Is Trump “politicizing” the military?
Trump has replaced the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr., who is black and highly devoted to DEI in the military. Naturally, this change is one of the many many things that the left is angry about.
The Obama Machine is very unhappy about Trump’s new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs —
— Susan Rice laments Trump “politicizing” a formerly “apolitical” military:
“We have always had an extraordinarily apolitical professional military. It's one of our greatest strengths as a… pic.twitter.com/2xfQIpzLRF
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) February 22, 2025
When I listen to Rice, I find it amazing that anyone buys what she’s saying. So much of what Trump has done so far, which the left calls politicization, is an undoing of what was done by his leftist predecessors. For example, see this article from 2013:
What the president calls “my military” is being cleansed of any officer suspected of disloyalty to or disagreement with the administration on matters of policy or force structure, leaving the compliant and fearful.
We recognize President Obama is the commander-in-chief and that throughout history presidents from Lincoln to Truman have seen fit to remove military commanders they view as inadequate or insubordinate. Turnover in the military ranks is normal, and in these times of sequestration and budget cuts the numbers are expected to tick up as force levels shrink and missions change.
Yet what has happened to our officer corps since President Obama took office is viewed in many quarters as unprecedented, baffling and even harmful to our national security posture. We have commented on some of the higher profile cases, such as Gen. Carter Ham. He was relieved as head of U.S. Africa Command after only a year and a half because he disagreed with orders not to mount a rescue mission in response to the Sept. 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi. …
From Breitbart.com’s Facebook page comes a list of at least 197 officers that have been relieved of duty by President Obama for a laundry list of reasons and sometimes with no reason given. Stated grounds range from “leaving blast doors on nukes open” to “loss of confidence in command ability” to “mishandling of funds” to “inappropriate relationships” to “gambling with counterfeit chips” to “inappropriate behavior” to “low morale in troops commanded.”
Nine senior commanding generals have been fired by the Obama administration this year, leading to speculation by active and retired members of the military that a purge of its commanders is under way.
Much more at the link.
It also strikes me that 2013 may feel like ancient history to a lot of people, if they even were aware of what was happening back then in the first place.
If President Trump managed to get Susan Rice outta her coffin then he did a magnificent job with such a move…heck, sounds like he got the entire “Obama Machine” outta their coffins!? What’s a fancy word that is two or three tiers higher than magnificent?
My impression, based on reading some conservative ex-military commentators online, is that in the Obama years the military became heavily politicized. This continued in the Biden years. To be promoted, officers had to demonstrate allegiance to DEI principles. This lead to recruiting problems and performance problems.
Rice’s claim that it’s being politicized NOW is nonsense.
The job of the military is not to carry out social justice programs or to have a military that is politically aligned with any political party.
Those two issues were what the Obama admin was carrying out in the military. And the reasons are obvious. To create a military that will fight for the Democrats and their causes.
The military that’s devoted to destroying a national enemy on the battlefield is what we’ve always wanted and needed. And have mostly had. However, the military is made up of a cross section of Americans. Back in my days of service (1954-1975) there were some of what I would call politicians, self-serving “operators,” and people who weren’t necessarily warriors. Those sorts of individuals are what Obama was looking for if they agreed with Obama’s views. They want the military on their side if they need them to defend their political institutions. (Use them against civilians.)
Unfortunately, our military academies and ROTC units have been infiltrated by the left and those institutions are turning out more of the politicians, self-serving operators, and non-warriors than before.
I wish Pete Hegseth well in his plan to change that. It will take several years, and certainly a culling of the profs at the academies and ROTC units.
My experience in the military convinced me that we could operate more cost effectively and efficiently by being more hard-nosed in dealing with contractors and arms manufacturers. Also, more specialization and longer tours in those specialties would reduce training costs and raise the level of competency and/or experience in the ranks.
Just a few observations from a toothless old lion roaring at the wind.
WOW! Great counter-examples and LINKS.
Consider: https://tomklingenstein.com/how-pete-hegseth-can-purge-wokeness-from-the-military/
How Pete Hegseth Can Purge Wokeness From the Military
By Will Thibeau February 19, 2025
In addition to the top levels, Thibeau cautions about fixing the pipeline of indoctrinated officers coming out of the miltary academies and some ROTC programs.