Slate - "Trump is Ordering Service Members to Support the GOP Agenda. That is Terrifying."

[NRaleighLiberal]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/07/trump_is_ordering_service_members_to_support_the_republican_agenda.html

Unpresidential Command

By Phillip Carter

In a serious breach of presidential norms, President Donald Trump urged sailors attending the commissioning of the USS Gerald R. Ford on Saturday to wade into the political fray and help lobby Congress on health care and other topics. “I don’t mind getting a little hand, so call that congressman and call that senator and make sure you get it,” Trump said of his budget, highlighting the defense spending portion. This could have been intepreted as an order from the commander in chief to the service members in attendance to support the Republican Party agenda. “And by the way, you can also call those senators to make sure you get health care,” he added.

That Trump would so command the troops—who he apparently sees as his troops—should come as no surprise. Time after time, he has breached long-standing norms of civil-military relations: from evading presidential responsibility, to appropriating service members’ valor for political purposes, to politicking before military audiences. Saturday’s breach stands apart because of its directness and its implications. Trump’s verbal command in Norfolk, Virginia, incites the assembled troops to discard centuries of U.S. military ethics and break long-standing military rules, too. This is what leaders do in banana republics: Instruct the people with guns to join the political fray.

The military tradition of avoiding domestic politics literally predates the country, going back to a dispute over veterans’ benefits between then-Gen. George Washington and his officers. The officers planned to confront Washington at Newburgh, New York, with a thinly veiled threat of military takeover if they didn’t get Washington’s support in a plea to Congress. Washington deftly defused the plot, telling his troops they would “sully the glory” they earned on the battlefield with their plans to lobby Congress.

In the two centuries since, the U.S. military has increasingly professionalized and bureaucratized itself. Today, the rules against troops’ political activity exist in the Uniform Code of Military Justice and several Pentagon regulations. Article 88 of the military justice code makes it a crime for an officer to use “contemptuous words” against the president, vice president, Congress, or certain other officials, whether for political purposes or not. Military Rule of Evidence 508 gives service members an absolute right “to refuse to disclose the tenor of the person’s vote at a political election conducted by secret ballot.”

snip - much more.

[RKP5637]

1. Trump, is an extremely dangerous person to the future of the US. n/t

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. future of the world

[RKP5637]

4. Excellent point, The World! n/t

[atreides1]

5. Every Republican is a threat

To our Democratic Republic and a threat to our National Security! And each time that Republican politicians fail to speak against their would be dictator, is just more proof that Republicans can no longer be trusted or should be called Americans!!!

[RKP5637]

7. Definitely! In fact, it's not even the GOP anymore, it's a whole new breed working to take the

American democracy down.

[ananda]

19. I'd say that the "democracy" is pretty much down now.

nt

[INdemo]

24. and.....being financed by Russian Money

[Initech]

3. This is some full on dictatorial bullshit right here!

[RKP5637]

6. Many think Trump is nuts. I often think his every move is calculated, sometimes. n/t

[mountain grammy]

8. Serious and disturbing.

Like the Justice Department "reaching out" to local law enforcement. Will the American military and police turn against the people? In my opinion, it's already happening.

[barbtries]

10. another post on DU

implies to me that you are correct. it's happening. i feel like i'm living in a nascent nazi state. this is so disturbing.

i was going to link to the post. it was about a Democratic meeting in Santa Monica in which a group of trumpsters attended and disrupted throughout the entire meeting, and 5 or 6 police also in attendance did nothing, saying it was their 1st amendment right. sigh.

anyway, it's dropped away even though it was quite recent. you may have seen it.

[mountain grammy]

11. I did see it and commented on the inaction of the police,

and was basically told it's a free speech issue. I disagreed.

Then there's this link to a post about a New Yorker article I had just read.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029364741

Then there's Sessions reinstating civil forfeiture. I think things are getting pretty scary.

[barbtries]

12. i commented as well.

all someone had to do to be ejected from a trump speech during the campaign was hold up a sign as i recall. i agree that things are getting scary. all the more reason to resist. if the people don't save this country it will not be saved for sure.

[SonofDonald]

17. I read it yesterday

It was called something like "Keep an eye out for this in your area", or similar to that.

[barbtries]

18. yeah that's the one.

thanks

[SonofDonald]

20. Found it

It's under "General Discussion" and called:
"Guys: Warning!, watch carefully to see if this starts happening in your district"

Last post to it was at 8:04 am today.

And you're welcome.

[barbtries]

9. is this not illegal?!

bad enough that my son while in the Navy had to listen to fox news at work every fucking day. submarine base Norfolk VA during gw.

[murielm99]

13. To make sure "you" get health care?

They already have health care as members of the military.

[Ilsa]

15. Unless he and Paul Ryan are planning to take it away. nt

[Brother Buzz]

16. Including their dependents

[sarge43]

27. What Trump knows about the armed forces could be written on the head of a pin. n/t

[kairos12]

14. When I was a Company Commander anything I did that smacked

of Command Influence on troops in terms of voting was considered a fireable offense.

[erronis]

29. Guessing that was before the corruption hit the repuglicans - Rove, ALEC, Ashcroft/LibertyU

I'm sure the rot has always been there in both/all parties. It's just that this party was better at monetizing the data.

I've worked with lots of high and low level military - not much recently. Politics was not permitted coming down from a higher command. Of course everybody grouses about the current state of affairs and everyone has multiple opinions about each state. But to have a superordinate tell/intimate you how to react, that would be derisable.

One of the benefits of making the all-volunteer military, especially if there are financial incentives during some rough times, is to get young not-well-educated, not positive about the direction of the country, and feeling expendable as well as angry. Those benefits end up with a frustrated enlisted corps who might well lock-step with a wannabe despot.

Perhaps, nowadays making fun of the color orange would be punishable. Or horrible hairpieces or tiny protuberances or the ability string more than 3 words together or suggesting that oj is controlled by something other than his immense sense of failure. I can't imagine being a citizen under a rule as capricious as Stalin/Hitler, but I should start imagining.

[Plucketeer]

30. This bothers me as much as the "Christianization" of our military.

Now to add this crap to that. Nazis must be grinning in their graves.

[bucolic_frolic]

21. It was an issue during the Civil War too

[MrScorpio]

22. Some of the most irresponsible bullshit I've ever heard come out of Cheeto's puckered pie hole

Straight up violation of the UCMJ

[apkhgp]

23. Infuriating n/t

[MarvinGardens]

25. Seems to be illegal

And I'd be surprised if it weren't. Add this to the list of impeachment charges, if that ever happens.

[apkhgp]

26. He likes to talk

The more and more he talk, the more and more he wades into something that he cannot get out of.

[NotASurfer]

28. This was a serious problem for the Roman Empire

The armies swore allegiance to a person, be it their General or Caesar. Which was frequently detrimental to the Empire.

Washington was wise, to set an example of honor. I do not expect the current, and quite temporary, occupant of the Oval Office can make the uniform code evaporate, or that any unlawful order he issued will be obeyed.

[The Polack MSgt]

31. This infuriates me.

As it should all veterans.

Fuck this guy

[Panich52]

32. K&r