Tag Archives: DoD

military news

Defense pick raises eyebrows aplenty

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Well, ladies and gents, we’re likely going to get a taste of just how loyal the Donald Trump MAGA-cultists can be when the time comes for confirmation hearing of Trump’s choice to lead the world’s most powerful military institution.

“Fox and Friends, Weekend” co-host Pete Hegseth is Trump’s choice for secretary of defense. Wow! What a pick!

His credentials? He doesn’t have any. Oh, wait! Hegseth served in the Army National Guard, rising to the rank of captain. That rank doesn’t even rise to the level of “field grade officer.” But … here he is, slated to lead an organization with more than 1.5 million men and women in uniform and prepared to go to war when the commander in chief issues the order.

President Biden’s defense boss is Lloyd Austin, a retired four-star Army general. Trump’s first defense secretary was James Mattis, a retired Marine four-star. Both of those men are eminently qualified.

The Hegseth pick reportedly has raised plenty of brows among Republicans and Democrats who are wondering: What the hell is Donald Trump thinking with this selection?

Hegseth says women’s combat roles hinder our military’s preparedness. Never mind that since 2016, when then-Secretary Ash Carter allowed it, women have served in the Army Green Berets and Rangers and as Navy SEAL operatives … and have held their own with their male colleagues.

Pete Hegseth clearly is not qualified to lead the world’s most lethal fighting force.

We’re going to see how loyal the U.S. Senate majority is toward the MAGA cultist in chief. My guess? It won’t be pretty.

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Trump channels Hitler

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There should be zero doubt at this stage of the 2024 presidential campaign that Donald Trump envisions himself as a new version of Adolf Hitler.

A widely attributed quote says that Trump hopes he can get “generals like the ones Hitler had.”

I’ll just say it out loud. Donald Trump is insane. He is beyond merely being ignorant, even though he doesn’t seem to know that Hitler’s generals tried three times to assassinate the 20th century’s most despicable tyrant. Trump only sees the blind, frothing loyalty that many of them exhibited toward Hitler.

The former Joint Chiefs chairman, Army Gen. Mark Milley, says Trump is “fascist to the core.” Former Homeland Security secretary/ former White House chief of staff/former Marine Gen. John Kelly says Trump is unfit for public office. Former Defense Secretary/former Marine Gen. Jim Mattis has called Trump a “moron.”

This man wants his old job back, the one from which 81 million Americans fired him four years ago.

You didn’t hear it here first, but I will say it again: If he gets back into office, ladies and gents, you and I are in a world of hurt.

national news

Esper joins the Trump tell-all brigade

You and I now may add former Defense Secretary Mark Esper to the list of chumps who have come clean on what it was like serving under the guidance of the most imbecilic individual ever elected to the nation’s highest office.

Esper writes in a forthcoming book that Donald J. Trump actually talked out loud and in the presence of others about whether he could fire missiles into Mexico to stop the drug traffickers … and then find a way to deny that he did it!

Trump ended up firing Esper as defense boss near the end of Trump’s term in the White House. I guess he might’ve gotten tired of Esper resisting such nutty notions coming from the man masquerading as our commander in chief.

My goodness, how many more of these revelations is it going to take to sink into the thick, gullible, vacuous skulls of the Trumpkins who continue to give this idiot a pass?

Former Attorney General William Barr has written that Trump refused to accept the fact that he lost the 2020 election. There have been countless other tales told about Trump’s obsession with voter fraud that did not exist, of his utter lack of attention to anything resembling the details of public policy.

The hits just keep coming. Ain’t it fun?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

Rep. Gaetz pops off

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, who’s under investigation for alleged sex trafficking and for having sex with underage girls, needs to put a sock in his pie hole.

He has called Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin possibly “the stupidest person to ever serve in a presidential Cabinet.” Gaetz tore into the retired four-star Army general for decisions he made while he was in charge of Central Command and as defense secretary.

Gaetz, a Florida Republican, is known primarily for two things: for being a loudmouth and a blowhard and for being an unabashed supporter of the disgraced and twice-impeached former Liar in Chief.

One more point.

Gaetz has challenged the integrity and the honor of the first African-American ever to hold the office of defense secretary. Lloyd Austin served with honor and dignity during nearly 40 years wearing the military uniform.

What about Gaetz’s service to the country? Has he thrust himself into harm’s way?

Umm … no.

national news

Gen. Mattis unloads on Trump … yes!

What do you suppose will be Donald John “Stable Genius” Trump’s response to criticism leveled at him by a man generally viewed as one of the few bright lights of the president’s administration?

This comes from former Defense Secretary James Mattis, who said in a statement to reporters: “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership.”

Is this the ranting of a “loser”? Of a “low-IQ” rat? Or of someone who is disloyal to the president and the country he served with honor and distinction while wearing a Marine uniform?

Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general who is revered by the men and women who served under his command, has spoken out eloquently and forcefully at what he has witnessed — along with the rest of us — in the conduct of the commander in chief.

Mattis has said that Trump is violating Americans’ constitutional rights by using military troops to curtail peaceful protests in the wake of the George Floyd killing by four cops in Minneapolis. The nation has erupted in indignation over the perception of widespread police brutality. Trump’s emphasis has been on ending the protests, which have become violent in many cities.

Mattis is concerned that Trump is trampling over citizens’ civil liberties.

Trump’s ham-handed response to the protests drew Mattis’s specific condemnation. As Politico reported: Mattis called the decision to clear protesters in Lafayette Square an “abuse of executive authority” and said that Americans should “reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.”

Donald Trump’s response to this criticism no doubt is going to reveal the shallowness and emptiness of the president. I’ll stand with Gen. Mattis, who I consider to be a patriot and a statesman.

military news

Gen. Mattis comes clean: ‘I had to leave the administration’

James Mattis is showing his class, his devotion to country and his dedication to public service. How? By revealing that Donald Trump’s shamble-driven management style forced him to resign as secretary of defense.

He quit because of policy differences with the commander in chief. Trump, quite unsurprisingly, dismissed the differences he had with Mattis, a retired four-star Marine general, a combat veteran and — to my way of thinking — one of the few actual grownups who has served in the Trump administration.

Mattis became frustrated with Trump’s policy pronouncements by Twitter. He couldn’t function while there was no clear line of communication between his staff and the White House.

So, he quit.

I, along with other Americans, was struck by tone of Mattis’s statement announcing his resignation. He took great pains to salute the men and women who served under his command; he paid tribute to his Pentagon staff and to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He didn’t say a word of praise for the president of the United States.

Gosh! Can you imagine that?

Atlantic magazine has published a story telling how Mattis told those close to him about his decision to leave the administration. See the story here.

The bottom line for James Mattis is that he just “couldn’t take it any more.” Who knew?

national news

DNI is the latest to jump the sinking ship?

Imagine my (non)surprise to hear that Dan Coats is “stepping down” from his job as director of national intelligence in the Donald J. Trump administration.

The president has made damn few appointments that I could endorse. Coats was one of them. Coats, a former Indiana U.S. senator House member, is an establishment Republican with valuable political contacts/friendships/alliances in Washington, D.C. He served as a key bridge between the renegade president and the political pros who run things on Capitol Hill.

He also is a serious policy hound who knows how to walk through the maze of government mumbo-jumbo.

Coats also had some run-ins with the president, who you’ll remember challenged the intelligence community’s assertion that Russia hacked into our electoral system in 2016. They performed with evil intent to help Trump get elected. Trump, of course, sided with Russian strongman Vlad Putin and denigrated the intelligence network’s diligence on the matter.

Coats was at the center of that dispute.

I hate that the administration is losing a seasoned pro like DNI Dan Coats. Trump says he’ll nominate U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe of Texas — a staunch Trump supporter on Capitol Hill — to succeed Coats.

Trump called Ratcliffe a “highly respected” member of Congress, a former U.S. attorney. The president also reportedly was impressed by the way Ratcliffe grilled former special counsel Robert Mueller III during Mueller’s marathon testimony before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees — of which Ratcliffe is a member … of both panels.

Coats, to my way of thinking, ranks alongside former Defense Secretary James Mattis as among the more stellar Trump appointments. Mattis bolted after quarreling with the president. Now it’s Coats who is leaving, reportedly for the same reasons.

Hmm. What’s the common denominator? Oh, gosh! It must be the president of the United States.

national news

Where is the vetting, Mr. President?

Patrick Shanahan’s withdrawal from consideration to be defense secretary brings to the fore the issue of whether he was vetted properly before Donald Trump appointed him to be acting secretary of defense.

The president had said he wanted Shanahan to be confirmed for the permanent job … except that he had some serious, egregious baggage.

It turns out Shanahan was accused of beating the daylights out of his then-wife in 2010.

The media have reported in just recent hours about Shanahan’s history. It makes a lot of us wonder: Is there any vetting going on in the West Wing of the White House?

I have to wonder how in the world the president puts forth an individual who has something so grievous in his background. Does anyone within the White House personnel operation understand that these kinds of things cannot be kept secret? Not ever?

This isn’t the first incidence of senior officials being “outed” over instances of domestic abuse.

military news

Another ‘acting defense secretary’ set to take over

How is this going to work?

The United States well might go to war with Iran. We’re still fighting terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and who knows where else. The Pentagon has just ordered another 1,000 American troops into the Persian Gulf region.

Against that backdrop, the acting secretary of defense, Patrick Shanahan, today has pulled out of the nomination to become the permanent defense boss.

Is this another example of Donald Trump’s “fine-tuned machine” in action? Is this how we’re supposed to believe that our national security network is in steady hands?

Trump has named Army Secretary Mark Esper to be the latest acting defense secretary. For how long will Esper be the “acting” Pentagon boss?

Oh, my.

I’m still trying to get over the resignation of former Defense Secretary James Mattis, who quit because of serious policy disagreements with the president, who then lied about Mattis being “fired.”

Shanahan said something today about wanting to spend more time with his children. Trump said Shanahan had done a great job as the acting defense secretary. There were reports of a domestic disturbance in 2010 with his now former wife, which might have played a part in his decision to pull out of the effort to be confirmed as permanent defense secretary.

The revolving door keeps on turning at the Pentagon. It is happening at a time of tremendous national peril.

What in the world can possibly go wrong without a strong hand at the Pentagon helm?

Frightening.

military news

Guy with no experience to lead Pentagon? Oh … wait!

Donald Trump has decided that acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan should get the job on a more permanent basis.

Thus, he is nominating the former Boeing Co. executive to lead the world’s mightiest military apparatus.

Shanahan would seek to fill a huge void created by the resignation in late 2018 of former Defense Secretary James Mattis, who resigned over differences he had with the president’s defense policy.

OK, the critics are out already regarding Shanahan. They say that his lack of any defense experience does not commend him to this job.

I must say: Whoa! Wait a minute!

In 1961, another president, John F. Kennedy, named a Ford Inc., executive, Robert McNamara, to lead the Pentagon. McNamara had the same zero defense experience that Shanahan would bring to his new job.

Now, it’s a highly debatable point that McNamara did a good job as defense secretary. He did lie to the public about whether the nation was winning the Vietnam War in the 1960s. He kept the truth from us until the mid-1990s, when he wrote in a book that he knew as early as 1963 that Vietnam was essentially a lost cause.

His lack of experience, though, likely didn’t play a part in McNamara’s big-league deception.

Do I wish the president could find someone with the chops that James Mattis brought to the post? Sure. Then again, would another revered general-grade officer — such as Mattis — last any longer than the retired Marine did? Likely not.

Still, let’s not dismiss Patrick Shanahan just because he doesn’t have prior government experience.