Trump started off praising ‘his’ general’s at the beginning of his time in office…
He surrounded himself with them…
THAT was THEN…
As the ‘general’s have questioned Trump’s irrationality in military manners?
He has fired them…
Trump has ALWAYS boasted that he run things by the seat of his pants….
So?
It is no surprise that he has surrounded himself with ‘yes’ men, continues to say things out loud that has to be changed later win and a book reveals that that talks to his military ‘expert’s’ with distain…
A real estate guy from Queens , New York , who went to military high school * but never served and spent his career ducking rules and bending the truth is now the guy in charge of the world’s strongest military and could take the world to war….
Donald Trump doesn’t care about anything but $$$$……
Hanging prominently on one of the walls is The Peacemakers, a painting that depicts an 1865 Civil War strategy session with President Abraham Lincoln and his three service chiefs — Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman, and Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter. One hundred fifty-two years after Lincoln hatched plans to preserve the Union, President Trump’s advisers staged an intervention inside the Tank to try to preserve the world order.
By that point, six months into his administration, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had grown alarmed by gaping holes in Trump’s knowledge of history, especially the key alliances forged following World War II. Trump had dismissed allies as worthless, cozied up to authoritarian regimes in Russia and elsewhere, and advocated withdrawing troops from strategic outposts and active theaters alike.
Trump organized his unorthodox worldview under the simplistic banner of “America First,” but Mattis, Tillerson, and Cohn feared his proposals were rash, barely considered, and a danger to America’s superpower standing. They also felt that many of Trump’s impulsive ideas stemmed from his lack of familiarity with U.S. history and, even, where countries were located. To have a useful discussion with him, the trio agreed, they had to create a basic knowledge, a shared language.
So on July 20, 2017, Mattis invited Trump to the Tank for what he, Tillerson, and Cohn had carefully organized as a tailored tutorial. What happened inside the Tank that day crystallized the commander in chief’s berating, derisive and dismissive manner, foreshadowing decisions such as the one earlier this month that brought the United States to the brink of war with Iran. The Tank meeting was a turning point in Trump’s presidency. Rather than getting him to appreciate America’s traditional role and alliances, Trump began to tune out and eventually push away the experts who believed their duty was to protect the country by restraining his more dangerous impulses.
The episode has been documented numerous times, but subsequent reporting reveals a more complete picture of the moment and the chilling effect Trump’s comments and hostility had on the nation’s military and national security leadership….
…
An opening line flashed on the screen, setting the tone: “The post-war international rules-based order is the greatest gift of the greatest generation.” Mattis then gave a 20-minute briefing on the power of the NATO alliance to stabilize Europe and keep the United States safe. Bannon thought to himself, “Not good. Trump is not going to like that one bit.” The internationalist language Mattis was using was a trigger for Trump.
“Oh, baby, this is going to be f—ing wild,” Bannon thought. “If you stood up and threatened to shoot [Trump], he couldn’t say ‘postwar rules-based international order.’ It’s just not the way he thinks.”
…
Trump’s first complaint was to repeat what he had vented about to his national security adviser months earlier: South Korea should pay for a $10 billion missile defense system that the United States built for it. The system was designed to shoot down any short- and medium-range ballistic missiles from North Korea to protect South Korea and American troops stationed there. But Trump argued that the South Koreans should pay for it, proposing that the administration pull U.S. troops out of the region or bill the South Koreans for their protection.
“We should charge them rent,” Trump said of South Korea. “We should make them pay for our soldiers. We should make money off of everything.”
Trump proceeded to explain that NATO, too, was worthless. U.S. generals were letting the allied member countries get away with murder, he said, and they owed the United States a lot of money after not living up to their promise of paying their dues.
“They’re in arrears,” Trump said, reverting to the language of real estate. He lifted both his arms at his sides in frustration. Then he scolded top officials for the untold millions of dollars he believed they had let slip through their fingers by allowing allies to avoid their obligations.
“We are owed money you haven’t been collecting!” Trump told them. “You would totally go bankrupt if you had to run your own business.”….
…
“I wouldn’t go to war with you people,” Trump told the assembled brass.
Addressing the room, the commander in chief barked, “You’re a bunch of dopes and babies.”
For a president known for verbiage he euphemistically called “locker room talk,” this was the gravest insult he could have delivered to these people, in this sacred space. The flag officers in the room were shocked. Some staff began looking down at their papers, rearranging folders, almost wishing themselves out of the room. A few considered walking out. They tried not to reveal their revulsion on their faces, but questions raced through their minds. “How does the commander in chief say that?” one thought. “What would our worst adversaries think if they knew he said this?”
This was a president who had been labeled a “draft dodger” for avoiding service in the Vietnam War under questionable circumstances. Trump was a young man born of privilege….
…
“He’s a f—ing moron,” the secretary of state said of the president….
image…BBC.Com
* correction from early mistake of a college…
He went to a military High School..
and an Ivy League college
Thanks CG …
I correct…
The description of Trump in this IS worrisome ….
But ?
Doesn’t count ….
Again, imagine if Obama had done this. Republicans would be screaming about how he “hates our military”. I’m sure references would be made by FOX and Rush Limbaugh to his foreign born father and time spent overseas as a child to paint him as some sort of secret agent set on bringing down the US.
But with Trump…crickets.
Can’t wait to vote for the person who will make Trump a one term President.
Sitting on the sidelines is no option this year.
What if the one person put up by a major party to oppose him has the same distrust or disrespect for the military?
The American military takes its direction from a civilian commander-in-chief….
Our military leaders ALL have THAT history in their brains…
Lincoln and Roosevelt’s actions are basic to command school…
But Trump goes above and beyond all that….
Utter disrespect for the military leadership and other national security ‘experts’ is stupid, block headed and DANGEROUS…
Good management for ANYTHING is having people who can say ‘NO” to you and explain why…
THAT safety valve is leaking for our current President …
We ARE lucky this country does NOT have the culture of military leaders sending the civilian leaders out of their jobs…
But?
I sure hope that if Trump loses his mind and grabs the guy with the ‘football’ and wants to start pressing buttons the Secret Service and military people in charge will question this and NOT just let him take the world to war….
When Mattis was around it’s reported that the guy’s who would launch said they would NOT go unless Mattis gave the ok…
Who would do that now?
Esper?
Pence?
WHO?