Ask not if Trump can, ask why he does it

Slick seconds after sloppy firsts, Trump's takeover proceeds with haste

Yesterday I was discussing President Trump’s firing of U.S. Air Force General “CQ” Brown as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with my wife. Right after that talk, I read Jonah Goldberg’s piece “Judge Trump’s Motives, Not Just His Methods” in The Dispatch (paywall). He wrote what I was thinking, or very close to it. I rather like it when I agree with Jonah, because it means I am probably on the right track, if not cynical enough.

United States Air Force Chief of Staff General Charles Q. Brown Jr. salutes Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Kaleth O. Wright during a transition ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, Aug. 6, 2020. U.S. Air Force via Wikimedia Commons

As many have pointed out, including Rich Lowry at National Review. Gen. Brown gave plenty of reason for him to be sacked. He was political, in his job as Chief of Staff of the Air Force, when nobody really cared to hear his political views. He bought in to many of the DEI initiatives and liberal progressive ideals of using the military as a place for driving social change. Brown was not, in the sense any president would expect, loyal to his boss.

President Harry Truman famously fired Gen. Douglas MacArthur, because MacArthur thought it less important to listen to Truman, his boss, than to be right in his own eyes (and MacArthur was rather a rooster in his public image). Loyalty is important in the top rungs of our military, because the point where civilian rule—not oversight, but actual command—of our lethal and powerful war machine is where the service chiefs meet the Commander-in-Chief. If the President can’t trust his generals to execute his orders, he should fire them.

However, the orders themselves are not subject to loyalty tests or whims of the POTUS. No U.S. general, or E-1 for that matter, is expected to carry out an illegal order. That imperative is further expanded at the level of service chiefs and top generals, to include immoral orders, in which the generals must understand, and be in alignment with, the goals of their ultimate commander. While it’s not strictly necessary for the generals to agree with the moral framework in which their boss operates, it is required for them to at least understand it. “Because I say so” does not cut it between the Joint Chiefs and the POTUS.

And there’s the point where we, citizens of the United States, must ask the questions of why President Trump has fired both the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Chief of Naval Operations, among others. He has also fired many government lawyers at the Department of Justice, the FBI, and Inspectors General at federal agencies. It is his legal right to do so, as they serve “at the pleasure of the president.” But we don’t need to question if he can do it (though that’s important), as much as why he is doing it.

The simple answer is loyalty. Trump wants complete loyalty among his senior—hell, not just senior, but all the way down the line—people in government. That includes the military. But the kind of loyalty Trump demands is not loyalty to a moral framework or a political program. It’s loyalty to him, personally. He doesn’t want anyone asking him why, or how a particular decision comports with a larger framework. “Because I said so” should be sufficient for a “yes, sir” answer.

Of course, we know that Trump does have some larger frameworks—getting rid of DEI is one of them, and that provides enough cover for firing Gen. Brown, so for whoever questions the move and timing, a proper defense is that Brown deserved it and isn’t with the MAGA program. But that’s not the whole reason, and we know it.

We know it because in his last term, Trump tried this before, but sloppily and in a ham-handed way. Here’s some of the reasons Trump fired his Secretary of Defense in late 2020, according to a memo obtained by ABC News in late 2021.

It includes bullet points outlining what Karl calls Esper's "sins against Trumpism," including that he "barred the Confederate flag" on military bases, "opposed the President's direction to utilize American forces to put down riots," "focused the Department on Russia," and was "actively pushing for 'diversity and inclusion.'"

That’s similar to some of the reasons behind Gen. Brown’s firing, but it also includes things that are patently illegal, never mind immoral. After losing the 2020 election, Trump put Chris Miller in at the DOD. He attempted to make Jeffrey Clark his acting Attorney General. Trump’s actions were specifically designed to put people who believed he didn’t lose the election in positions of immense power.

After four years of planning, refining the plan to execute a takeover of the federal government by people who are personally loyal to Trump, the administration is having a much easier time moving forward. Vetting questions for prospective top intelligence candidates included “whether January 6 was an ‘inside job,’ who were ‘the real patriots’ on that day, and who won the 2020 election,” Goldberg wrote.

The why of Trump’s actions must extend beyond whatever pretext exists to fire and replace top people with Trump’s people. In 2021, Trump’s goal was to have his own vice president subvert the Joint Congressional, ceremonial, certification of his election loss, so that he could invalidate the election results and “win.” His moves on January 6th, regarding the military, and civilian parts of the government, were centered around this plan.

There’s no particular plan in place right now, since Trump won legitimately. (By the way, many who are dumping on soon to retire Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, do so because at times he cooperated with Democrats. I see that as part of his job, since at times he was also Minority Leader. McConnell was brilliant leading Senate Republicans. But if we are to dump on him, do it for the stain of failing to convict Trump in 2021 and bar him from future office. As McConnell told Harry Reid after Reid went “nuclear” over federal judge approvals, “you will regret this.” McConnell should live with his regret over that one action, and now must witness the fallout from it.)

Just because Trump has no plan to “stop the steal” right now, doesn’t mean he’s not preparing a coterie of unquestioning “because I said so” yes-men and yes-women to do whatever plan comes to mind later. The loyalty test is not to a political program or pedigree, it is to him. And yes, no matter what pretext or color of law is used to defend those actions, we need to ask why Trump is bent on unquestioningly personal loyalty in all circumstances for senior people at federal agencies that affect every single person in the nation, as well as the world.

Some of you will say it’s not 2020 any more, and we need to give Trump room to get his “golden age” going. And many of the results he gets may be things we want. I want an end to the Gaza situation. I want an end to the Ukraine war. I don’t want to get those things by doing immoral—or even evil—acts. I want people around the president who can remind him of his duty, not just to get what he wants, but to do it the right way.

My fear is that Trump and his senior people, even people like Elon Musk, who runs the White House like Rasputin did the palace in St. Petersburg, will not remind him of anything resembling duty. They will only ask “how high?” when Trump says “jump.” If you don’t think that’s a danger, then ask yourself if you would want it if Kamala Harris, or some other Democrat, was in the White House.

The why is the whole point. And Trump’s own motives are the central thing with which we should be concerned. The nation (whoever you voted for) elected him, and at some point, accountability for motives must come into play. Don’t suspend the question just because Trump could have other motives or plausible reasons for doing things that are also designed to get people to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, no matter if it’s legal, moral, self-serving, or in defiance of the Constitution. Ask why.

CHECK OUT Risky Tales, my site for fiction, that just might be true enough to happen.

SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS: You can follow us on social media at several different locations. Official Racket News pages include:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewsRacket
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/NewsRacket
Mastodon: https://federated.press/@RacketNews

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@theracketnews
David: https://www.threads.net/@captainkudzu71
Steve: https://www.threads.net/@stevengberman

Our personal accounts on the platform formerly known as Twitter:

David: https://twitter.com/captainkudzu
Steve: https://twitter.com/stevengberman
Jay: https://twitter.com/curmudgeon_NH

Thanks again for subscribing! Don’t forget to share us with your friends!