Esper Wakes Up
After apparently sleepwalking through the first part of the week, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper woke up today and realized his responsibilities as the head of the Pentagon. Perhaps he got some pushback from the generals who are aghast at the thought that the vaunted U.S. military could become to be seen as a political force at the beck and call of a partisan president. Esper had apparently forgotten this bedrock tenet of American government earlier, when participating in Donald Trump's now-infamous "brandishing a Bible in front of a church" photo op. Esper not only walked back this participation (by stating he somehow had no idea it was about to happen), but he also openly contradicted the president's call to mobilize the military to crack down on protests in the streets.
From his press conference today:
"The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire situations. We are not in one of those situations right now," [Defense Secretary Mark] Esper said Wednesday in his first public comments since the protests erupted.
"I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act," Esper said, referring to the president's authority to deploy active-duty troops to respond to protests.
. . .
During his remarks, Esper also condemned the death of George Floyd while in police custody, calling it "a horrible crime" and saying the officers on scene must be "held accountable for his murder."
"It is a tragedy that we have seen repeated too many times," he said.
Esper acknowledged telling the armed service chiefs that he wanted to send the department's initial message about the tragedy. But several officials appeared to break with that order: The top uniformed leaders of the Air Force and Space Force have condemned Floyd's death in the past few days. Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Kaleth O. Wright described his own experience as a black man and called for change in a social media post.
Esper was asked why it took him a week to address the events. He said he initially wanted to remain apolitical, but in the past three days as events unfolded "it became very clear that this is becoming a very combustible national issue."
"We've been consumed with a lot of things between now and then, but I do think it's important to speak up," Esper said. "My hope is that instead of the violence in the streets we will see peaceful demonstrations that honor George Floyd, that press for accountability for his murder, that move us to reflect about racism in America and that serve as a call for action for us to come together and to address this problem once and for all."
Esper also semi-apologized both for appearing at the Trump photo op and for using the phrase "dominate the battlespace" in a phone call with the nation's governors:
Esper also addressed his controversial comments to governors over the weekend that states "dominate" the "battle space" so that civil unrest "dissipates and we can get back to the right normal." He said the wording is "part of our military lexicon that I grew up with," and that the "battle space" in this context referred to the operation, not to the American people.
However, he acknowledged that in retrospect he would use different language "so as not to distract from the more important matters at hand or allow some to suggest that we are militarizing the issue."
This is an important development, because the Pentagon, from the top brass on down to the lowliest private, has to be seen as completely and utterly apolitical in the American system. It is one of the things we pride ourselves on, in fact, because it is so fundamental in nature. We are not like the banana republics and dictatorships with their "palace guards."
This is why President Donald Trump's flailing around and lashing out this week has been so worrisome to so many. The president is just not supposed to be able to order the military to fight his political enemies, real or perceived. Which is dangerously close to what Trump seems to want to see happen.
Professional soldiers know the apolitical nature of the military is one of their strongest bedrock values. Not too many Pentagon generals want to see the Marines fighting in the streets of America, in other words, because they know full well how destructive to their brand it would be.
Esper has started pushing back, but there's only so much he can do:
Esper initially ordered 200 active-duty soldiers from the 82nd Airborne's immediate respond force -- brought to the national capital region to respond to unrest if needed -- to return to their home base after two days of more peaceful demonstrations in D.C. But Esper abruptly overturned the decision just hours later, after a meeting at the White House and other internal Pentagon discussions, according to The Associated Press.
The White House meeting and the abrupt reversal suggests the president or his aides pressured Esper to keep troops in the region.
Trump has convinced himself that there's only one goal to achieve in all of this mess, and that is to "look tough." The problem with that, as many have pointed out, is that all Trump knows is a weak man's image of what a tough guy is supposed to be. Trump has gone all in on shifting his re-election campaign to presenting himself as "the law-and-order president," apparently thinking he can replicate Richard Nixon's successful 1968 campaign. But it's not 1968 anymore, and the suburbs look a lot different than they did then. And the suburbs are where this election will likely be won.
Sending in federal forces to violently remove peaceful protesters from the streets (as Trump did Monday to clear Lafayette Square for his photo op) is not the same thing as "law and order," and suburban moms can tell the difference. So far, Trump's only used the National Guard, though.
At least Esper has finally woken up and realized the damage to military ideals Trump is doing. But what Mark Esper has to ask himself is what he's going to do if Trump does give the order to deploy the 82nd Airborne to the streets of the nation's capital. He's got three basic choices if this comes to pass: obey the order and deploy, refuse to obey the order because he determines it is illegal, or refuse to obey the order and hand in his resignation.
He may not even get the chance, however. After Esper's extraordinary press conference, there are already rumors that Trump is not happy with him. Esper just essentially contradicted Trump's entire viewpoint of the situation on national television, so it's not surprising that Trump would fly into a rage as a result. Will Mark Esper soon be fired, to be replaced by someone more loyal to Trump than to the military code of honor? At this point, it certainly wouldn't surprise me.
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
What weasely method will the tough guy use to fire Esper? Domination? I don't think so. He'll probably call him names and tell Javanka to do it.
Since you wrote, the situation seems to have gotten murkier: according to reporting at Daily Kos, SOME kind of paramilitary presence is all over Washington, with no clear answer as to who they are or who's in charge of them:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/6/3/1950181/-Unmarked-unidentified-armed-militia-now-patrolling-Washington-D-C
Isn't this one of those situations where --
WE DON'T KNOW ANYTHING?
We don't know what Esper thinks, or is going to do or not do.
We don't know what the Joint Chiefs are thinking about if they are ordered to deploy combat troops to cities with continuing violence.
We don't know what the president thinks about Esper, or not, or if the president is even thinking at all, about anything.
We don't know what the protesters, or the rioters, or the police forces, or the federal forces, are going to do tomorrow.
We don't know whether, or when, cases of COVID-19 are going to increase or decrease in any given region of the nation.
We don't know how the coronavirus plague is going to affect the willingness of protesters to continue protesting en masse.
We don't know whether allegations that the rioters, looters, and vandals are part of organized anarchist, leftist, or rightist groups are true or not.
As much as I love reading punditry, isn't this situation so fluid and unpredictable as to render punditry useless?
CW: Esper had apparently forgotten this bedrock tenet of American government earlier, when participating in Donald Trump's now-infamous "brandishing a Bible in front of a church" photo op.
Brandishing!
*ROTFLMAO*
...And Mattis had this to say,
"Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children."
I'll wager Trump ate the rug when reading the whole thing, Mattis roasted him like a sweet potato.
Behold.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/james-mattis-denounces-trump-protests-militarization/612640/
LL&P
JTC
5
I'll wager Trump ate the rug when reading the whole thing, Mattis roasted him like a sweet potato.
A sweet tater!? *laughs*
Mattis roasted Trump like a Dick Tater. ;)
Kick
[6] 'Mattis roasted Trump like a Dick Tater. ;)'
Guffaw. I thought about using that one, but I fear the full weight of the in-house censor crashing down upon me. I live in the shadow of righteous congeniality.
I wasn't aware that Michale is considered a founding father in this comments section, that he may indeed predate the blog itself, and CW's role is purely ceremonial. How deliciously tedious and self-absorbing it must be to hold sway over the utterances of others. To carry the yardstick of propriety and to wield it without mercy or regret. Censorship, thou art a cruel mistress.
But I digress.
LL& P
Kick
[6] 'Mattis roasted Trump like a Dick Tater. ;)'
Guffaw. I thought about using that one, but I fear the full weight of the in-house censor crashing down upon me. I live in the shadow of righteous congeniality.
I wasn't aware that Michale is considered a founding father in this comments section, that he may indeed predate the blog itself, and CW's role is purely ceremonial. How deliciously tedious and self-absorbing it must be to hold sway over the utterances of others. To carry the yardstick of propriety and to wield it without mercy or regret. Censorship, thou art a cruel mistress.
But I digress.
LL& P
I wasn't aware that Michale is considered a founding father in this comments section, that he may indeed predate the blog itself, and CW's role is purely ceremonial.
CW is as active in the comments section of his blog as any of his peers in the legitimate political pundit community, and significantly more than most. as to how much respect michale (or liz, or myself) is owed as a founding member here, it's up to the individual commenter to determine how heavily that weighs in your interactions. we all have our biases.
JL
JTC [8],
I started comenting on CW's articles back in the early days of Huffington Post before moving over here when HP merged with AOL & FaceBook. He's a good guy and very reasonable. Read his comment rules and you'll realize that he's very lenient with rule-breakers. Don't worry too much about the hall monitors. Just don't be a troll. In addition, you too can donate. CW allows a certain Russian chatbot to pay to play. I don't really get why, but that's his business.
andygaus,
Those unmarked, unidentified units patrolling all over DC appear to be from various federal agencies that have no policing powers outside of their specific agencies. ICE and Bureau of Prisons agents have been called out to help patrol federal buildings. The most obvious reason for them not wearing their official uniforms identifying their agencies is because they have no real authority and are praying that people will just assume they are law enforcement and obey them.
Kick,
From previous
RE: You didn’t think ChristianityToday’s site was something Trump would visit...
I thought that too until I remembered that ChristianityToday published an article that called out Christians who have blindly supported Trump when he constantly demonstrates that he is the least “Christ-like” President this country has ever elected.
They made Trump’s enemies list that day....and it’s well documented that Trump constantly keeps tabs on any publication that hurts his feelings to see if they are still talking bad about him so that he can return the favor! Had they not called out Evangelicals for supporting Trump, he would not have a clue who they are...but his ultra-thin skin requires that he knows everyone who is mean to him.
How pathetic is that: Trump only pays attention to those that criticize him; those that praise him are easily forgotten. Trump’s ego is that fragile!
JTC
7
Guffaw. I thought about using that one, but I fear the full weight of the in-house censor crashing down upon me. I live in the shadow of righteous congeniality.
Heh... and I've literally been posting the word "Dick" since the very first day I commented here:
I simply call them the way I see them, JFC, and I have to tell you, I took a whole lot of good-natured ridicule by my crew for my measured assessment of Donald Trump... but they ain't razzing me these days... leastwise not about that.
But I digress.
Did you, though? The topic was actually "Dick," was it not? :)
Russ
11
Yep!
Russ
12
RE: You didn’t think ChristianityToday’s site was something Trump would visit...
I thought that too until I remembered that ChristianityToday published an article that called out Christians who have blindly supported Trump when he constantly demonstrates that he is the least “Christ-like” President this country has ever elected.
Oh, did they? Well Trump's favorite pastimes are "Trump" and "revenge" for any slight he perceives... no matter how small.
They made Trump’s enemies list that day....and it’s well documented that Trump constantly keeps tabs on any publication that hurts his feelings to see if they are still talking bad about him so that he can return the favor!
Yep!
How pathetic is that: Trump only pays attention to those that criticize him; those that praise him are easily forgotten. Trump’s ego is that fragile!
He's definitely "Been a Dick" and so shall remain ever thus. He cares about no one but himself, and thousands of our fellow Americans have died as a direct result of his apathy and incompetence. Trump doesn't give two shits about the welfare of Americans... with the possible exception of his criminal pals who've now conveniently been released from prison.