The military officers aiding Trump’s stunt have been promoted to the level of their incompetence
A small fraction of a large number can be a significant number. So, although the fact that there are a significant number of ninnies among the 329 million people in this country is embarrassing, it is not surprising. What is puzzling is that specimens such as Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have reached positions of considerable responsibility in today’s government.
It might be a fact of today’s political physics that these two have floated upward because they are lighter than air. That, however, is an insufficient explanation of their eminence. Neither is it satisfactory to merely note that such people can be expected to be found in high offices when the dispenser of offices, civilian and military, probably would explicitly reject basic civic norms if he knew they existed.
They will not exist for long if the nation does not recoil against an administration that includes a defense secretary who refers to this Republic as a “battlespace.” And also includes a four-star Army general who reports to the Oval Office in combat fatigues, dressed appropriately for an evening of police and military engagements that involved clearing a public park of peaceful demonstrators, and intimidating protesters elsewhere. ... Unfurl the “Mission Accomplished” banner.
... ... ...
The cavalry came down Pennsylvania Avenue with drawn sabers, the infantry threw tear-gas grenades, D.C. police pitched in, and the mission was accomplished. Sometimes it does seem that history is not one damn thing after another, it is the same damn thing over and over.
Monday’s military and police engagements in downtown Washington were in the service of the president’s promise to “dominate” protesters. It is perhaps a mistake to be angry at Esper or Milley, ... to intimidate protesters exercising a First Amendment right in proximity to monuments commemorating those who founded and preserved this Republic. The military officers involved, like their civilian leaders, have all been promoted to the level of their incompetence.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-military-officers-aiding-trumps-stunt-have-been-promoted-to-the-level-of-their-incompetence/2020/06/03/e73330ce-a5d6-11ea-b473-04905b1af82b_story.html
I'd say proven shockingly past it for the military and that Trump and those he gathers around him have no competence level to exceed. But very good read. That second paragraph!
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