Pentagon anticipates major upheaval with Trump's return to White House
Source: Washington Post
Updated November 7, 2024 at 8:28 p.m. EST | Published November 7, 2024 at 6:31 p.m. EST
The Pentagon anticipates major upheaval once President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House, amid fears that the once and future commander in chief will follow through on vows to deploy the military domestically against American citizens, demand fealty from key leaders and attempt to remake the nonpartisan institution into one explicitly loyal to him.
The trepidation harks back to Trumps first term, when he smashed norms and frequently clashed with senior Pentagon leaders including several of his own political appointees. He has shown no signs of altering course this time around, stating throughout his campaign an intent to use military force against the enemy from within, to fire any military officer associated with the chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan after he left office in 2021, and to reverse what he and his supporters have denounced as woke decisions by the Biden administration that include renaming several Army bases that had honored Confederates.
The greatest danger the military faces under a second Trump presidency is a rapid erosion of its professionalism, which would undermine its status and respect from the American people, said Richard Kohn, a professor and military historian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mr. Trump does not have a real understanding of civil-military relations, or the importance of a nonpartisan, nonpolitical military.
A spokeswoman for Trump, Karoline Leavitt, said that with Tuesdays vote, the American public had given him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail. He will deliver.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/11/07/trump-military-pentagon/
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BoRaGard
(2,955 posts)Calls our wounded and war dead "suckers and losers." Then likes to pretend he's a patriot.
keithbvadu2
(40,265 posts)Oath of Allegiance - Pre and post 1934
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-fuehrer-oath
(before August 2, 1934)
"I swear by almighty God this sacred oath:
I will at all times loyally and honestly
serve my people and country
and, as a brave soldier,
I will be ready at any time
to stake my life for this oath."
The Fuehrer Oath
(effective August 2, 1934)
"I swear by almighty God this sacred oath:
I will render unconditional obedience
to the Fuehrer of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler,
Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht,
and, as a brave soldier,
I will be ready at any time
to stake my life for this oath."
bucolic_frolic
(47,174 posts)Lonestarblue
(11,875 posts)In addition, gay people will be forced out of the military and probably women also because they need to be having babies. I fear that Trump will put Mike Flynn in charge of the military, and he will also cozy up to Russia.
Firestorm49
(4,209 posts)Autumn
(46,420 posts)did the last time. He's been running since 2020.
BumRushDaShow
(143,118 posts)when Democrats had control (albeit, limited in the Senate) of both chambers of Congress, some of it slid in the Infrastructure & Inflation Reduction reconciliation bills, and Omnibus funding bills.