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The much-discussed meeting of military bigwigs took place yesterday. As it turns out, there were no loyalty oaths, per se. Nonetheless, the clear purpose was to lay out the administration's general plans for the military, and to communicate that the generals and admirals better get on board or else get out.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth talked about all the "reforms" he's implementing. He said that beards are going to be prohibited, since you can't be a good commander if you have facial hair. You know, like that loser Ulysses S. Grant. He also bragged about his own physical fitness regimen, and said every other member of the defense establishment would be held to the same standard, as he is tired of fat generals. Hegseth added that he wants military trainees to feel "more fear," and feels the best way to accomplish that is to allow drill sergeants to physically assault their recruits. He also plans to bring an end to anonymous reports to the inspector general (which Hegseth described as "frivolous complaints"). That means that someone who thinks there's a problem will have to put their career on the line to make a report of potential bad behavior.
The portion that got the most attention was when Hegseth, a notorious misogynist, decreed that he is going to insist that the "highest male standards" be applied to combat troops. He probably can't unilaterally get rid of women in combat roles, but he can certainly make it damn near impossible for many women to serve in that capacity. And Hegseth himself noted that the new rules would significantly reduce the number of women in combat positions, and would leave some combat commands with no women at all. The Secretary's ideas in this area are definitely out of a different century, and we don't mean the one that just ended a few years back. Heck, even the Civil War guys (Simon Cameron and Edwin Stanton) had positive things to say about women's contributions to the war effort. Hegseth would fit right in with Napoleon, though.
After all, how could a 130-pound woman sitting at a computer inside a mountain in Colorado possibly pilot a drone in Asia? Would she have enough strength to push the mouse? What about a woman flying an F-35? What would she do if her squadron commander yelled "balls to the walls" over the radio? Mission failed. Hegseth has watched too many WW I movies. And on the subject of grooming, Hegseth failed to mention how many pounds of hair gel a soldier is allowed to wear. Can each service decide this on its own?
Donald Trump, for his part, did exactly what we and everyone else expected, and delivered a rambling monologue focused mostly on his own accomplishments, and on his "enemies." Last week, he seemed to have given up on the Nobel Prize, but he must have changed his mind again, since he spent some time yesterday saying that he really should get one, and that it's ridiculous that he hasn't gotten one already. He also, at various times, bragged about the quality of the paper he uses for generals' commissions, kvetched about Joe Biden's use of an autopen (and bragged about how be-utiful his own signature is), lamented that you can't really use EITHER "N-word" ("Nuclear" and... the other one), peacocked about how great his tariffs are (and how they've apparently brought in $17 trillion), and said that the U.S. is finally respected again, after years of being laughed at by the nations of the world. This last claim is not only ridiculous, but it means he's pissing on all the people in the audience, since it's not like they commenced their careers, and dedicated their lives to serving their country, on January 20 of this year.
The most important/frightening part of the speech was when Trump told the brass to be ready to fight an "enemy from within" and to prepare to use America's cities as a military training ground. He explained: "We're under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don't wear uniforms. In our inner cities—which we're going to be talking about because it's a big part of war now. It's a big part of war." The Commander-in-Chief also made very clear that any officer who does not see things his way would be shown the door.
Take it from a historian, this kind of rhetoric is straight out of Mein Kampf. Trump could not sound more Hitler-esque if he somehow used a Ouija board to have Hermann Göring write his speeches for him. Remember, the core argument of the future leader of the Third Reich was that Germany had been "stabbed in the back" by Jewish bankers and other enemies within Germany. By virtue of his professional training, (Z) recoils at drawing Hitler comparisons. But when the shoe fits so well it might as well have been made by the finest cobbler in all of Christendom, what can you do?
Soldiers are trained, of course, to be apolitical. And any soldier who does not internalize that lesson very early is not going to rise to become a general officer. Since both Hegseth's and Trump's speeches were VERY political, the crowd was not going to respond the way that Trump's rally crowds do (or the way that the Nazi faithful did at Nuremburg; see Triumph of the Will for more on this point). Even with that caveat, witnesses to yesterday's spectacle said the stony silence was noticeable, and that you could have cut the tension with a knife.
Clearly, Trump is laying the groundwork for issuing orders that are plainly illegal (even moreso than the orders he's already issued). Whether he will actually issue those orders is still an open question; he usually does the TACO thing, and note that he's now threatened Chicago, Memphis and Portland with imminent invasion, and yet has not yet made a move. Note also that Trump apparently didn't even know about yesterday's meeting until a few days ago, so this was not part of a broader plan (if he even has broader plans).
If and when he does issue a plainly illegal order, then the rubber will meet the road for one or more unlucky generals or admirals. They will have to choose between their oath to defend the Constitution and their responsibility to obey their commander-in-chief. Yes, there are a few Mike Flynns out there, but beyond those, it's a real pickle. Nobody can know what decision those officers will make until they actually have to make it. Probably even they don't really know.
That said, yesterday's little performance did not improve Trump's chances of turning the U.S. military into his own personal Wehrmacht. First, if they did not know already, the brass now knows they have a real, career- and nation-threatening problem on their hands. They are going to talk to each other. Those conversations may be quiet, they may be behind closed doors, they may be very circumspect. But they WILL talk. And they will get a sense of where the other generals and admirals stand, and how much support there will be for an answer of "no, sir, that is an illegal order, and I cannot follow it."
Second, if there is defiance from an officer (or many officers), and that officer (or those officers) tell Trump to pound sand, there will be a court martial or some other such inquiry, where the accused will have to explain the basis for their choices. And they will now be able to say: "I saw the President's rambling, disjointed, often slurred speech in person, and was left with the strong impression of someone who is not fully competent. The illegal order confirmed that impression, and I acted accordingly."
In short, as is so often the case, it looks to us like the administration weakened its hand at a time when it was trying to strengthen it. We accepted long ago that Trump does not play 3-D chess, but what we really need to accept is that he can't even play checkers. He can play tic tac toe, but can win only if he cheats. (Z)