Trump comes up against the opposition of military circles. His threats of resorting to the”Insurrection Act” and call on the army active to “promptly address the problem” of events if the governors do not, have placed the american president in door-to-fake with a new institution, usually much more silent.
read also : United States: the Defense minister opposed the deployment of the army
This time, it is not the media to “false news”, or “democrats of the far left”, nor the”deep State,” that through the will of the president, but the american army.
very unusual, the military has indicated its unwillingness to see the regular troops engaged in operations for the maintenance of order in american cities in front of crowds again, was generally peaceful, and mostly the army used for political purposes.
The most special sign of disagreement came to the man of confidence that Trump himself had placed at the head of the Pentagon, Mark Esper. “As secretary of Defense, but also as a former soldier and a former member of the national Guard, I thought that the option of resorting to the army active in the role of maintaining the order should not be used as a last resort and only in the most urgent situations and serious, he said during a press conference Wednesday morning. We are not in one of these situations for the moment. I am not favorable to resort to the Insurrection Act”.
Esper, a former student of West Point, an officer paratrooper, had fought in the first Gulf war before a career in public relations for the defense industry. Considered as one of the faithful of the Trump, it was at the side of the president on Monday when he was briefly out of the White House to be photographed in front of the church of St. John. Esper himself had recommended to “dominate the battle space” to deal with the demonstrators, expression he said since regret. The secretary of State has simultaneously announced their return to their quarters for some 200 paratroopers of the 82nd airborne division, on alert near Washington and ready to intervene in case of need. Sign of muted tensions between the Pentagon and the White House, this order was cancelled a few hours later.
Mattis and Mullen take the word
The same day, the predecessor of Esper at the Pentagon, general James Mattis, delivered in a column published by The Atlantic magazine, one of the most critical scathing of the president by a former important member of his administration. “Donald Trump is the first president of my existence that does not try to unite the american people ; it does not even try. Instead, he tries to divide us,” wrote Mattis. “We are witnessing the consequences of three years of these deliberate efforts. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without a responsible government”, he continued. When I joined the army, there is a fifty years, I have made an oath to defend the Constitution. I never would have imagined that the soldiers who swore the same oath to have a day to receive the order to violate the constitutional rights of their fellow citizens – and even less to allow for a weird photo shoot at the commander-in-chief with a responsible military to his side”.
Former commander of the Marine corps, one of the officers of the most highly decorated of his generation, James Mattis had been considered during the first two years of the mandate of Trump as one of the few members of the administration not to behave in sycophante while serving faithfully the president. This is the name of this same loyalty that Mattis had finished by handing his resignation in December 2018, citing its strong disagreement with the decision to Trump to remove the american forces from Rojava, the kurdish autonomous region in the north-east of Syria, and to abandon the allies of the YPG. Trump had advanced the date of departure of Mattis, claironnant since he was “fired.” Mattis had remained since silent. His memoirs, Callsign Chaos, have carefully avoided any reference to the chairman, and Mattis, talked of his “duty of silence”. It is only if the general had publicly responded to the insults of Trump, recalling that while he had “earned his spurs on the field of battle”, the president had “earned his with a certificate of the reform of the doctor”.
“We should not use our armed forces on our territory only on very rare occasions, and at the request of the governors, has also said Mattis. The militarization of our reaction, as we have seen in Washington, D. C., leads to a conflict, a false conflict – between the civil society and the military. It erodes the moral bond that guarantees the trust among the men and women who serve in uniform and the civil society that they have sworn to protect and whose they are themselves part. The maintenance of public order is the responsibility of the civil authorities, governors and local elected officials who best understand their communities and make their accounts”.
Third military figure of the top rank to get out of its reserve, admiral Mike Mullen, former chief of staff, has also published an op-ed in which he warned against the use of military active for the missions of maintaining law and order. “I can’t stay silent,” writes the former admiral, who is said to have confidence in the armed forces. “But I am less confident in the legality of the orders that the commander-in-chief will give them, and I am not convinced that the conditions in our streets, and as bad as they are, have reached a level which justifies the use of military troops… In addition, I am deeply concerned by the fact that, when they run his orders, the military will be used for political purposes”.
Trump has not commented on the statement of Esper, but has posted a couple of messages avengers on Twitter, compared with Mattis, the “general the more oversold”.
Even if it is expressed through the general retired, the revolt of the army is a development unforeseen for Donald Trump. The Esper indithat that even the most loyal members of his government are not ready to follow him blindly.
The editorial team conseilleViolences: France is not the United States, refuse to recognise a mimicry absurd!Donald Trump in the front line of the colère58 commentairesmannix39le 04/06/2020 10:16
During the crisis of the GJ, it seems to me that Macron was at 2 fingers to mobilize the power sentinel ??
The tooth blanchele 04/06/2020 at 10:14 am
“Of the military of high rank” it wants to be convincing without a doubt. But we could also add: “close to the democratic party”.
Jean Placéle 04/06/2020 10:11
Trump the wimp who asked a doctor to be reformed to avoid doing his military service ! Trump the father’s sons who has experienced more bankruptcies than successes !
Read the 58 comments
