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Hello Fellow Democrats,
Wow! Where do I begin? This week, for observers of the Trump regime with its excesses and abuses of power, has been one for the record books. It’s so hard to pick a topic to write about because there are so many possibilities. Just this past week we’ve seen Republicans shut down the government, thereby giving even MORE power to Trump and the “junk drawer” that he calls his cabinet. He’s directed the Navy to sink civilian fishing boats in international waters (a violation of international law) off the coast of Venezuela claiming, without evidence, that they are transporting gang-affiliated “narco-terrorists”. He’s deployed U.S. military personnel to American cities, supposedly cleaning up “crime zones”, but the only crimes that are being committed in those areas are the crimes being committed by ICE, warrantlessly attacking and detaining everyone in their path without regard to citizenship or immigration status. All of these things are worthy of multi-page rants, but the worst of the worst strikes me to the core since I am an Army veteran.
The sentence “A drunk and a pedophile walk into a room full of generals and admirals” sounds like the start of a bad joke, but in this case it’s no joke. Last Tuesday Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth addressed hundreds of our top military generals and admirals that were ordered to gather at an all-hands meeting in Quantico VA to pay homage to Trump and his top sycophant at the Pentagon. This “meeting” was so wrong on so many different levels that I cringe just thinking about it again. First of all, demanding that our top military officers from around the globe abandon their commands for at least a day created a massive, albeit temporary, weakening of our military command structure. But imagine what could have happened had President Obama NOT taken out Osama bin Laden years ago, neutralizing Al Qaeda! Having all of our top brass, our Secretary of Defense and the Commander-in-Chief all in the same room at the same time would have presented an enormously inviting target for any real enemies. Trump and Hegseth got lucky.
Then the show started. Donald Trump walked out on stage, expecting applause. He got none. Then he fell just short of commanding the officers to applaud him and STILL got no applause. Trump obviously doesn’t have a clue about military protocol. He would have been right to expect everyone in the room to stand up and come to attention, which they did, but in the military, you don’t applaud your commander. You come to attention and salute. He followed his complaint about the lack of applause by telling them that if they didn’t like what he had to say they could leave the room . . . and leave their rank and careers behind. His way or the highway.
Hegseth took his turn with the microphone to decry “fat generals and admirals” walking the halls at the Pentagon. He announced the elimination of different standards for physical fitness for men and women, calling for a single standard . . . the male standard for combat roles, which would essentially exclude women (and the majority of men) from all military service. He called for the elimination of the Rules of Engagement that protect non-combatants in possible combat situations, promoting the “Warrior Ethos” without recognition of the many non-warrior roles in the military that both men and women fill.
The most disturbing part of that meeting in Quantico was the fact that both Trump and Hegseth talked about a domestic war, calling pretty much everybody who doesn’t fall in line behind Trump “the enemy from within.” An enemy that they plan to wage war against in our cities in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act forbidding using federal troops against U.S. citizens, a plan that they are already implementing in DC, Chicago and now Portland.
Make no mistake about it. That meeting in Quantico was an attempt to set the stage for an all-male, almost all white, super-macho military, more loyal to Trump than the Constitution, to be ready to serve him, and him alone, against the American people, when he decides to declare himself either King or President-for-Life. If you’re not outraged, you’re just not paying attention.
Stand Up! Push Back! Continue the Fight!
Bill
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