Trump or the Troops? Why 2 Top Military Leaders May Be Forced to Choose

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are approaching a crossroads where they may be forced to choose between appearing publicly loyal to President Donald Trump and keeping faith with the nation’s soldiers, sailors, aviators, and Marines, according to current and former Defense Department officials and senior military officers.

Three issues are coming to a head simultaneously that are pushing them toward that choice, the sources said: the promotion of Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, decisions to rename military bases that now carry the names of Confederate officers, and banning Confederate flags.

Esper and Milley are already on thin ice with the president, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid inflaming the tensions. While the Pentagon prides itself on staying out of politics, the President puts a premium on personal loyalty and has been systematically removing officials throughout the government whom he suspects are undermining him, including independent inspectors general and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and trying to replace them with what one former administration official called “political lackeys.’

Last week, Kathryn Wheelbarger resigned from her post as a top defense international policy official when the White House dropped her nomination to a senior Pentagon intelligence post in favor of Bradley Hansell, a former special assistant to Trump and retired naval and Army Special Forces officer. The widely respected Wheelbarger had worked for the late Sen. John McCain, a frequent critic of Trump, and she is a friend of former defense secretary James Mattis, who has harshly criticized Trump’s response to the protests that have followed the death of George Floyd. Days earlier, Elaine McCusker, the Department of Defense’s acting comptroller, resigned after the Administration rescinded her nomination to the post. McCusker has previously had questioned Trump’s decision to freeze aid to Ukraine.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-troops-why-2-top-185946601.html

[BComplex]

1. They don't need to win the battle and lose the war. If they will ultimately lead trump out of the

white house when he refuses to abdicate after the election, I'd just as soon they give up these smaller battles, rather than leave people (lackeys) in charge of the military who will not make him leave when he should.

We're in a battle for the life of our country against trump, putin, barr and moscow mitch (enabled by the republican party as a whole). We're on very thin ice at this point.

[stopdiggin]

2. thanks. interesting.

however .. I see only one item here that these guys are really up against as far as a timeline (Vindman). Everything else they can safely fence-sit (as virtually everyone predicts they will) and ride it out. The idea that these particular men were ever going to go to the mat on things like the battle flag or base names ....

Referencing one of the final quotes in the article --

While some current and former officials acknowledge Esper’s and Milley’s dilemma, caught between the commander-in-chief and their duty to the forces they lead, others are less sympathetic. “When you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas,” said a former senior Republican defense official. “These guys all knew what they were getting into. Now the escape tunnel has caved in.”

[Baked Potato]

3. The truth will come out some glorious day

where we find out how truly despicable Trump is. We will find how a great many women and men stayed on, bit their tongues and saved us from total ruin. Americans are finding they should be engaged in their country and be very careful who they put in charge. It does take honesty and decency, surprise surprise.