Trump Draft Executive Order Would Create Board to Purge Generals

[highplainsdem]

Source: WSJ

WASHINGTON—The Trump transition team is considering a draft executive order that establishes a “warrior board” of retired senior military personnel with the power to review three- and four-star officers and to recommend removals of any deemed unfit for leadership.

If Donald Trump approves the order, it could fast-track the removal of generals and admirals found to be “lacking in requisite leadership qualities,” according to a draft of the order reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. But it could also create a chilling effect on top military officers, given the president-elect’s past vow to fire “woke generals,” referring to officers seen as promoting diversity in the ranks at the expense of military readiness.

As commander in chief, Trump can fire any officer at will, but an outside board whose members he appoints would bypass the Pentagon’s regular promotion system, signaling across the military that he intends to purge a number of generals and admirals.

The draft order says it aims to establish a review that focuses “on leadership capability, strategic readiness, and commitment to military excellence.” The draft doesn’t specify what officers need to do or present to show if they meet those standards. The draft order originated with one of several outside policy groups collaborating with the transition team, and is one of numerous executive orders under review by Trump’s team, a transition official said.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/trump-draft-executive-order-would-create-board-to-purge-generals-7ebaa606

---

Damn Trump.

[C_U_L8R]

1. Putin laughs with glee.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

54. Even Stalin chuckles in his grave

Ya gotta love a good purge.

[PSPS]

2. "The draft doesn't specify what officers need to do or present" -- it doesn't have to. It's obvious.

[Diraven]

3. I'm guessing loyalty oaths

Whoever refuses to kiss the ring will be gone.

[Harker]

9. He wants generals like Hitler had, so that would figure.

Last edited Tue Nov 12, 2024, 08:22 PM - Edit history (1)

How long before the new armbands and Trumpsky salute?

[SharonAnn]

20. And how long before they try to kill him? Like Hitler's generals did.

[Harker]

21. His ignorance of history is appalling.

John Kelly had to tell him about the assassination attempts repeatedly.

July 20 seems too far off.

[area51]

49. What happens July 20? n/t

[Harker]

58. Probably nothing, but the July 20, 1944 bomb plot carried out

against Hitler exploded a briefcase bomb in the same room with him.

[skydive forever]

45. And then

We end up with president Vance? That’s called going from really bad to way worse.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

53. There is no doubt in my mind those plans are already being discussed...

behind closed doors.

[jaxexpat]

55. Now just calm down there, SharonAnn. There's a lot of folks here who do not appreciate even thinking......

about any kind of coloring outside the lines of traditional procedure. They're likely to send you a message telling you to curb your "unhinged attitude". You'll need statistics, evidence and actual stuff "in triplicate" if you're gonna talk like that.

? Yes......................... but they really do exist.

[red dog 1]

71. Hitler made all Jewish people wear armbands....Will President VonShitzInPantz make all Democrats wear armbands?

[Harker]

72. He's going to have a hard time making most of us do any such thing.

He'll over reach along those lines pretty quickly, though.

I'm not much for goosestepping, either!

[woodsprite]

4. I figure they'll have to kiss his a$$ or ask "How high?"

When he tells them to “Jump!”, he’ll import their replacements from Russia.

[Harker]

5. Flynn can help identify plenty of good generals to get rid of. n/t

[ananda]

12. You read my mind. I was thinking Flynn also.

Oh dear.

[Harker]

15. I'm sure there's a copy of "Seven Days in May"

around here somewhere...

[YoshidaYui]

22. I had to do a book report on that in high school

didn't they make it into a movie?

[Harker]

23. Yes, and a good one.

Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Frederic March, Martin Balsam, etc.

[ffr]

6. Dangerous. Half, because he then can instruct such Proud Boys to round up his enemies for atrocities.

Dark and ugly is just around the corner.

[KS Toronado]

68. He'll promote the Proud Boys to Generals with an executive order.

[liberalgunwilltravel]

7. Which General will have the guts?

Which Generals and their commands will have the guts and fealty to the Constitution to smoke the treasonous bastards.

[OhioTim]

65. If They Do

then they will be fired

[mellow]

8. He's weakening our military.

The best military leaders are not the same set of people as those who will kiss his ass.

[pat_k]

26. Of course he is.

[highplainsdem]

10. VoteVets responds:

Link to tweet

[keithbvadu2]

33. pledging fealty to...

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."

[Yavin4]

11. Imagine the outrage if Obama, Biden, Clinton or any other Democratic president did this.

There would be calls for impeachment right off the rip.

[EarthFirst]

13. A terrifying assault on our country is being perpetuated from within...

I feel entirely helpless and numb watching this unfold.

[bluestarone]

14. YOU are 100% correct

Nobody wants to even think about what they can and WILL do to our country. It will be TOO LATE!

[yellow dahlia]

38. They want us to feel terrified and numb.

[BlueKota]

16. But no those of us who have been saying

he will turn the U.S. into a modern Nazi Germany are just hyperbolizing.

[vapor2]

17. This is really disturbing, anyone else freaked out by this?

[liberalmediaaddict]

31. I'm freaked out about ALL his plans

It's like a house of horrors.
His voters love the way he strikes fear into the rest of us who hate him.

[yorkster]

52. Yes. This is outrageous and of course unconstitutional.

Alarming as hell.

[cstanleytech]

18. Getting ready for the night of the long knives it appears.

[skydive forever]

46. I was

Just talking about this last night.

[DJ Porkchop]

19. We're so cooked.

Canada will get in line to take a swipe.

[Raine1967]

24. Can some supply a no paywall link?

Or at the very least tell me how to do it?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

28. It often occurs that TWSJ. articles show up at

MSN, word for word.

Just saying’.

And good evening.

[AverageOldGuy]

42. non paywall link

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-draft-executive-order-would-create-board-to-purge-generals/ar-AA1tXPCJ

[ancianita]

59. This article needs to be spread across platforms but his link doesn't allow text copy/pasting, so here's one that does.

It's from the Internet Archive using the Wayback Machine (I think).

https://archive.ph/muWOx

[LaMouffette]

25. Oh, my GOD. It has only been a week and he's already dismantling our national security. Or I should say completing

the dismantling of our national security. It's like Putin gave him a punch list:


Fill cabinet with Putin-approved Trump loyalists, check!
Purge the generals, check!
Demand recess appointments, check!
Give the executive the power to declare any organization a terrorist organization, check!

What the hell can be done? This is some serious fucking shit!

[yellow dahlia]

39. Why are so many going passively into the night?

[turbinetree]

27. Did he get this treasonous idea from Putin.............or some other fuck head..........

[Theproletariat]

29. Lest we not forgot

Obama fired almost 200 military officers in in several years of his presidency.

Not saying this isn’t concerning about the orange man, but I feel like getting outraged about this could be a trap.

[AZJonnie]

36. Welcome to DU!

I just ran your assertion by chatGPT to gauge how accurate it is. Here is the result, in case you're interested.

Me: Is it true that "Obama fired almost 200 military officers in in several years of his presidency"?

ChatGPT said: During President Obama’s two terms, there were indeed significant changes within the military's leadership, but the claim that he "fired almost 200 military officers" is misleading and often taken out of context.

Several factors contributed to the departure of senior officers during Obama's presidency:

Routine Retirements and Resignations: Many officers retired or resigned, as is typical in any administration. Senior military roles naturally rotate due to promotions, new appointments, and retirements.

Budget Cuts and Downsizing: Due to sequestration (automatic federal budget cuts) and post-Iraq and Afghanistan drawdowns, the military was reducing its overall size. This downsizing affected personnel at all levels, including senior officers.

Accountability and Misconduct: In some instances, officers were relieved of duty or removed due to personal or professional misconduct. This is not unusual and happens under every administration as part of maintaining military discipline and standards.

Policy Differences: While there were some disagreements between senior military officials and Obama’s administration on policies, including the pace of troop withdrawals, these differences did not generally result in direct firings. However, some officers chose to retire if they felt they could not fully support the administration's direction.

These changes in military leadership were influenced by a combination of routine rotations, budget constraints, disciplinary actions, and occasional policy disagreements, rather than a mass “firing” of officers.

[AverageOldGuy]

41. NO, Obama did not "fire 200 generals"

[Theproletariat]

43. I never said generals

I said officers.

[Karasu]

50. Irrelevant. Frankly I don't know what you're playing at here.

Obama didn't create an entire board for the sole purpose of purging military officials he didn't like.

[jaxexpat]

56. Be careful of believing what you hear. We are in the age of "king propaganda".

[Emile]

61. I don't know where you are getting your information.

https://skeptoid.com/blog/2014/03/24/president-obama-purge-military/

[Emile]

64. Any list of 200 people falls squarely in the Gish Gallop category.

[JR11]

67. Think About What Milley Said

Hard choices are to be made, but as sure as night follows day, fear and indecision is exactly where these fascists want us to be.

[bucolic_frolic]

30. Trump clearly intends to have his loyal generals do something the rest would not do.

[liberalmediaaddict]

34. To finish what he started in late 2020

Although I'm not sure why. The Supreme Court said he can do anything he wants as President without getting charged with a crime.

[keithbvadu2]

32. a "warrior board" of retired senior military personnel

Full of hand-picked Mike Flynn members.

[kimbutgar]

35. So instead of keeping military personnel with experience and temperament they are putting in MAGA idiots ?

By 2026 we’ll be a part of the USSR and a communist nation.

Please give him the wrong nuclear codes President Biden when you leave!

[AleksS]

37. A wanna-be dictator making sure

that his hand-picked generals are in charge of the armed forces and that any generals not firstly-loyal to him are removed from the chain of command..........I don't see how that could possibly go wrong.

WTF.

[AverageOldGuy]

40. Link without paywall

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-draft-executive-order-would-create-board-to-purge-generals/ar-AA1tXPCJ

[LudwigPastorius]

44. Sounds like he's afraid of a military coup attempt.

That must mean he's planning to do something that would provoke a military coup attempt.

[VMA131Marine]

47. Well, this isn't Stalin-esque at all ...

Kidding! Of course it is.

[MissouriDem47]

48. Purge the military

is the first thing on dictators to do list. Stalin's purge of generals officers cost Russia dearly at the start of WWII.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

51. When Putin was threatening tactical nukes in Ukraine...

... one of our retired Generals or Admirals stated, "if they use tactical nukes, the Russian Navy would be sunk in about 4 hours".

Perhaps that is why.

[jaxexpat]

57. It is Bidens command for a couple of months yet. He could take it out for a spin before he hands it over to Trump.

Or, better yet he could refuse to give the "pinks*" to Trump at all. Sort of a pre-repossession.

*Hotrod racing reference to automobile titles, pink slips.

[ancianita]

60. Maybe you can add this non-paywall that allows copy-pasting to your OP?

https://archive.ph/muWOx

Also, hp, I'm passing along the Internet Archive page that another DU'er so generously linked to me, so you can use it for future non-paywall links. It's in the link above, but this one can also serve.

https://archive.ph

[Oopsie Daisy]

62. He wants loyal-to-Trump generals who will follow his unlawful orders *

* and who will fire on US citizens. He fears the possibility of a military coup when he starts rounding-up and executing "the enemy within".

[HarryM]

63. Is this legal?

If it’s nothing the law or constitution, it’s not legal, and needs to be taken to court. He cannot be permitted to get away with stuff like this.

[usaf-vet]

66. Any retired military officer who joins that band of traitors should be stripped of their rank and benefits. As they too.

.... will join the ranks of US Military Soldiers who took an oath to Support and Defend the Constitution against ALL enemies, foreign AND DOMESTIC.

Those who would join that band of traitors would ignore their oath, dishonoring themselves and all who have served.

[orangecrush]

69. Begging for his own removal

For national security reasons.

[Dan]

70. Well, this I do believe

The Military Corporation will take care of its own.

Trump should have studied more while in remedial high school or College.

Mess with the military and they will defend their own….heehee.