Top Military Officers Unload on Trump

[dan_c00000]

I can't help but notice that all the armchair warriors like bot have been pretty quietly recently. I guess now that they've seen what an impotent leader their hero the Orange Nazi actually is they can't quite brag so much anymore.

There was an article on this topic not too long ago in The Atlantic that's worth a read.

 

[KeithD]

Seems to me they are bleeding all over the naval firing thread on the GB. Don't know what they are posting, as I have the lot of the scummy Trumpettes on ignore, but they certainly are posting a lot.

 

[JackLuis]

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly resigns after attacking beloved USS Roosevelt captain

Thomas Modly has resigned as the acting secretary of the Navy, according to CNN.

Modly was caught on tape attacking Capt. Brett Crozier in a call with the crew of the USS Roosevelt after the captain’s letter to leaders begging for help was revealed online.

He accused Crozier of committing a “betrayal” and creating a “big controversy” in Washington by spreading his letter so widely among the Navy.

He attacked the captain as either “too naive” or “stupid” to do his job.

Sailors reported that they felt like they were being yelled at and shouted back at the message from Modly. He also endured a huge uprising of anger and frustration from the public. Navy veterans echoed the sentiment in their own angry responses.

If every Trumpublicunt resigned after making a fool of himself, there would be no Trump administration, Hooray!!!

 

[allison22]

Never Forget when Chief Eddie Gallagher slaughtered women and children, posed with his kills and was convicted of war crimes, Trump pardoned him.

And when Navy Captain Brett Crozier raised the alarm about Covid-19 infections aboard his ship, in an attempt to save the lives of his men, Trump removed him from command.

Never Forget, if you're a war criminal who kills innocent civilians, Trump will have your back. If you're an officer who tries to save the lives of American sailors, Trump will screw you over.

 

[Ziggins]

The principles are the same in any part of the bureaucracy. The top of the pyramid has bigger salaries and egos and the bottom does most of the work and voting.

 

[dan_c00000]

Never Forget when Chief Eddie Gallagher slaughtered women and children, posed with his kills and was convicted of war crimes, Trump pardoned him.

Not only pardoned him but treated him like a war hero.

 

[JackLuis]

Navy Might Give Capt. Crozier His Job Back, Now That Trump's Tantrum Is Over

In other news of general Trumpy incompetence and stupidity, Defense Secretary Mark Esper went on the TV this morning and said hey, what the hell, maybe they will rehire/reinstate that Captain Brett Crozier guy, who commanded the Navy aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, until the (now former) (acting) Navy secretary Thomas Modly fired him for trying to protect his 4,000 sailors from getting sick and dying of COVID-19, in a way that was embarrassing to the Trump administration.

We guess now that the tantrum has passed, maybe that Crozier guy isn't so bad after all!

On "CBS This Morning," host Gayle King noted in an interview with Defense Secretary Esper that Navy leadership has said it's open to maybe giving that dude his job back, now that he's had a week to have coronavirus and sit in the corner and think about what he's done. Presumably she's referring to comments from the Navy's top officer Admiral Michael Gilday, who told the Associated Press that's a possibility. Gilday, it should be noted, has been quoted during this whole fiasco saying he did not want to "shoot the messenger."

Maybe CNO would be a good slot for Crosier?

 

[Schlank]

In a stunning series of events, a coronavirus health crisis among the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt was transformed into a leadership and public relations disaster for the Trump administration and the United States Navy. In roughly seven days, Capt. Brett Crozier, commander of the Roosevelt, was relieved of his command by acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly after sounding the alarm about the virus raging through his sailors; he was subsequently given a hero’s sendoff (captured on video). Next Modly traveled to Guam and delivered a profanity-laced speech to the Roosevelt’s crew (also captured on tape). After a massive backlash, Modly apologized and then resigned.


But this entire sordid tale is only the latest chapter in the Trump administration's attack on American civil-military relations. For his part, Trump said Modly's resignation was “unselfish,” but added that he did not know him despite clear evidence to the contrary. It comes in the aftermath of other disturbing events dating to the very beginning of this administration. As Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Presidents Bush and Obama, observed, Modly had “become a vehicle for the president.”

Modly’s decision to relieve Crozier came despite the opposition of Adm. Michael Gilday, the chief of naval operations, and Gen. Mark Milley, the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Both recommended that the decision be left up to the military leadership. (Modly served in the Navy but retired from active duty in 1990 to attend business school.) Gilday and Milley further stressed that such a drastic step should not be taken until an investigation had been conducted.


But Modly refused to wait. It has also been reported that he confided to an aide that Trump wanted Crozier fired and apparently also feared stalling would appear indecisive to the impatient commander-in-chief. Though the president has denied any involvement, his administration has a record of firing anyone who appears disloyal. It is clear the Trump administration values absolute loyalty — if not fealty — above all else. It was probably also not lost on Modly that he was acting secretary and had not been nominated to the Senate, and that he was the second Navy leader to leave in just the past six months.

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opini...bacle-about-more-modly-s-mistakes-ncna1180806

 

[Schlank]

Retired U.S. Marine Corps general John Allen is stunned and appalled at Trump's disdain for American Democracy and military ethics and points out how Trump threatened to deploy the U.S. military against American civilians. It was a stunning moment.”

Allen adds that although Trump briefly mentioned Floyd on June 1, he failed to address the reasons why thousands of nonviolent protestors all over the U.S. are so angry — reasons that include “pervasive injustice, mass incarceration, frequent false arrests, and an institutionalized devaluation of black lives and property.”

Allen also objects to Trump describing antifa as terrorists.

“The president and members of his administration seem bent on ensuring that the so-called antifa — or anti-fascist — movement is fully on display as a principal reason for the violence,” Allen writes. “To deal with antifa, the president even tweeted that he intended to designate the group a terrorist organization — never mind that he has no authority to designate any domestic movement as such.”

Trump’s fear-mongering over antifa, according to Allen, is ridiculous in light of all the white supremacist terrorism that has occurred in the U.S.


“White supremacists have murdered, lynched, tortured, terrorized, oppressed, and discriminated against black Americans from the beginning of the idea of America,” Allen writes. “They have killed black Americans by the thousands, often in the most horrific ways imaginable. Far more damage to the United States has come from these terrorists — fascists, Klansmen, and neo-Nazis, all feeling newly empowered today — than those who have opposed them.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/06/re...ay-signal-the-end-of-the-american-experiment/

 

[Schlank]

The show of courage on the streets has frightened Trump and his allies in the Republican Party. If you have any doubts, all you have to do is watch the scene of Republican senators scurrying away from MSNBC reporter Kasie Hunt on Capitol Hill when she asked them to comment on Trump’s disgusting and disreputable photo-op at St. John’s Church on Monday.

Trump has turned Washington into an armed camp. He has built a three-mile-long wall around the White House and cowered in a basement bunker as protests grew on the streets outside. But Trump’s threat to use active-duty soldiers to suppress dissent has encountered some profound pushback from an unexpected source: the United States military.


It began with a statement by former Secretary of Defense James Mattis in reaction to the use of force, including National Guard soldiers, to clear peaceful demonstrators from a street near the White House so Trump could make his now-infamous “walk” to St. John’s Church for his Bible-waving photo-op. “I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled,” Mattis wrote in The Atlantic:


When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens — much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values — our values as people and our values as a nation. We do not need to militarize our response to protests. We need to unite around a common purpose. And it starts by guaranteeing that all of us are equal before the law.

And then something extraordinary happened. Mattis’ clarion call was joined by more senior military figures, beginning with Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, who had been the object of strong criticism for standing next to Trump during his Bible photo-op. Esper held a press conference at the Pentagon on Wednesday and announced that he was against invoking the Insurrection Act, which would (hypothetically) authorize the deployment of active-duty military on the streets of America. Trump is said to be very, very unhappy with Esper and reversed his order for elements of the 82nd Airborne Division to return to their base in North Carolina. By week’s end, however, Esper had prevailed, and the 82nd was on the way home.


Retired Adm. Mike Mullen, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Barack Obama, was next. He wrote a piece for The Atlantic entitled, “I cannot remain silent.”

“It sickened me yesterday to see security personnel — including members of the National Guard — forcibly and violently clear a path through Lafayette Square to accommodate the president’s visit outside St. John’s Church. I have to date been reticent to speak out on issues surrounding President Trump’s leadership, but we are at an inflection point, and the events of the past few weeks have made it impossible to remain silent."

Whatever Trump’s goal in conducting his visit, he laid bare his disdain for the rights of peaceful protest in this country, gave succor to the leaders of other countries who take comfort in our domestic strife, and risked further politicizing the men and women of our armed forces.”


Retired General John R. Allen weighed in next, writing ominously in Foreign Policy magazine, “The slide of the United States into illiberalism may well have begun on June 1, 2020. Remember the date. It may well signal the beginning of the end of the American experiment.”

More retired generals weighed in later in the week, including two former chairs of the Joint Chiefs, Martin Dempsey and Richard Meyers. Both were critical of Trump’s handling of protests and opposed the use of the military to suppress dissent.

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/06/we...of-a-president/?utm_source=push_notifications

 

[Schlank]

General Mark Milley ( the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs) has sent a letter to all the other chiefs of staff for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, National Guard and commanders of combatant commands..

He reminded everyone in uniform of their oath to support and defend the Constitution. All service members take the same oath, but they don’t go around reminding each other about it. Milley wrote of the Constitution,

“This document is founded on the essential principles that all men and women are born free and equal, and should be treated with respect and dignity. It also gives Americans the right to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly. We in uniform — all branches, all components, all ranks — remain committed to our national values and principles embedded in the Constitution.” He went on to note specifically that the National Guard “is operating under the authority of state governors.”

General Milley’s message is written in a code that everyone in uniform will understand implicitly. By reminding every member of the military that the soldiers currently deployed on the street around the country are not there under the authority of the president, and by reminding them of their oath to the Constitution, he is telling them that the military will not be carrying out any un-American orders issued by Donald Trump.

Late Friday, Secretary of Defense Esper disarmed the National Guard doing riot duty in Washington, ordering them to turn in their weapons and ammunition. He also ordered all active duty troops amassed outside the capital earlier in the week by the White House to be sent home. He issued both orders without consulting the White House.

 

[KeithD]

Mark Milley can uphold the Constitution by resigning with a letter saying he was used without prior explanation or permission to be used for Trump's silly failed photo op stunt.

 

[JackLuis]

Lincoln Project

 

[allison22]

“On Monday, riot police supported by both National Guard troops and other federal agencies rousted peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square so President Donald Trump could walk to St. John’s Episcopal Church for a photo op. Trump’s understanding of the protesters — and their anger with America’s longstanding problems with racism and police brutality — appears exceedingly limited,” Colonel Jeff McCausland wrote. “He described himself as ‘your president of law and order’ and warned that the nation was ‘gripped by professional anarchists, violent mobs, or, arsonists, looters, criminals.’”


“But the nation’s top military leaders have a different perspective. In a series of striking critiques this week, senior retired military officers including former Secretary of Defense and retired Gen. James Mattis spoke out forcefully and unequivocally against the president. This is not a disagreement over policy, but rather an indictment of the commander in chief’s leadership and competency at a critical moment for the nation,” he explained.

“At this critical moment in our history, it is imperative that the current senior leadership of the American military speak truth to power,” he explained. “And if they feel they cannot do that while working for this administration, they have only one other option. It might be useful for them to remember a statement by then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell nearly 30 years ago. He was asked by a Naval Academy midshipman what an officer should do if he or she is directed by political leadership to do something contrary to their oath. Powell replied succinctly, ‘If after those decisions are made you still find it completely unacceptable and it strikes to the heart of your moral beliefs, then I think you have to resign.'”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/06/mi...r-nsc-official/?utm_source=push_notifications

 

[KeithD]

“On Monday, riot police supported by both National Guard troops and other federal agencies rousted peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square so President Donald Trump could walk to St. John’s Episcopal Church for a photo op.

More than that, they rousted the priests of St. John's Episcopal Church from their own property so that Trump could have a photo op with a Bible. Charges should be filed.

 

[JackLuis]

Confederate battle flag banned — Marine Corps declares it a ‘threat to our core values’

The United States Marine Corps banned the public display of the Confederate battle flag on Friday.

“Depictions of the Confederate battle flag are unauthorized in public and work spaces aboard an installation,” the Marine Corps wrote in guidance to the troops.

The ban applies to bumper stickers, clothing and flags among other items.

“The Confederate battle flag has all too often been co-opted by violent extremist and racist groups whose divisive beliefs have no place in our Corps,” the Marines explained.

Strict "No Traitors" principles in the USMC!

 

[Schlank]

‘Absolutely not’: Top general vows troops will never obey illegal orders from Trump


https://www.rawstory.com/2020/06/ab...ers-from-trump/?utm_source=push_notifications

 

[Schlank]

In recent weeks, some retired U.S. military commanders have been vehemently critical of President Donald Trump — from Gen. Colin Powell to Marine Gen. John Allen to Marine Gen. James Mattis (former secretary of defense in the Trump Administration). Another who is speaking out is Adm. Bill McRaven, the retired NAVY Seal who oversaw the raid in which al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan nine years ago.


On orders from President Barack Obama, that raid was conducted on May 2, 2011— resulting in the death of the mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. McRaven has been a frequent Trump critic, and according to a June 8 article by MSNBC reporter Steve Benen, McRaven believes that Trump is failing the U.S. miserably.


McRaven told MSNBC, “As we have struggled with the COVID pandemic and horrible acts of racism and injustice, this president has shown none of (the) qualities (of great leaders). The country needs to move forward without him at the helm.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/06/na...-he-isnt-alone/?utm_source=push_notifications

 

[Perfectly_shaped_buttocks]

A number of United States service members concerned about the possibility of being ordered by President Donald Trump to suppress uprisings in cities across the country are looking into ways they can personally abstain from such actions.

Trump has promised to send heavily armed soldiers against unarmed civilians on U.S. soil. This has caused shock and disgust among U.S. troops.

One member of the National Guard explained that responding to and acting against Americans taking part in uprisings went against what they had signed up for — especially when they themselves agreed with what was being protested against.

“I feel that I cannot be complicit in any way when I’ve seen so many examples of soldiers and police acting in bad faith,” that individual said.

A separate anonymous guardsman, who serves as a medic, expressed similar feelings.

“I can’t do it,” they said. “Even looking at my uniform is making me feel sick that I’m associated with this, especially after [the National Guard unit] shot that man who owned that barbecue shop [in Louisville, Kentucky].”


https://truthout.org/articles/i-cant-do-it-say-some-gis-being-deployed-to-quell-uprisings/

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

WTF are people getting all so heated up about??

Seems to me like y'all are just constantly spoiling for trouble and a fight and have nothing better to occupy your tiny little minds.

Do you seriously think you are going to 'win votes over' because you are angry, or because 'the more angry you get...?'

Where's your fucking platform?

What's Joe Biden going to do FOR ME, as a voter?

I'm not particularly gay, I'd fuck a man or be fucked in the ass, fuck a women/ten women, an AI robotoid and even prolly JK as well now if she had a decent TERF bang hair-do.

(Does it count that I might prefer a BBC in the ass, though, instead of some pissant white boy?)

'Top Military Officers...'

WHO CARES????

Show me the goddamn money.

 

[KeithD]

Speaking of which, who cares what depravity and Trumpette agenda you spout?

 

[Articulate_and_Analytical]

Military leaders put Trump on notice: They won’t be party to his authoritarian fantasies


When retired four-star Marine general and former Secretary of Defense James Mattis declared Donald Trump a threat to the Constitution last week, he counseled the nation, “We can unite without him.”

Mattis was both right and prescient that the country could find unity, or near-unity, without Trump—something that is becoming increasingly obvious by the day.

https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/mi...wont-be-party-to-his-authoritarian-fantasies/

 

[Articulate_and_Analytical]

Trump’s trampling of First Amendment rights by targeting military force on the civilian population was finally a bridge too far. After last week’s high-profile rebukes of both Mattis and former Joint Chiefs Chair Adm. Mike Mullen, two more notable Joint Chief Chairs joined the chorus of military brass criticizing Trump’s violent clearing of protesters in front of the White House: retired four-star Army general Colin Powell, and the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Mark Milley.

It is simply extraordinary that Milley, who had taken heat himself for participating in Trump’s folly, made such a public break with a sitting president by apologizing and admitting his “mistake” in a prerecorded graduation address.

“I should not have been there,” Milley said of Trump’s Bible-wielding photo op. “My presence in that moment, and in that environment, created the perception of the military involved in domestic politics.”

Former Secretary of Defense of Robert Gates also added his name to the stampede of former Pentagon officials criticizing Trump’s use of force. That means three of the last four chairmen of the Joint Chiefs (Milley, Martin Dempsey, and Mullen) have now openly criticized the actions taken by Trump and his Attorney General William Barr. So have the two highest-profile Defense secretaries in the past decade, Mattis and Gates.

But what we are witnessing is more than just the Pentagon’s split with Trump; it’s a stand for the Constitution and the U.S. military’s commitment to it. In essence, current and former leaders of the military are putting Trump on notice that their ultimate allegiance is to the foundational document of our country, not the person who fleetingly occupies the Oval Office. Even the public rift between Trump and military leaders over their willingness to strike the names of Confederate commanders from military bases is another sign of the rupture between the two entities.

 

[bodysong]

Brett E. Crozier will not be reinstated

The Navy Is Blaming the Captain It Fired for Accurate COVID-19 Warning

June 19, 2020

Brett Crozier was right about the coronavirus outbreak aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
The Navy fired him, recommended bringing him back and now lets his firing stand.

Navy leadership implied that Crozier was responsible for the outbreak that he loudly
warned he needed urgent help from the Navy to redress.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/navy-wont-reinstate-capt-brett-crozier?ref=home

The lie remains the same. A good man stuck his neck out, to save lives.
15 selfish cowards let him down, when he asked for help.

Navy secretary, Thomas Modly played his part in the pantomime show, and quit in disgrace.

Modly's replacement as Secretary of the Navy and Chief of Naval Operations is Kenneth J. Braithwaite, Trump's favorite.

 

[Schlank]

He was convicted of murder, then pardoned by Trump, his troops suffered a different fate

How could a man who ruined so many lives, an officer the Army convicted of second-degree murder and other charges, be forgiven so easily? How could their president allow him to just walk free?

Lorance had been in command of 1st Platoon for only three days in Afghanistan but in that short span of time had averaged a war crime a day. On his last day before he was dismissed, he ordered his troops to open fire on three Afghan men standing by a motorcycle on the side of the road who he said posed a threat. His actions led to a 19-year prison sentence.


The president’s opponents described the pardon as another instance of Trump subverting the rule of law to reward allies and reap political benefits. Military officials worried that the decision to overturn a case that had already been adjudicated in the military courts sent a signal that war crimes were not worthy of severe punishment.

For the men of 1st platoon, part of the 82nd Airborne Division, the costs of the war and the fallout from the case have been profound and sometimes deadly.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/grap...um=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most