'Ok, Ok, let me get it 'clear' here, just so I don't get behind the Eight-Ball again. So, I'm running, and I use that term loosely, I can't even Walk fast, for President of the United States..., and it 'looks like' I've got it in the bag, so to speak. No problem! Got it! Now of course I wanna be the Commander-In-Chief as well. Hey, who wouldn't! Gotta be! That's just Me! I get what I want! So....to be Commander-In-Chief, do I have to 'Run' all over again to get That position? I mean, look, I wanna 'command' people, you Know, just like I do in all my Other businesses. My BFF Vlad gets to command all sorts of stuff. That's what I wanna do! Hey You! Do This, do That, get over here, gimmie two push-ups, brush my Hair! The first, or second, well...maybe the third or fourth thing I'm gonna do is fire a bunch of 'rubblized' top brass at the Hexagon, or Pentagram...er...ahhh..Penta...Something or other. You Know, that big building where the army people hang out wasting taxpayer money..That place. My Other BFF that runs Turkey did it recently and boy did he ever do a great job. My BFF Vlad does it All the time! He Really knows how to 'govern' a country! When He talks, they listen or they cease to exist! Disappear! He's a much better ruler than Obama could ever Hope to be. Nobody pays attention to Obama! Who's afraid of Him?? Vlad's gonna teach me how to be a proper dictator, I mean a leader of Men, and belittler of women. You see, even though I've never, ever, been in the military, I've always wanted to get a 'Purple Heart', well...you know, without actually having to get wounded of course. I know more about the military than lying Hillary will Ever know! I have so many more ex-military brass on my side I could almost call'em an 'Army'! Lots of'em! They love me! I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me. I say stuff they Love to hear, you know, words like airplane, boats, tanks, guns, pay raises, stuff like that. And you know What? They just shiver in their skivies at the thought of me being their boss. A lot of'em will join back up! And there'll be room for them because like I 'said', I'm gonna fire a lot of brass that are just simply tarnished with stupidity. And you what else? I'm gonna reveal my 'secret' as to how I'm gonna defeat ISIS. But not right now. Don't wanna give away my stuff too soon. But I Can say This, "We're going to convene my top generals and they will have 30 days to submit a plan for soundly and quickly defeating ISIS". And when I tell them to torture a 'Bad guy', you better believe they will do it! Those ISIS guys are listening to Everything I say, and all of'em are planning their escape. But I'm gonna get'em! They can run, but they can't hide from Me! Can't do it! And you know what Else? I'm gonna take away all their Oil! All of it! Down to the last quart! Bush should'a done it! That Other Bush should'a done it! Obama should'a done it Too! But they were afraid to! Not me folks! I talk softly and carry a Big Siphon Hose! I'll take all their oil, sell it back to them, and use that money to build our Own military bigger than life! Big! Huge! Bigger than...those Other big ones out there. Man, I'm gonna be Great! Just wait and see! Wonderful! Smart! My BFF Vlad agrees with That one! What a 'team' we're gonna make! He'll have his own little office in the White House so that we can be near one another, although I'm not actually going to Live in the White House. I have my Own 'palace' that makes the White House look like a doll house for little children.
Remember to vote for me! I know every woman in America will! Lots of men too. And especially those south of the border folks who can vote, and lots, and lots of black people because I went to church with them. I have absolutly no clue what they were singing about though. Loud! My ears are Still ringing! I had to draw the line though when they wanted to dunk me in a big tub of water. This is a three thousand dollar Suit! Crazy! Who Does That?? Great folks though. Love'em. Great voters.
Remember, a wasted Vote is one you'll see for the next Four, long, miserable years.' :/ :/
The Fix
Remember to vote for me! I know every woman in America will! Lots of men too. And especially those south of the border folks who can vote, and lots, and lots of black people because I went to church with them. I have absolutly no clue what they were singing about though. Loud! My ears are Still ringing! I had to draw the line though when they wanted to dunk me in a big tub of water. This is a three thousand dollar Suit! Crazy! Who Does That?? Great folks though. Love'em. Great voters.
Remember, a wasted Vote is one you'll see for the next Four, long, miserable years.' :/ :/
The Fix
It’s not clear that Donald Trump understands the relationship between the president and the military
Of the many ways in which Trump contradicted himself or betrayed a misunderstanding of how things work, this rapid evolution was hardly the most egregious example. There was, for example, his return to the idea that America should have purloined Iraq's oil after ousting Saddam Hussein. He once suggested this should have happened to provide revenue to wounded soldiers; he now argues it would have blocked the rise of the Islamic State (or ISIS, as he calls the group).
"If we would have taken the oil, you wouldn't have ISIS, because ISIS formed with the power and the wealth of that oil," Trump told Lauer. How would we take it? "Just we would leave a certain group behind and you would take various sections where they have the oil," he replied. One might wonder if we couldn't just, you know, guard the oil on behalf of the Iraqis to curtail the Islamic State, if we're putting people around the oil anyway? Well: "It used to be to the victor belong the spoils," Trump said. But lest you think that implies that we — meaning advocates of the conflict like Hillary Clinton — were somehow victorious in Iraq, we weren't. "Now, there was no victor there, believe me. There was no victor," Trump said. "But I always said: Take the oil." So it's not "to the victor belong the spoils," then, but "take the spoils of a sovereign nation for reasons that may vary over time."
But, again: Let's set that aside. Let's focus on the generals.
The way the promotional structure of the United States military works is not complicated. Generals are not selected by being hired from the private sector thanks to their thorough LinkedIn profiles. Instead, they slowly rise through the ranks. Here is an interesting thread outlining what it takes to be promoted to general in various branches of the Armed Forces. The short version is that it's the culmination of a flawless decades-long career within one branch that rides heavily on personal and professional chance. The long version is longer than that.
Trump offered his views on America's top generals to Lauer over the course of a few questions.
"'I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me,'" Lauer quoted Trump as saying, then asked: "Was that the truth?"
"Well, the generals under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have not been successful," Trump replied. "I think under the leadership of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the generals have been reduced to rubble. They have been reduced to a point where it's embarrassing for our country."
"Have you lost faith in the military commanders?" Lauer pressed a bit later.
"I have great faith in the military. I have great faith in certain of the commanders, certainly," he said. "But I have no faith in Hillary Clinton or the leadership."
An audience member asked Trump for details on his promise to rapidly defeat the Islamic State. This is where Trump started talking about the oil, so Lauer brought it back to the terrorist group. "You very often say, I'm not going to give you the details because I want to be unpredictable," he said. "But yesterday, you actually told us a little bit about your plan in your speech. You said this. Quote: 'We're going to convene my top generals and they will have 30 days to submit a plan for soundly and quickly defeating ISIS.' So is the plan you've been hiding this whole time asking someone else for their plan?"
"No," he replied. "But when I do come up with a plan that I like and that perhaps agrees with mine, or maybe doesn't — I may love what the generals come back with."
"If I win, I don't want to broadcast to the enemy exactly what my plan is," Trump added. "And let me tell you, if I like maybe a combination of my plan and the generals' plan, or the generals' plan, if I like their plan, Matt, I'm not going to call you up and say, 'Matt, we have a great plan.' "
"But you're going to convene a panel of generals, and you've already said you know more about ISIS than those generals do," Lauer rebutted.
"Well, they'll probably be different generals, to be honest with you," Trump replied, then boasting of having the endorsement of 88 former military leaders. (As Lauer noted, that's a number that is a bit lower than what Clinton claims.)
Trump offered that line about "different generals" casually, but it's not an insignificant claim. As president, Trump's ability to overhaul the leaders of the military is limited. As commander in chief, he can remove generals from positions but he "doesn't enjoy Donald Trump-like powers to summarily fire service members," as Brian Palmer explained for Slate back in 2010 (clearly when "The Apprentice" was still on the air). When President Obama relieved Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal of his command in 2010 after McChrystal gave some ill-advised comments to a reporter, McChrystal retained his rank as a four-star general, until he decided to retire. Trump could seek the counsel of other members of the military's leadership, but he can't simply clean house or bring in people from the outside.
It's not clear that Trump recognizes such nuances, though. He has in the past seen the line between the military and the commander in chief as blurrier than it is in reality. During a debate in March, Trump was asked by Fox News's Bret Baier what he would do if the military refused to carry out his orders to commit acts of torture or target civilians.
"They won't refuse," Trump replied. "They're not going to refuse me. Believe me."
Buried in all of this are competing instincts: Trump's disinterest in being wrong and his great interest in being the boss. He threatens to oust top leaders of the military for little other reason than they were in positions of authority under Obama. While his prepared comments from Tuesday suggested that he would seek the counsel of service members who'd committed decades to protecting America's interests, he tossed that to the side in favor of not being embarrassed by Matt Lauer, insisting that he still did have his own secret plan. Probably one that involves oil.
Bear in mind, the president's role as commander in chief was the primary focus of the town hall. It's what Trump was there to talk about. And, for good or bad, he talked about it.
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