Dem
47
GOP
53
If you're going to be a strongman, well, you pretty much have to be a... strong man. This is why most strongmen wear military uniforms, and surround themselves with reminders of their wealth and power, and claim to have accomplished amazing or superhuman feats.
Part of the secret of Donald Trump's political success is that he managed to present himself as ultra-macho, a real man's man. He can't do the old trick of wearing a military uniform, ideally with lots of medals and BIG epaulets, since he never served, and if he tried it, it would make everyone think "bone spurs." But he most certainly loves to surround himself with flags and gold ornaments and military leaders and other reminders of his wealth and power. Meanwhile, there isn't a huge gap between Kim Jong-Il bragging about all his holes-in-one and Trump bragging about the golf trophy he won at HIS club, or Idi Amin anointing himself the last king of Scotland and Trump anointing himself the next king of Greenland.
There is a pretty big problem with the whole strongman bit, however. Trump isn't a very strong man anymore. He's nearly 80, first of all, and Father Time is undefeated. He's also led an unhealthy lifestyle for more than half a century. His body is showing the signs of physical decay, from swollen ankles to bruised hands to a shuffling gait to hair that's getting even thinner than it was. It's enough to give rise to the conspiracy theory last week that Trump was either dead, or incapacitated. The "remain out of public view, so the people can't see how you have aged" bit worked for the first two dictators of the Kim family, but it doesn't work so well for a president who is out in public nearly every day.
Since Trump will never again be a strong man, and since he's struggling to project the machismo that he was capable of summoning in years past, it's not unexpected that he and his underlings might try to find alternate ways to project strength. For example, most readers will have heard, at this point, about the Trump-ordered strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat.
The details are still sketchy and the White House hasn't settled on a claimed legal justification for the action, but
on Tuesday, the President ordered the military to strike a speedboat off the coast of Venezuela, which was carrying 11
people. The boat was destroyed and all those on board were killed. The boat was headed in the direction of Trinidad.
Secretary of Defense Pete "I swear I'm not drunk" Hegseth said it was carrying drugs and posed a "threat" to the U.S.
Even assuming that's true, there is no domestic or international law that allows a country to use its military to
summarily execute people under those circumstances. Typically the coast guard and the DEA will interdict the vessel and
seize any contraband.
The U.S. is not at war with Venezuela, but Trump's rhetoric, along with moving destroyers and other ships into the
Caribbean sure looks like he would like to change that. And Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said these
executions operations will continue. Hmm, starting a war to distract from political problems—we've seen
this movie
before. The officers carrying out these orders need to be careful. Following illegal orders carries consequences.
That brings us to a second news item, one we think is very much related. Yesterday, the administration announced that it will "rebrand" (could there be a more Trumpy way to describe it?) the Department of Defense, returning the name to "Department of War." Trump had already hinted at this; last month he said "As Department of War, we won everything. We won everything" and "Defense is too defensive." Sometime today, he'll formalize his plans with—naturally—an executive order.
And now, a very brief history lesson. It was the Department of War for 158 years, until 1947. In that year, a number of prominent folks—President Harry S. Truman (a World War I veteran), General of the Armies George Marshall, and General of the Armies Dwight D. Eisenhower most notable among them—concluded that the era of "Big Stick" diplomacy was over, and that the U.S. would need to focus on advancing its goals through diplomacy and alliances, and not muscle-flexing. So, they proposed, and executed, the name change. Actually, it was the National Military Establishment for a couple of years, and then it became the Department of Defense in 1949 (undoubtedly following, in part, the European nations, most of whom have a Ministry/Department of Defence). Anyhow, the men who drove this change were all experienced soldiers and diplomats, and so their judgment in this matter was probably pretty sound.
(Oh, and for the record, it was the Department of War during the War of 1812, and the United States did not win that one, so Trump's claim about the DoW being undefeated is not accurate. It was also the Department of War during the Civil War, and Trump's favored side did not win that one, either.)
As you might guess, Trump can't actually rename the department by fiat; Congress has to approve the change. We do not have any idea what will actually happen, though. Such a bill would be filibusterable, so if the Republicans decided to back Trump's play, they would sneak the change into some other bill, like the budget. Maybe Congressional Republicans will deliver, as they so often do, but some of them are isolationists who recognize that a more warlike posture is more likely to lead to, well, a war. So, maybe not. It's also possible that Trump will just ignore Congress, and start calling it the Department of War, and then will dare anyone and everyone to say otherwise. You know, the Gulf of America all over again.
Maybe Trump really does want a war, or a quasi-war, with some weaker nation. Maybe Trump wants to remind MAGA voters that he is a real man. Maybe it's both of these things. But we think it's gotta be at least one of them, because we struggle to come up with any other explanations for this new, much more aggressive posturing. (Z & L)