The draft executive order, which was first reported on by The Wall Street Journal, makes it easy to quickly remove military officials “lacking in requisite leadership qualities” but leaves open the question of what those requisite qualities are. The executive order draws on General George C. Marshall’s 1940 creation of a “plucking board” led by retired general officers to “remove from line promotion any officer for reasons deemed good and sufficient.” But that plucking board was to uplift young officers with high potential, not to cull anyone not perfectly aligned with MAGA.
It’s not yet clear if Trump will sign the executive order, but Trump has held vitriol toward certain military leaders for some time now. He has vowed to weaponize them against the “enemy within,” to fire anyone involved in the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and to create a task force to weed out “woke generals.”
“This looks like an administration getting ready to purge anyone who will not be a yes man,” former Army lawyer Eric Carpenter told The Wall Street Journal. “If you are looking to fire officers who might say no because of the law or their ethics, you set up a system with completely arbitrary standards, so you can fire anyone you want.”
morningreis on November 13rd, 2024 at 03:27 UTC »
Replacing Generals with yes men is how you end up with a useless, ineffective military like Russia's.
StoppableHulk on November 13rd, 2024 at 02:12 UTC »
Imagine being Russia or China or any of America's enemies and watching America itself vote for this fat fucking dipshit who will remove any competency or intelligence in the government at literally any and every level, crippling our readiness, defense and security.
I would probably never stop laughing if I were them. This is the most shameful fucking thing to ever happen to this country in the modern era.
Infidel8 on November 13rd, 2024 at 02:03 UTC »
Filling the military with loyalists.
Center square on the fascist bingo card.