Pentagon has no plans to send 15,000 troops to border for Trump stunt

[fleur-de-lisa]

https://www.sourcepolitics.com/pentagon-has-no-plans-to-send-15-000-troops-to-border-for-trump-stunt/

Trump initially ordered 5,200 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. Then out of the blue on Tuesday he nearly tripled that commitment to 15,000 troops. But over at the Defense Department, officials have no idea what he’s talking about, raising doubts about whether Trump’s latest claim has any basis in reality.

“Trump’s comments left some in the Pentagon scratching their heads. Officials said they had no plans to deploy as many as 15,000 troops,” the Associated Press reported.

Initially, Pentagon officials said 1,000 troops would be sent. Then it got bumped up to 5,000, and maybe 8,000. Now Trump has suddenly doubled that figure.

Trump has a disturbing history of not coordinating with the Pentagon when it comes to making dramatic military announcements.

[CrispyQ]

1. Just like the number of jobs from the bloody Saudi deal.

It went from 100K to over a million in a couple of hours. How can anyone support someone who is this off balanced?

[struggle4progress]

2. "The Pentagon is teleporting them as I speak!"

"We are? Since when?"

[gratuitous]

3. That would appear to be something newsworthy

I'm not a professional journalist, but doesn't it seem at least as newsworthy to report that the military doesn't know what the hell Trump is yammering about as the original splashy announcement? All the media outlets rushed into print and on the air to tell the American people all about Trump's latest grandstanding effort to look tough. There was no deeper reporting on such uninteresting topics as how much it would cost or how these thousands and thousands of troops were going to get in position or what they were actually going to do massed at the border like that.

How about a little follow up, popular media?

[Oneironaut]

4. Trump is aware of that. Actually doing it wasn't the purpose.

Like his supposed 10% Middle Class tax cut, he’s saying things to make people vote for Republicans. He knows they’re not true and he doesn’t care.

The media won’t refute what he says - they just repeat it blindly. If you asked most people, they probably believe he’s in the process of doing these things. He has no need to be honest when lying is working so well. Nobody cares about the truth anymore - it’s irelrelevant.

[progressoid]

5. Another GOTV stunt by tRump.

[lame54]

6. Can they say no?...

He is the Commander In Chief

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

7. Basically Trump's talking through his ass again