He really knows how to turn on the charm.
“I’m not saying the military’s in love with me — the soldiers are, the top people in the Pentagon probably aren’t because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy,” Donald Trump said, insulting military commanders at a Labor Day press conference at the White House.
“In other words, they are bloodthirsty warmongers,” Jennifer Rubin observes at the Washington Post. “The notion that generals want wars reveals his utter lack of understanding of the sacred responsibility commanders have for the troops and the sacrifices their own families have endured. Only a man shamed for having avoided war could imagine that those who serve are bloodthirsty savages.”
He also imagines he is more popular than he is with soldiers. Half of active-duty troops polled by the Military Times and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) at Syracuse University hold an unfavorable view of Trump and 42 percent “strongly” disapprove.
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He might have backed off after reports last week that he had privately called those who sacrificed their lives and limbs for their country “suckers” and “losers.” Instead, he quadrupled down.
That might be a good thing, considering military leaders quietly discuss the prospect of disobeying unlawful orders from Trump, especially in the aftermath of the election:
A critical area of concern is how the Pentagon would respond if Trump invokes the Insurrection Act to put US military troops on the streets to deal with civilian protestors as he continues to stoke divisions across the country in the run up to the election. Trump floated the idea last month and, after he first made the threat in June, Esper publicly broke with him by saying he opposed any such move.
To avoid a new showdown with the White House, for the last several weeks, top military officials — including General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — have been getting regular briefings on civil unrest in major cities across the country. The idea is to be ready with alternative plans for state-activated National Guard and other federal civilian law enforcement rather than have active duty troops potentially clash with protesters, according to several defense officials.
Meantime, Trump believes his charm is simply irresistible.
He’s so fine, there’s no tellin’ where the money went.
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