Stunning insights from Amir Oren: When you combine 19th Century Man and 21st-century powers, you get U.S. President Donald Trump. And when you refuse to accept Trump, you get the most amazing phenomenon of the week: the public stand of the Joint Chiefs of Staff against their commander in chief.
This is unprecedented in U.S. history. Never before have the generals and admirals been so united. There was a “revolt of the admirals” against the reduction of naval forces over air force bombers; and the Joint Chiefs of Staff worked together against Chairman Colin Powell and President George H.W. Bush on the issue of tactical nuclear weapons in the ground forces.
But there is no precedent for this united front, a calculated incitement against the president who is capable – legally and temperamentally – of dismissing them all, even if it also means the resignation of Secretary of Defense James Mattis.
Tweets instead of obedience: that’s what Trump received from the chiefs of staff of U.S. Naval Operations, the Marine Corps, the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force, along with the head of the National Guard this week.
It’s all the fault of the Bavarians, of course. They deported Trump’s grandfather, Friedrich, back to the country to which he had immigrated when they discovered he hadn’t done his military service. Had the grandfather not returned to America, the Trumps would have remained in Germany. It’s fascinating to wonder with whom they would have identified during Hitler’s reign.
…The U.S. military would collapse if black soldiers were to leave tomorrow in protest at tacit support for racists by their commander in chief: They comprise one in five in the ground forces; one in six in the Air Force and U.S. Navy; and one in 10 in the Marines. The military command cannot permit such a rift.
