🔗 Share this article

No authoritarian leader or would-be dictator has ever gathered the complete senior military leadership of their military in one room to demean them as failures and humiliate them for their unprofessional grooming standards, while degrading entire groups serving in the military branches as lesser and undeserving.

The former president is used to entering events with energetic audiences applauding to music. "I have never walked into a room so silent before," Trump stated when speaking to the nation's highest-ranking military commanders at the Marine Corps Base Quantico. "Don't laugh. Don't know if you're permitted to do that." He was attempting to elicit some amusement, an vintage entertainment tactic to rouse a dead audience. "Listen up, Just have a good time."

His syllogism clearly demonstrated his psychology of feeling victimized and approach of revenge. If you do not show deference to him, he is personally wounded. Your failure to worship him must be penalized. Your slight of his authority dooms you to destruction.

Military Discipline vs. Partisan Expectations

Trump fails to understand that the silence of the commanders during his unprecedented speech to them demonstrated their highest duty. Their discipline displayed loyalty to uphold their pledge to the nation's founding document. By their stillness they presented themselves as examples for the remainder of the military leadership and the troops.

They are not loyal to Trump or any cult of personality, but to his legal role.

They served as a backdrop for a campaign-like event, but they were unwilling to acting as partisan players.

Fundamental Misunderstanding

His inability to understand their stolidity in the presence of his provocations showed his lack of understanding not only of the military but the executive office under the legal system. When he took offense at their stoney silence his rebuke made clear that he saw them simply as his pawns.

The president had arrived on an pressing mission for them to execute. He was there to tell the military chiefs they were to be his obedient instruments for the greatest change of military strategy since the "anti-terrorism campaign" – a new war to be waged against his viewed domestic rivals at home in contravention of the federal law of 1878, which forbids the internal use of the American armed forces as a police force.

Context and Presidential Measures

All the high-ranking generals had been assembled for the historic event at the Marine Corps Base Quantico on the order of the secretary of defense. They possessed no inkling for what significant purpose they were being called. They wouldn't theorize that they were being brought to be a captured crowd for a self-focused vanity presentation attempting to rehabilitate his reputation and establish his power.

But the commanders could have obtained more than a hint that they were being assembled for the most recent chapter of political theater by reading the presidential directive Labeling an activist movement as a Domestic Terrorist Organization, an "organization" that does not exist. Subsequent actions included a National Security Presidential Memorandum citing various events as pretexts: "This political violence is not a series of unconnected events and doesn't originate organically.

Ideological Framework

Per the memorandum, a new "government approach" would be implemented against an belief system of "anti-Americanism, opposition to capitalism, and opposition to Christianity; advocacy of the removal of the federal government; radical views on migration, ethnicity, and gender; and opposition towards those who hold conservative values on family, faith, and morality."

These vapors were not a description of an ideology so much as a hodgepodge of partisan catchphrases. If there were belief system expressed it was an undeveloped authoritarianism based on a controlling impulse that created an all-purpose enemy called "the opposition".

Defense Secretary's Presentation

The theatrical presentation at Quantico began with the defense secretary moving rapidly on the stage. He was a inspirational presenter as a drill sergeant with a book to promote – and a warm-up act for the main speaker.

The former military reserve major said he had been "considered an extremist"; he was flagged as a possible "security risk" by fellow officers. Regardless of multiple reports of his drinking issues, he told media in an interview: "I have never had a drinking problem," but then allegedly assured a legislator that he would "avoid alcohol while I have this position."

Procedural Changes and Controversial Remarks

As a media personality, the defense secretary had been a prominent advocate for forgiving or showing mercy to military personnel accused or found guilty of war crimes. He described them as "fighters" rather than "war criminals".

Now, in his address, he announced he was removing "unnecessary elements". He promoted relaxing regulations aimed at stopping forbidden force within the armed forces. He announced the "restructuring" of the oversight and whistleblower reporting system, which would weaken legal protections and shield aggressive or careless violators from responsibility.

He planned to, he said, impose discriminatory measures of "unisex" or "masculine standard" physical standards for fighting positions, saying: "If that means no females meet standards for some military positions, so be it."

Confrontational Rhetoric and Military Reaction

The defense secretary strutted in front of the commanders, barking obscenities – "Acronym for explicit phrase", or explicit language. "Eliminate identity months, diversity initiatives, dudes in dresses. End climate change worship. Stop separation, distraction or identity issues. No more unnecessary elements. As I stated before and will say again, we are done with that shit."

The military leaders sat expressionless at his vulgarity that could be charged under the Uniform Military Code of Justice as a infraction against improper speech that "neglects to the prejudice of good order and military standards".

Physical Requirements and Individual Observations

Per the speaker, it was the out-of-shape commanders who needed to exercise like him. "It's totally unacceptable to see overweight generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the country and the globe. It appears unprofessional," he said. "Eliminate facial hair."

Concluding Remarks and Political Context

Not once did the speaker mention "Russia" or "the Ukrainian nation". He offered not the smallest reference to Russia's huge missile attacks striking Ukraine, Russia's unmanned aircraft over European nations, the tensions over US uncertainty within the western alliance, or utter anything that might be interpreted as a military consideration.

After his menacing speech, the defense secretary made way for Donald Trump. Trump displayed his customary contempt for the military by baiting them with an series of political insults to which they remained rigidly motionless.

In the middle of his stream of consciousness, he dropped his new mission for the armed forces against the "internal threat", with large American urban areas as the "preparation areas … the ones that are run by the radical-left Democrats … And this is going to be a significant role for some of the people in this room. That's a war, too. It's combat from within." Silence.