliated the forests of Vietnam.
Where were you when these things happened? You want to go back to an imaginary America which never existed.
19
@Disillusioned
I think Canada took that spot.
11
What missions should our troops be asked to perform at the border? That is the question that this essay fails to ask.
Our soldiers have a long history of providing humanitarian aid in natural disasters. Will they be asked to provide humanitarian aid to the desperate people forming the caravan? Are the resources in place to provide food, water and shelter to the refugees who present at the border and request asylum? I don't have much confidence that resources are in place.
Our soldiers have a long history of defending our borders from foreign aggression. If the people in the caravan gather at the border fences, become unruly and riot, will Trump order our soldiers to open fire on desperate, unarmed civilians? Will our soldiers follow such orders? Can you imagine the crisis if our soldiers followed such orders, fired across the fence and killed women and children?
72
@OldBoatMan...I have been thinking the same. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in this country who would dance a victory dance if those women and children were mowed down, and I suspect that the President is one of them.
4
You’re talking about a temporary situation. What happens next month when another 10,000 show up? There is no end to the supply of people from Central America.
OldBoatMan: J think I have some idea of what a crisis it would be for the ones they killed.
1
When President Taylor claimed that US troops entered Texas to repel an invasion, Abraham Lincoln authored a congressional resolution stating that the president had violated the Constitution by falsely claiming an invasion of the USA.
Trump falsely claimed there was an imminent invasion -- by people who actually stated that they intended to apply for asylum, which is legal under American law. By cancelling asylum via a temporarily executive order, Trump acted appropriately. By sending troops, who had no purpose, and no constitutional authorization, he pulled stunt, and it was unconstitutional.
His indifference to constitutional limits on his power is inflicting harm on both American society and the military.
150
Canceling asylum is also illegal and unconstitutional. Trump is 100% wrong on this one.
8
@Sequel: President Taylor’s move had political and economic motivations among the others. He no doubt welcomed the prospect of adding a new slave state to the Union.
4
@Naturalist You're 100% wrong. Temporarily cancelling asylum is completely legal ... and has no constitutional significance whatsoever.
I don't agree with it ... but that has nothing to do with the Constitution, or with what is legal under statutes.
The Constitution is not your toy to claim that it means whatever you want it to mean.
1
There were very close electoral results that favored Republican candidates in important contests. Trump's move was probably enough to get the votes that were needed in those contests. Consider the notable effects on outcomes in Texas, Georgia and Florida. The military expense is not charged to a political party - a free gift. Furthermore, those whom it helped have become indebted to the person who sent the troops.
112
@Harpo The outcome in Florida was notable? We were ripped off, in case you haven’t noticed. Even if the Republicans had one fairly, the margins were paper thin. I don’t know anybody that thinks the troops were not misused. Even my thick -headed Republican friends are embarrassed by it.
4
@Tedsams My point: It was notable for the problems that arose, of course. The military intervention could easily have provided the margins of victory.
3
...and moreover...Trump’s Presidential Stunt Is a Profound Betrayal of Our Nation.
The guy has no love or respect of country, Constitution or the Presidency; he's a bottomless psychological black hole.
Trump confirmed his patriotism in 1968 when he got a doctor's note from his daddy's doctor saying his feet hurt.
Since then he's confirmed it again every single year by hiring the best tax-dodging accountants he could find, by stiffing American contractors, bankers, creditors and customers whenever one of his malignant business ideas went belly up.
He treasonously called a popularly elected sitting President a non-citizen with zero evidence to his claim for years.
He withdrew from the stabilizing Iran Nuclear Treaty and entered into a fake TV treaty with North Korea, thereby allowing both countries to ramp up their deadly nukes on his perfidious Presidential watch.
He lies from morning to night, a walking dishonor to his country.
He attacks the freedom of the press and the Constitution's 1st Amendment.
He obstructs justice.
He turned the Republican Congress into a pack of sycophantic lapdogs that resembles the Russian Duma that serves the corrupt, kleptocratic Kremlin.
Trump appears to be much more loyal to the murderous Saudi Arabia, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un and the world's great dictators than he does to America or its citizens.
He should have been impeached a long time ago.
Let's hope our new Congress can cure us of Trump cancer and this neo-Benedict Arnold.
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@Socrates
"He should have been impeached a long time ago."
I agree with the sentiment. As action, I doubt it would help anyone because of the constitutionally mandated sequel.
Was your emotion anger when you penned that sentiment? If so, I empathize, and feel bound to say that none of us can afford to loose our anger in NYT comments because the consequences of unwise use of the energy of anger are very often an exacerbation of exactly what we are human enough to fear.
2
@Socrates Agree with all you say, except that Trump didn't turn "the Republican Congress into a pack of sycophantic lapdogs." They did that all on their own.
41
@Socrates
Agree 100%. Mr. Bone Spur!
13
I agree that this deployment to the border is unnecessary and a stunt. But a betrayal? Isn't that a bit strong? What about the betrayal involved in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, where the troops were ordered to fight and die for an unwinnable cause? How many lives were lost under Truman, Johnson, Nixon, and Bush II? Nobody's getting KIA'd at the Mexican border, whereas rivers of blood and treasure have been expended in faraway places of questionable (or no) strategic importance.
27
@Jon Harrison
The conflicts you mentioned contained some aspect of a hostile military force. The perception was that the US had to respond. We lament the loss of life in those conflicts because they did not go well. Limited war has that kind of problem.
There is some evidence that LBJ and Nixon manipulated the Vietnam War for political reasons, but the over all strategy was containment of communism.
This is not limited war and the caravan is not a hostile military force.
23
@Tim: I can agree with you as regards Korea, but otherwise I think your comment misses the point. A politically-motivated border deployment is nothing compared to launching wars of choice in Vietnam and Iraq, or persisting in an unwinnable fight in Afghanistan. People got killed and maimed in those wars; there's no comparison with what Trump's doing on the border. The Vietnam intervention was undertaken for multiple reasons, including domestic US politics, while Iraq was the ultimate war of choice. Billions were spent, tens of thousands of Americans and millions of Vietnamese and Iraqis were killed or maimed, and two countries were devastated. Sending a few thousand troops to the border for crass political reasons is nothing compared to those tragedies.
1
There’s an important precedent being set here. Comparing it to those conflicts as you do is disingenuous.
What if he decides to send the military into the streets of an American city? Then what? Think of the slippery slope.
3
Presumably one role of the military is to secure our borders from invasion.
And invasion this is, thousands of "migrants" flowing toward our borders with the intent of entering the US one way or another, legally or not. It must also be asked who has organized these caravans, and who has paid for the buses that have taken many of these people on the last leg of their trip to our borders.
Most of these people are not legitimate refugees but are seeking economic improvement of their lives. We already admit limited numbers of refugees according to existing laws, but should do everything possible to keep illegal aliens out of our country and to deport those who are here illegally.
It is important to note that the members of the caravans were offered asylum by Mexico, but turned it down because their goal is the US, which to them represents free everything for everyone. We do not have sufficient resources to take care of our own citizens: the ill, elderly, veterans, disabled, etc. so there is no way we can support the hundreds of millions of poor people around the world who would like to move to the US.
Open borders are not feasible, financially or otherwise.
17
' We do not have sufficient resources to take care of our own citizens:'
In fact, we do. But rather, corporate welfare, tax shelters, the agi and health insurance industrial complex, bloated pentagon programs, to name a few, draw off the possibilities to have a more fair and just society.
65
@Ro Ma
Given how hard most immigrants actually work, perhaps they are more attracted to a country that has historically been a country of laws and rule of law rather than "free everything". Rule of law under Trump is getting more debatable every day.
In my area in rural Maine, the people not working and getting "free everything" are native-born poor whites.
I am--of course--not for "open borders", whatever that means. I suspect what it means is a great simple slogan for Republican voters. Both parties bear much responsibility for not dealing with the immigration issue, but "open borders" is a campaign slogan, not a policy to which anyone actually subscribes.
26
@Ro Ma. Sweetie this was a publicity stunt. It's not an invasion. Just desperate people who are thousands of miles away traveling OPENLY ON FOOT towards our border. Most will peel off before then and the rest have intended to present themselves for asylum WHICH IS ALL PERFECTLY LEGAL. Illegal border crossings were at an all time low BEFORE Trump even took office. These caravan events happen almost yearly. Our border patrol can handle it. The constitution prevents our military from performing within our borders.
Listen carefully you sad little frightened rabbit. There is no real invasion. It will take months before we even see the first of these desperate people present themselves at our border. Abusing these military personnel for a political publicity stunt is all this ever was from a man who is "too busy" picking fights on Twitter to honor them.
12
It may be that we need troops down there to keep the peace as it's going to be challenging to process these people and "house" them while they wait. But, that being said, for Trump it's all a game, it was all about the mid-terms. It's vital that our men and women have trust and confidence in their leaders. It's my feeling they were (and continue to be) let down with Iraq. We can't afford to let them down much more.
20
What will Pres Bone Spur do when a real crisis happens? Oh, wait, while he was planning his great military campaign against the phantom surge of poor refugees, our own people were struck by hurricanes and fires and hardly a peep out of our "leader."
Of course, this cynical use of the military is just fine and dandy with a lot of Americans who believe a show of military strength "makes us great again." Unfortunately, while the con is played out in public, we have seen nary a thing about infrastructure, health care reform or any legislation targeted to help regular working Americans.
Competence used to be a qualification for leadership. I guess not so much these days.
325
Someone once told me “Never confuse confidence for competence. They are not the same thing.”
13
WIth all due respect to the writers, the caravan is an invasion of our homeland. 10,000 now means thousands more tomorrow. Unless congress steps up to the plate snd fixes our immigration laws in the next session, I back keeping the military to help secure our borders. No more kicking the can down the road.
14
@Pvbeachbum
The Pentagon issued a report that they estimate the number of people who will actually make it all the way to the border and not accept asylum in Mexico is 3500. Not even close to 10,000. This has happened every year for several years no. They turn themselves in at the border seeking refugee status and go through the legal process. The Border Patrol we have has handled this just fine without needing the military. The Pentagon did not think it was necessary to send military troops, maybe National Guard, but not active soldiers. This was indeed a political stunt about something that is not unusual. The last time this happened it was estimated about a dozen people crossed illegally, not thousands.
348
@Pvbeachbum
If there were respect for the authors you would have read the article more carefully, and not just understood but felt their courage in speaking up.
Both historically and currently, there have been intrusions on our border, but these poverty stricken and abused people, women and children included, are not a military threat to anyone.
We are here and do not want to watch the border abused - from either side.
81
@Kelli Hoover
We do not get a caravan of 10,000 heading to our border every year. And even if it is 3500, how do you know exactly what happens to these people? You say they "go through the legal process". Are they all given a court date and never show up for it? Are we supposed to just allow thousands of people to strangle our immigration process by abusing asylum status?
We can not have the entire populace south of our border thinking all they have to do is waltz up to the border, claim asylum, then are allowed entry with some court date 90% of whom will NEVER show up for .
2
$100 or $200 million might be chump change in the military budget, but think what it could do to help improve military housing for families of active duty folks (such housing is often poorly maintained). I'm sure there are other good uses for what is a very large amount of money when not presented as a percent of the overall military budget.
Given that such "caravans" have, in the past, generally lined up at entry points or crossed illegally looking to be captured as soon as possible, any suggestion that the military was needed was pure fiction. We are presented with a group of exhausted, unarmed people many of whom are women and children. What puzzles me is how Trump worshipers can think that this is their hero really "doing something" about a "problem."
584
Surely this is not the first misuse of the military by Trump, nor his first attempt to manipulate elections with misinformation.
80
@seattle expat
No its not. These things need to be exposed like his lies and exposed repeatedly.
2
Please give President Trump a little credit. At first he sought to use the military for purely status purposes, a parade to match the pomp of France or the glorious self-adulation of a dictator. Although at first frustrated he, or someone among his supporters, realized the significant political benefit of using the military to defend our southern border from invasion. What invasion? Well, how about all those Central American families? Unfortunately ICE arrived first and fumbled the detention of household hordes.
Then suddenly and conveniently a Central American "caravan" appeared out of nowhere. The American media generally have not questioned how this just magically happened providentially a few weeks before the mid-term election. President Trump liked to lay it at the feet of the Democrats but that was always highly unlikely.....why would Democrats initiate an action likely to mobilize Republicans? Far more plausible is either a network originally put into action by Republicans or perhaps Russian agents. But this, particularly the carefully-staged violence at the Guatemala-Mexico border, offered the pretext for sending regular troops to defend us from the ravaging horde. Having seen the horde walking in the rain south of Mexico City I am sure they could have been repulsed by a few Texas high school football teams supported by the occasional patriotic militia. But calling out the troops to resist teen mothers was far more potent than a helicopter flyover and rubber tanks.
69
~"...the actual incremental costs of sending them to the border might be $100 million to $200 million, a tiny fraction of the $716 billion defense budget."~
For $200MM trump could have staged a military parade in Washington DC. However, that would not have helped the "Republicans" in the mid-terms.
44
Bravo Zulu. I would love the hear more Col. Larry and his friend Gen. Powell on these subjects. Two voices I have the ultimate respect for. Thank goodness we elected several outstanding leaders to the Congress like Mikie Sherrill-NJ and Elaine Luria-VA, both USNA alum. I expect them to turn up the heat on Trump, speaking with honor and experience they earned.
30
Our Troops at the Border
Discomfit? Who cares?
Trump will eat his Turkey
Of Troops, unawares.
Mostly Women and Children,
Threatening Caravan,
Still Trump is our Leader,
Decerebrate man.
Kept from their families
And no extra pay,
But Trump is our Leader
So hip, hip, hooray.
50
@Larry Eisenberg Your work should be collected in a book ; a brilliantly witty yet devastating summation of what the Trump administration has wrought on this country.
2
@Larry Eisenberg
Have you watched any of the videos of this caravan?
they arent mostly women and children. Quite the contrary. They are mostly young men. That wasnt women and children tearing through Mexicos southern border.
A poet who tells the truth is much better then one who doesnt.
@Larry Eisenberg "kept from their families", for the holidays. no turkey, no unwrapping xmas presents on xmas morning. all because trump thought this would help the republican elections, mattis is a lapdog and mcconnell is pure evil. active duty troops at our border............never thought i would see this.
2
Dear Mr. Adams, Wilkerson, and Wilson,
You have produced a well-written opinion piece, but why did you wait so long to publish it?
As you made so clear, there was clearly a political stunt, meant to influence the midterm elections. The biggest impact of your opinion piece would have been weeks ago.
You also buried your lede - that Mr. Mattis should have considered resigning rather than participate in the blatant politicization of America's military.
The American public is supposed to be calmed by knowing that there is a "grownup" running the Secretary of Defense. If anything, this makes me more anxious, as Mattis appears to be willing to do anything to please Trump so that he can keep his cabinet position.
I was also confused as to why you hedged your admonition to Mattis, with your addition of the word "consider".
I grew up in the Vietnam era, when the reputation of our Armed Forces suffered greatly. It has taken decades for the tarnish to be removed. I fear that stunts like this have the potential to set back the high opinion that Americans hold of the military and its leader.
Signed,
A very concerned citizen
502
@HN
You say, "If anything, this makes me more anxious, as Mattis appears to be willing to do anything to please Trump so that he can keep his cabinet position."
I can only reply, as multitudes have since Trump's election, with the words of Upton Sinclair (1934):
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!”
23
@HN as a retired sailor I can say from my point of view our leader has set a very very low bar for the next president to clear
4
@HN, I’m not so sure that Mattis is sinking into the swamp ooze of Trumpism. It’s possible that he has to make minor compromises in service of preventing more serious national security transgressions if Trump should replace him with a more compliant Secretary of Defense.
9
The only surprise here is that it seemed to work in Trump’s favor (in my neighborhood at least-referring to elections in Georgia and Florida). I keep hoping that people will finally see reason and feel empathy instead of siding with fear and anger, but I’m getting farther from believing that’s possible.
88
No doubt a great many Americans saw this for exactly what it was. What are we supposed to do about it? As Commander in Chief, the President has the legal authority to send troops where he wants them. We gave him this power at the ballot box. Those who wanted to see this man in office are probably not going to read articles in The New York Times. We can only hope that common sense will outweigh whipped up fears and emotional turmoil when we get our chance in 2020. In the meantime, we might direct our efforts toward finding a suitable candidate for this most important office. So far, there doesn't seem to be a strong contender. We get the government we deserve in the end.
89
@Diane Shuey:
When you say "the President has the legal authority to send troops where he wants them," this is false.
The president has limited authority to employ our troops within our borders for specific tasks - limited mostly to training and civilian-support missions. He failed to demonstrate any real threat from "caravans" at the border or anywhere else. Our military issued an assessment that contradicted his false claims.
2
I am a U.S. Army veteran, and I am appalled by this president's attitude toward our military. He denigrates the service of Generals, Navy Seals, former POWs, and Gold Star Mothers. He sends troop to our border for political purposes. And he lies about it all, blatantly and obviously. The more he speaks, the more I become convinced that mandatory service, military or civilian, should be introduced in America. It's too late for Donald, who would not have been able to handle it anyway. But perhaps future generations of politicians would benefit from experiencing what real service is like.
726
@KenF
I`ve promoted mandatory service since the 70`s. The benefits of the continued mixing beyond school would be a plus. The chance to gain a sense of purpose, immeasurable. I don`t see this as a way to build cheap roads but a way to do things we can`t seem to get done by the profit driven. Being able to expand areas such as the community action programs and re-inventing the Peace Corps. Imagine what could be done in Central America to improve conditions. There would be the naysayers who think profit driven systems are the only way to do anything but profit driven altruism is not really altruism.
29
@KenF
The military are reliable Republican voters because they get the money from the Republicans to keep the Military Industrial Complex consistently removing 60% of the discretionary budget. They take the money, gladly. I'm not a veteran, but I lived through the Vietnam war, so I’m totally against compulsory service. Do I want some heartless narcissistic maniac President killing my child so he/she can get re-elected? No, there are plenty of citizens out there that eat up the whole military theater, the guns, uniforms, flags. Only, they should be really volunteer, no pay. Now, that would be a patriot!
8
There is a school of thought that says if we reinstated the draft so that the sons of daughters of everyone had to serve there would be no more Afghan type wars.
20