I'm not fundamentally arguing against Professor Rangappa's ideas of _why_ the military embraces these values -- I have been a military officer myself -- but it's worth pointing out, if only to understand the breadth of the danger, that those norms aren't _just_ about service but are also self-protective. A very experienced military psychologist pointed out to me, when Gallager and Lorence were pardoned, that every psychopath in the US wants to wear a uniform and the military has put into place a lot of screening and tools to keep them out (they go, as far as I can tell, to CBP instead). So the erosion of those norms is a threat to the Republic, which is Professor Rangappa's topic -- but it's also a threat to the Soldiers themselves.
You come close, but stop short of wondering if Tuberville's continued blocking of top military leadership confirmations is being done in case Trump actually does win re-election and will then be in a position to put his own people in at the head of the various branches of the military. Any thoughts about this?
Wow, great article. Very powerful! You at once made me more hopeful and worried about the state of the military. But I do think that with these institutional safeguards you mentioned in place, it is in good shape right now, and can withstand the current headwinds.
While I think it is largely true "the idea that Trump could have realistically used the military to pull off a coup, or establish martial law, or seize voting machines, is farfetched," if you look at what happened in the Montenegro coup attempt in 2016 (see page 9 at https://www.fpri.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/kraemer-rfp5.pdf), there was an avenue you might not see. A possibility that didn't happen would be Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, etc. dressed in military attire opening fire on civilians, creating chaos and an opening for delaying vote counting and declaring martial law. It is interesting the fact that the much criticized decision to not send in the National Guard early that day prevented such a possible scenario.
Our Generals and top military leaders were caught between loyalty to the president and loyalty to the Constitution.... and wisely chose the latter. Many others on the political side either made the wrong choice or waited too long to make the right choice (Pence). The moral of these occurrences seems to be that selection of the "right" people should always be based on not just experience but also courage to do the right thing no matter the potential impact on their own careers. One of our biggest leadership shortfalls in the USA is many in high places lack courage of conviction.... and make decisions largely on what benefits them. It's the rare few who are willing to put themselves out there and risk their careers. This is true not only in Politics but Corporate America as well. Thx for the effort you put into these articles. Best wishes....
I mean, Trump has repeatedly, explicitly and openly expressed his preference for multiple authoritarian countries to this one, and he replaced the secretary of defense AFTER the election. Anybody who couldn’t see what he was doing was blinded by the assumption that old white guys are inherently patriotic.
“... career military officials, like Milley, who chose the country over politics. When Trump, and his supporters, attack these former officials for their actions, they are basically indicating that these priorities should have been reversed.”
Case in point: Trump isn’t arguing that the priorities should be reversed; he’s saying that prioritizing him IS prioritizing the country. Just like they do in the countries he openly prefers to this one.
The definition of authoritarian! He attempts to be seen as the authority(defined as source of knowledge) on the function of the military. Rightly that is assigned to officers such as Milley and others who, unlike Trump have read, understand and are loyal to the Constitution and rule of law!
January 6 was one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen; it swept a lot of people up.
I was working on a project for someone from one of those three letter agencies when all of that silliness took place. First thing I said to them when I saw’em was ‘that was one hell of an insurrection you assholes pulled off the other day—so we’re all supposed to believe that nearly 20 years after 9/11 you can just walk in to town, place two viable bombs, and walk right on out? ‘
They said, satellites must not’ve been working that day🤷🏻♀️🤷♂️
Thanks - clear description of Trumps attempt to use the Military for his purposes. There are so many serious warning signs yet many voters are not seeing them or, if seeing, not taking them seriously.
Thank you for clarifying things for me. I rely on quite a few Substack contributors to broaden my understanding of current events. Glad to be here and gain perspective before my head explodes.
I would think long and hard before taking anything an FBI agent (current or former) says as truthful information. The FBI was all over Jan 6, but it wasn’t protecting the Capitol
This may be one of the most irrational, mind blowingly contorted load of dog sh** I have ever read.
This is the kind if crap they teach at Yale, eh? It is a hot bed for Marxist Revolutionaries and their job is to insert their ideology and spin their rhetoric into some pro-American stance meanwhile indoctrinating the precious minds of our youth. Oh good Lord! If I had a son or daughter that attended Yale, I would have pulled them out IMMEDIATELY after reading this load of garbage that you spew as "truths". Good Lord you are sick and demented.
As of today who is third in line for the presidency? Is the destruction of a functioning congress another track for subverting the constitution as is a corrupt Supreme Court?
Patrick McHenry is third in line. There is still a Speaker able to succeed if something horrible happens. Speaker McHenry is just very limited as to what he can do in the House until an election for Speaker takes place. He could run for the job himself as far as I understand so that he can be more than just a caretaker.
I heard on the news that McHenry is not in line. In any case the my main point is that government has stopped functioning and this was the goal of Trump and Gaetz.
I can hear it now “only I can get the government working and I’ll do it in five minutes. “. That sounds good until we look at who says it.
Well, if he’s not in line then he’s just skipped. That happens with any cabinet secretaries that are not natural born citizens as well as anybody else that might be ineligible. That would put Patty Murray as President Pro Tempore of the Senate as third in line for the time being.
I appreciate your faith in the military, Asha, though I'm afraid I'm a bit more concerned. We shouldn't forget that in Sept. of 2020, 235 retired military officers, including 8 4-star generals and admirals and 42 3-star generals and admirals released a letter supporting Trump writing among other things, "With the Democratic Party welcoming to socialists and Marxists, our historic way of life is at stake." And let's never forget Mike Flynn. My students used to kid me that I was like the character in Harry Potter who preached, "Constant vigilance". I fear that too many current or former military officers preach this too, but like the Mad Eye Moody in Harry Potter, they may well be villains in disguise. And given that Trump is leading GOP candidate for 2024 and what he'd do to the military in a second term, well, to quote the great Asha Rangappa, "Hoo boy."
Sidebar! Why has everyone stopped talking about the scrubbing clean of cell phone data of the secret service and top DOD officials? Why isn't this headline material every single day until it's understood and the perpetrators brought to Justice?
Insightful analysis. I especially appreciate the point that even next time they mght try this with more sycophants in DOD leadership, it probably still won't work.
Seth's substack gives a horrifying timeline of the DOD events around Jan 6.
I'm not fundamentally arguing against Professor Rangappa's ideas of _why_ the military embraces these values -- I have been a military officer myself -- but it's worth pointing out, if only to understand the breadth of the danger, that those norms aren't _just_ about service but are also self-protective. A very experienced military psychologist pointed out to me, when Gallager and Lorence were pardoned, that every psychopath in the US wants to wear a uniform and the military has put into place a lot of screening and tools to keep them out (they go, as far as I can tell, to CBP instead). So the erosion of those norms is a threat to the Republic, which is Professor Rangappa's topic -- but it's also a threat to the Soldiers themselves.
You come close, but stop short of wondering if Tuberville's continued blocking of top military leadership confirmations is being done in case Trump actually does win re-election and will then be in a position to put his own people in at the head of the various branches of the military. Any thoughts about this?
Wow, great article. Very powerful! You at once made me more hopeful and worried about the state of the military. But I do think that with these institutional safeguards you mentioned in place, it is in good shape right now, and can withstand the current headwinds.
While I think it is largely true "the idea that Trump could have realistically used the military to pull off a coup, or establish martial law, or seize voting machines, is farfetched," if you look at what happened in the Montenegro coup attempt in 2016 (see page 9 at https://www.fpri.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/kraemer-rfp5.pdf), there was an avenue you might not see. A possibility that didn't happen would be Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, etc. dressed in military attire opening fire on civilians, creating chaos and an opening for delaying vote counting and declaring martial law. It is interesting the fact that the much criticized decision to not send in the National Guard early that day prevented such a possible scenario.
Yeah, opening fire with all those guns they didn’t bring...
Our Generals and top military leaders were caught between loyalty to the president and loyalty to the Constitution.... and wisely chose the latter. Many others on the political side either made the wrong choice or waited too long to make the right choice (Pence). The moral of these occurrences seems to be that selection of the "right" people should always be based on not just experience but also courage to do the right thing no matter the potential impact on their own careers. One of our biggest leadership shortfalls in the USA is many in high places lack courage of conviction.... and make decisions largely on what benefits them. It's the rare few who are willing to put themselves out there and risk their careers. This is true not only in Politics but Corporate America as well. Thx for the effort you put into these articles. Best wishes....
I mean, Trump has repeatedly, explicitly and openly expressed his preference for multiple authoritarian countries to this one, and he replaced the secretary of defense AFTER the election. Anybody who couldn’t see what he was doing was blinded by the assumption that old white guys are inherently patriotic.
“... career military officials, like Milley, who chose the country over politics. When Trump, and his supporters, attack these former officials for their actions, they are basically indicating that these priorities should have been reversed.”
Case in point: Trump isn’t arguing that the priorities should be reversed; he’s saying that prioritizing him IS prioritizing the country. Just like they do in the countries he openly prefers to this one.
The definition of authoritarian! He attempts to be seen as the authority(defined as source of knowledge) on the function of the military. Rightly that is assigned to officers such as Milley and others who, unlike Trump have read, understand and are loyal to the Constitution and rule of law!
The Loyalty to the Constitution concept is foreign to Trump and something a malignant narcissist will never understand.
January 6 was one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen; it swept a lot of people up.
I was working on a project for someone from one of those three letter agencies when all of that silliness took place. First thing I said to them when I saw’em was ‘that was one hell of an insurrection you assholes pulled off the other day—so we’re all supposed to believe that nearly 20 years after 9/11 you can just walk in to town, place two viable bombs, and walk right on out? ‘
They said, satellites must not’ve been working that day🤷🏻♀️🤷♂️
And then we laughed about it all for a bit
Exactly. Maybe it was so bad because the FBI was helping with this “coup” - the CIA-backed ones overseas are so much more successful!
Thanks - clear description of Trumps attempt to use the Military for his purposes. There are so many serious warning signs yet many voters are not seeing them or, if seeing, not taking them seriously.
Thank you for clarifying things for me. I rely on quite a few Substack contributors to broaden my understanding of current events. Glad to be here and gain perspective before my head explodes.
I would think long and hard before taking anything an FBI agent (current or former) says as truthful information. The FBI was all over Jan 6, but it wasn’t protecting the Capitol
Small quibble: "crackpot," not "kookpot" (which is a Dutch cooking pot, I believe).
This may be one of the most irrational, mind blowingly contorted load of dog sh** I have ever read.
This is the kind if crap they teach at Yale, eh? It is a hot bed for Marxist Revolutionaries and their job is to insert their ideology and spin their rhetoric into some pro-American stance meanwhile indoctrinating the precious minds of our youth. Oh good Lord! If I had a son or daughter that attended Yale, I would have pulled them out IMMEDIATELY after reading this load of garbage that you spew as "truths". Good Lord you are sick and demented.
She’s FBI remember, what do you expect.
All Americans should carefully study the complete story of Mussolini! Use what they’ve learned to evaluate MAGAs plan!
As of today who is third in line for the presidency? Is the destruction of a functioning congress another track for subverting the constitution as is a corrupt Supreme Court?
Patrick McHenry is third in line. There is still a Speaker able to succeed if something horrible happens. Speaker McHenry is just very limited as to what he can do in the House until an election for Speaker takes place. He could run for the job himself as far as I understand so that he can be more than just a caretaker.
I heard on the news that McHenry is not in line. In any case the my main point is that government has stopped functioning and this was the goal of Trump and Gaetz.
I can hear it now “only I can get the government working and I’ll do it in five minutes. “. That sounds good until we look at who says it.
Well, if he’s not in line then he’s just skipped. That happens with any cabinet secretaries that are not natural born citizens as well as anybody else that might be ineligible. That would put Patty Murray as President Pro Tempore of the Senate as third in line for the time being.
I appreciate your faith in the military, Asha, though I'm afraid I'm a bit more concerned. We shouldn't forget that in Sept. of 2020, 235 retired military officers, including 8 4-star generals and admirals and 42 3-star generals and admirals released a letter supporting Trump writing among other things, "With the Democratic Party welcoming to socialists and Marxists, our historic way of life is at stake." And let's never forget Mike Flynn. My students used to kid me that I was like the character in Harry Potter who preached, "Constant vigilance". I fear that too many current or former military officers preach this too, but like the Mad Eye Moody in Harry Potter, they may well be villains in disguise. And given that Trump is leading GOP candidate for 2024 and what he'd do to the military in a second term, well, to quote the great Asha Rangappa, "Hoo boy."
Sidebar! Why has everyone stopped talking about the scrubbing clean of cell phone data of the secret service and top DOD officials? Why isn't this headline material every single day until it's understood and the perpetrators brought to Justice?
Insightful analysis. I especially appreciate the point that even next time they mght try this with more sycophants in DOD leadership, it probably still won't work.
Seth's substack gives a horrifying timeline of the DOD events around Jan 6.
https://open.substack.com/pub/sethabramson/p/book-release-proof-of-coup