By Jim Jones
JJ Commontater
They all knew the incomprehensible danger of calling in America’s top generals and admirals to meet with their top civilian commander at a known time and location. Our chief adversaries, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, must have given at least passing thought to sending in a drone to completely decapitate our entire military command structure. And to call the more than 800 top military leaders away from their critical work of defending the country, just to attend a meaningless harangue by Trump and his unqualified Secretary of Defense, was complete nonsense.
Pete Hegseth tried his best to put on a show like General George Patton when he was preparing the Third Army for its invasion of France during WWII. But he came off more like an angry Donald Duck. Each of those in attendance was much more qualified to be in charge of the Defense Department than Hegseth, and they all knew it. Hegseth griped about fat and unshaven soldiers. He railed against what he called the “stupid rules of engagement,” which largely track long-established national and international rules for conducting warfare. Those of us who served in one of the nation’s wars appreciated those rules, disregarding them at our peril and to our disgrace.
When it was Trump’s turn to address the big brass, he spent about 70 minutes with his eyes half closed, speaking as if he were just waking up from a deep sleep. He spoke of how he walked “very slowly” on stairs, while former President Obama “would bop down those stairs. I’ve never seen it. Da-da, da-da, da-da, bop, bop bop. He’d go down the stairs. Wouldn’t hold on.” He spoke of how he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize but would probably never get it. He mentioned the seven or eight wars he claimed to have ended, how he loved his signature, that he still wanted to make Canada the 51st state, how he disliked the shape of present-day Navy ships and a seemingly inexhaustible outpouring of other unrelated subjects. The full speech is readily available online.
One thing that likely struck fear into the assembled top commanders of the nation’s military was Trump’s repeated mention of nuclear weapons during his monologue. In light of his rambling and unhinged discourse, the military brass had to be deeply unsettled to think that Trump’s finger was on America’s nuclear trigger.
Trump also startled the crowd with his McCarthy-like claim that America is plagued with domestic enemies, “insurrectionists” who are “paid by the radical left.” He told the non-political military officers that “we’re going to straighten them out one by one. And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room.That’s a war, too. It’s a war from within …we should use some of these dangerous cities as a training ground for our military.”
Trump said, “our inner cities” are “a big part of war now.”
The assembled leaders are well aware of the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the US military from engaging in civilian law enforcement. They knew that a confrontation between British troops and Boston civilians in 1770 resulted in the Boston Massacre, which led to the signing of the Declaration of Independence 249 years ago. I’m sure the top brass was not very enthusiastic about doing a repeat of that war against civilians.
The leaders present could not speak on the record about Trump’s unhinged behavior, but several defense officials did so off the record. One said, “listening to Donald Trump was deeply troubling and it is clear he is unfit for the role of commander in chief.” Another said, “This is truly disturbing. He is clearly unwell even for Trump.” That individual referenced the 25th Amendment, which deals with presidential incapacity.
While the meeting was a fiasco, it will play a tremendously helpful role in the protection of the United States from the despotic aims of Donald Trump. He is obviously intent on trying to force the nation’s military to assist in his efforts to capture full control of the country. By giving our patriotic military leadership an unfiltered view of his frightening persona, he has shown them the dire need for them to work behind the scenes, both together and separately, to frustrate his plans.
Jim Jones is a Vietnam combat veteran who served eight years as Idaho Attorney General (1983-1991) and 12 years as a Justice on the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017).