As Trump joked they could laugh and applaud before he launched into his childish grievance spiel to the generals and admirals who flew in for no discernible purpose, they sat silently. Stoically. What they were thinking remains a mystery, but what they were not doing was clear. They were not laughing. They were not applauding. They gave no indication they were ready to forsake their oaths by serving one man rather than one nation and its Constitution.
Then came the 250th Anniversary of the Navy, which did not fall on his birthday and thus didn’t get a very expensive military parade that turned out to be a massive bore. But the Commander-in-Chief took to a pier to speak to his sailors.
The commander in chief could not contain himself. He did not even try.
He stood on a stage at the end of a long pier and looked out upon a sea of starchy white polyester, neckerchiefs and aviator sunglasses.
“Let’s face it,” President Trump told thousands of U.S. Navy sailors Sunday afternoon, “this is a rally.”
Actually, it was meant to be a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Navy, but the president treated the occasion as though it were just another Trump rally, but with better toys (there were aircraft carriers and fighter jets).
These were not generals and admirals, but young men and women who chose to join the Navy, maybe to serve their nation or maybe because they had no better opportunities. Nonetheless, they were told, in advance, that the Navy was not the president’s plaything.
Most of the sailors hearing this were quite young. They had come from all over the country to do all sorts of jobs for the Navy on this base in Norfolk. Some of them were fans of this president. Others were not.
In the days leading up to Mr. Trump’s arrival address, one Navy official explained, at least some of these sailors had been spoken to by their superiors, who reminded them that when they joined the Navy, they swore an oath to the Constitution. The military is meant to be nonpartisan. It is not meant to serve one party or political leader or any ideology. It is meant to serve the nation.
This is one of America’s oldest and most sacred democratic traditions, devised by the founding fathers, but it is not one for which Mr. Trump has historically had much time or respect.
Speaking to these young sailors, Trump again demonstrated no respect for the military.
He kept veering off script to rail about a “rigged” election and “woke” stuff. There was a group of MAGA true believers who follow him around the country seated by the stage. He called out to them. And he slammed the news media and his Democratic predecessors and inveighed against “transgender for everybody,” which has become his latest over-the-top maxim meant to invoke liberal lunacy.
Some sailors cheered. A few walked away. But it’s unclear whether these young men and women would follow orders from their Commander-in-Chief, or counter-orders from their generals and admirals, to fire upon their fellow Americans.
With Texas National Guardsmen being shipped to Chicago despite the governor and mayor asserting that they are neither needed nor wanted, a wall has already been breached. We’re past Posse Comitatus, and even skirting the fringes of judicial orders, as state sovereignty is violated by a foreign invasion. And if the courts don’t give Trump his way, invoking the Insurrection Act is on the table, enabling Trump to declare yet another emergency to ride roughshod over the law.
While Secretary of “War” Hegseth only called in the Marines for California, he’s got the 82nd Airborne on his mind for Portland. If he calls them, will they come?
As argued before, there are ultimately three bulwarks in our constitutional system to protect against presidential overreach, Congress, courts and military (the voters have already spoken, which is how we got into this mess in the first place). Congress has folded. The courts have no guns to make anybody do anything. Will the military stand for the Constitution or has Trump politicized it such that it will obey him no matter what his orders? Even if the general and admirals refuse Trump’s demands, will the troops follow their staff officers or their Commander-in-Chief?
*Tuesday Talk rules apply.
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Our military will stand for the Constitution. Period. Will the rest of us do the same?
No. General officers are a weird bunch of ambitious, proud, and intelligent men and women who wield considerable power and authority. I’d more expect a coup, as ridiculous as that sounds, than the trashing of 250 years of tradition in exchange for short-term, unlawful subservience to a 79 year-old would-be strongman but for the bone spurs. Admittedly, I was raised to believe firmly in the staunch nonpartisanship of our armed forces, yet nothing I’ve seen since has shaken that belief.
But have no fear, Trump is investing heavily in ICE to be his personal army. No pesky officers or long history of nonpartisanship to be found there.
I have no idea what the military will do, but if they do become Trump’s weapon for control, I suspect that it will come in baby steps, with regular military first defending a courthouse. Then clearing protesters from the street. And bit by bit, taking control of the streets as things get increasingly hostile because the military is there and becoming embroiled in domestic law enforcement.
And then, one day, the military finds itself trying to control the citizenry as ordered by the president, and the generals will wonder how they ended up there.
While I certainly see the sense in what you’re saying, I’m skeptical as to the likelihood of things playing out as you’ve described. We’re seeing an incremental erosion of our rights, but while it’s accelerating I doubt that Trump (and those who follow him so blindly), will be able to achieve the transition to martial law by 2028. I could be wrong, but I don’t think Trump will be able to run again. IMO, it’s simply “a bridge too far”.
I’ve feared for some time we’d see our nation descend into some sort of civil war/ widespread civil unrest. The scenario I thought most likely was that under a Democratic administration we’d see another “assault weapon” ban and “red flag” laws lead to some people’s firearms being confiscated. I imagined there’d be cases where gun owners resisted, then they and/ or the police seizing their firearms would be killed. This, I feared, would lead to extremists reacting by assassinating politicians and ambushing police officers.
That we’d see violence from left leaning elements engaging in assassination under a repressive Republican gov’t had never occurred to me. Not because Black Bloc/ Antifa/ others wouldn’t engage in violence, but I thought they’d engage in mass protests and target property, as has been the case going back at least as far as the 60’s. As destructive as this is, it’s not led to civil war (even when bombings were widespread, as in the early 70’s).
I hope, and would very much like to believe, that our military will honor their oaths to defend the Constitution. It’s clear to me that some officers will try to do so. It’s seems as clear that there are some who either lust for power or believe the danger posed by progressive/ woke ideology is so grave that their actions, as tyrannical as most people would consider them to be, are not only justified, but actually necessary, to preserve the Republic. I’ve no sympathy for this thinking, but can’t dismiss it/ deny it exists.
The Republic has survived a great many threats and our Constitution has proven an extraordinarily resilient document. I’m concerned/ alarmed, but clinging to hope that we’ll get through this. Much depends on the elections next year, how much/ how effectively Russia/ China/ Iran/ NORK, etc., are able to interfere/ undermine confidence in the results. If the Democrats don’t win at least one house of Congress, or if the administration refuses to accept that they’ve done so… all bets are off.
At that point, some sort of coup or civil war seems inevitable/ inescapable.
I lived under martial law in 1970 in Santa Barbara (Goleta). I had to consider that if it came to civil war, would I be on the side of the my fellow students or my family? I decided that I would stand with my family.
Nothing like that feeling ever came close again until the murder of Charlie Kirk. Trump seems to have come unhinged since that event.
I voted for Trump one time out of the four times he was on the ballot in California — 2024 general election. My motivation was that if he won the Electoral College from the other states, he should also win the popular vote He received the largest number of popular votes (although not an absolute majority) of any individual candidate. I thought this result would bring stability.
I missed two key elements. 1. The Left’s continued refusal to accept a legitimate election victory by Trump and 2. Trump’s decline into personal vendetta. Nobody but Trump cares about Rosie.
Any attempt at a 3rd term by Trump is an absolute line in the sand for me. The is absolutely no Constitutional wiggle room on this.
On the other hand, the offical discrimination of DEI and the collapse of our border security are two key issues for many of us. I have no faith that the national Democrat party will defend our border or cease offical employment discrimination against many of us.
It feels like the Spring of 1970 again.
Will the United States survive until 2030?