Trump's generals are speaking up
Story highlights
- There's a difference in how some military commanders and the President are approaching leadership
- It looks like some generals plan to keep saying exactly what they think even if that means contradicting Trump
(CNN)It's
not organized military opposition to President Donald Trump. But day by
day, generals and admirals are publicly stepping up and directly giving
the American public their views in ways that don't always match the
Twitter rhetoric of their commander in chief.
Nowhere was that made clearer than in the recent video of Air Force Academy superintendent Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria speaking to cadets
after racist slurs were posted on message boards of five black cadet
candidates at the Air Force Academy Preparatory School: "If you can't
treat someone with dignity and respect, then you need to get out. If you
can't treat someone from another gender, whether that's a man or a
woman, with dignity and respect, then you need to get out. If you demean
someone in any way, then you need to get out. And if you can't treat
someone from another race or a different color skin with dignity and
respect, then you need to get out," the visibly furious general told his
troops.
It's what
happened next that gives pause. The video went viral. Social media
filled up with messages from currently serving and retired officers
applauding Silveria for showing unambiguous leadership especially in the
wake of the racial violence in the Charlottesville.
One
senior officer, who asked not to be identified posted on social media,
"Leaders own problems. I'd follow this leader anywhere, anytime."
In
Puerto Rico it's much the same, while Trump calls for local Puerto
Ricans to do more, the three-star Army general in charge of military
relief operations has another view.
Lt.
Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, within hours of arriving, said more help and
more troops were needed: "It's not enough and we're bringing more in,"
he said. More helicopters are now there to ferry aid to remote areas --
something local truckers cannot yet do. A three-star commander is on the
front line of one of the worst natural disasters to hit millions of
Americans, speaking bluntly off-the-cuff, without White House
spin-meisters in control of his answers.
There
were two more significant comments that underscore the difference in
how some military commanders and the President are approaching the
fundamental issue of leadership. In the wake of Charlottesville, the
four-star heads of each military branch -- Navy, Army, Air Force and
Marine Corps -- tweeted about their own zero tolerance for racism in the
ranks. Privately they all indicated it had nothing to do with Trump's
post-Charlottesville comments, but as members of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, each of them knows the precise political environment in which
they operate.
But
then there was a very different tweet about Puerto Rico from Trump
several days into the relief efforts. He tweeted: "The Fake News
Networks are working overtime in Puerto Rico doing their best to take
the spirit away from our soldiers and first R's. Shame!"
Look
past the slap at the media. This is the President of the United States
openly suggesting the spirit of the American soldier, sailor, airman or
Marine could be broken. No military officials I have spoken to in recent
days can readily recall an instance of another president saying
anything like this.
Even Gen.
Joseph Dunford, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who has been reticent
to speak publicly, acknowledged to Congress he differed with the
President on the proposed total ban on transgender persons serving in
the military: "I would just probably say that I believe any individual
who meets the physical and mental standards and is worldwide deployable
and is currently serving should be afforded the opportunity to continue
to serve."
Why
is all this so important? This is no open revolt of the generals. In
fact, many in the military support Trump because he gives top commanders
more leeway to conduct operations.
And
is this not exactly what we expect our senior military officials to do?
Speak truth to power, which is not just the President but actually the
American people? Until recent weeks, you haven't heard much publicly
from military leaders. But that may be changing if these generals are a
barometer.
Retired Col. Steve
Warren, who served as a spokesman for Defense Secretary James Mattis,
finally publicly decoded what has been happening in an interview on
CNN's "Reliable Sources." It's much more than reporters saying they
don't have access to information: "The secretary of defense is in a very
tight spot," Warren said. "The President has declared that the press is
the enemy of the people, but on the other hand I think Secretary Mattis
understands the Pentagon is responsible for more than half a trillion
dollars every year. There's a million American sons and daughters in
harm's way."
All
of this boils down to one point: Mattis and his generals don't want to
upset Trump. But reality is setting in and that environment might not
last much longer.
Even Republican
Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Sen. John McCain, who is
close to Mattis and Dunford, criticized the Pentagon's failure to
inform Congress especially about the war in Afghanistan.
"We expect -- indeed, we require -- a regular flow of detailed information about this war," he said.
Nowhere
is the potential harm of not speaking truth to power more dire than
North Korea. The President recently tweeted he told Secretary of State
Rex Tillerson "that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with
Little Rocket Man... Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be
done!"
The Pentagon has also
strongly supported diplomatic action even as it plans for military
action if needed. Top generals have consistently supported diplomatic
efforts leading the way.
Mattis
has insisted for months he has no differences with Trump: "If I say six
and the President says half a dozen, they're going to say I disagreed
with him," he recently told reporters.
But
even for Mattis, that may be a message point that is hard to stick to.
He told Congress Tuesday he believes it's in the US national security
interest to remain in the nuclear agreement with Iran. He also strongly endorsed Tillerson's efforts to keep working on diplomatic solutions to the North Korea crisis.
There's
no indication Mattis is on the outs with the President. And Congress
understands, even if some don't agree, his political sensitivities when
dealing with the Trump White House. But there is one problem: It is
beginning to look like some generals plan to keep saying exactly what
they think as they exercise the military leadership they believe is
fundamental, and if that means contradicting the commander in chief,
then so be it.
Lt. Gen.
Vincent Stewart, one of the nation's most senior intelligence officers,
made this sentiment clear in a speech Tuesday: "Never forget who we
serve. The Citizens of the United States."
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