All posts tagged "department of defense"

These shocking Trump orders are nothing short of murder

Donald Trump has ordered more deadly bombings of small fishing boats, killing everyone onboard, including an incident off the coast of Colombia. That was the ninth US attack against alleged drug dealers in international waters, just since September.

Another strike was announced on Friday, bringing the number of people Trump calls “narco-terrorists” to have perished in these attacks up to 43.

Trump previously told Fox News, “We take them out,” and later joked about how people, most of them desperately poor, are now afraid to fish along certain coastlines.

Without releasing credible evidence, Trump claims the victims’ vessels were “stacked up with bags of white powder that’s mostly fentanyl and other drugs, too.”

Trump says they were “smuggling a deadly weapon poisoning Americans,” on behalf of various “terrorist organizations.”

Trump is calling the victims terrorists so that he can treat them as enemy combatants in a war that does not exist, just as he is doing at home. Domestically, we know Trump calls groups who oppose him politically “domestic terrorists.” We know he fabricated a domestic terrorist organization he calls “Antifa” to sell his plan for violence. We also know his administration is lying about peaceful protestors threatening ICE agents in order to justify ICE brutality, and that ICE refuses to wear body cams without a court order.

Trump’s firehose of lies about domestic ‘terrorists’ won’t help his claims about ‘terrorists’ on the high seas.

Is Trump confusing South America with China and Mexico?

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has credibly accused Trump of murder. In response, instead of offering legal justification, Trump said he was cutting off foreign aid to Colombia, seemingly confusing that nation with Democratic-run states from whom he is also illegally withholding funds.

Bragging about the killings, Trump falsely claimed that every exploded shipping vessel “saves 25,000 American lives.”

In the factual world, about 100,000 Americans die each year from drug overdoses, mostly by fentanyl, which does not come from Venezuela, Colombia or any South American country.

The fentanyl killing Americans comes from labs in Mexico and China. Given his difficulty with geography, Trump may not know the difference. At any rate, South America produces marijuana and cocaine, not fentanyl. Most of the killing fentanyl is smuggled into the country by US citizens, over land.

Legal arguments don’t hold water

The White House claims the strikes are a matter of self-defense. To get there, Trump “determined” that drug cartels like Tren de Aragua are “terrorists.” But officials say Tren de Aragua is not operating in the shipping routes under attack, and that the route Trump and Hegseth are targeting carries cocaine and marijuana to Europe and Africa, not the US.

Legal experts on the use of armed force say Trump’s campaign is illegal because the military is not permitted to target civilians who are not directly participating in hostilities. Key legal instruments prohibiting extrajudicial killings and murder include the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), the Geneva Conventions of 1949, the Statute of the International Criminal Court, and customary international humanitarian law. The Trump administration has not publicly offered a legal theory that comports with any of these laws.

Instead, the White House has argued that the attacks fall under the law of armed conflict (LOAC), which limits methods of warfare and sets out legally required protections for noncombatants and civilians during conflict. The US is in no such conflict; we are not under attack in the US or anywhere else, and Congress has declared no war.

Designating drug cartels as “terrorist organizations” is also factually suspect. Drug cartels exist for profit; all purveyors of illicit drugs are in the business to make money. In contrast, “terrorists” by definition are motivated by ideological goals often involving politics or religion—not profit. Even if they were terrorists, international law would only allow the executive branch to respond through legal methods like freezing assets, trials and imprisonment.

Hegseth and others will face court martial

Trump and Hegseth’s legal arguments have been universally rejected by military legal experts including former lawyers in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, who have condemned the attacks as unlawful under both domestic and international law. Nevertheless, Hegseth has stated enthusiastically that the military will continue these executions.

In February, Hegseth fired the JAGs whose job was to assess the legality of military actions. He may have deliberately done so to engage in illegal conduct and later claim a “mistake of law” defense, but that maneuver won’t save him. In US Servicemembers’ Exposure to Criminal Liability for Lethal Strikes on Narcoterrorists, Just Security lays it out under the Manual for Courts-Martial, and Article 118 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), concluding in the Venezuela strikes that:

Despite the clear absence of an “imminent threat of death or serious injury” or “grave threat to life,” the U.S. Coast Guard did not interdict the alleged criminal narcotrafficking in the way this conduct has been historically (and recently) approached.

These suspected criminals were not arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced through a regular course of criminal procedure and neutral adjudication in a court. They were killed extrajudicially for conduct that could not be plausibly labeled a military attack, use of force, or even threat of imminent harm to anyone in the United States or any other nation, and despite the opportunity and ability to use less-than-lethal force to stop the boats.

An extrajudicial killing, premeditated and without justification or excuse and without the legal authority tied to an armed conflict, is properly called “murder.” And murder is still a crime for those in uniform who executed the strike even if their targets are dangerous criminals, and even if servicemembers were commanded to do so by their superiors, including the President of the United States.

Under this analysis, “every officer in the chain of command who … directed downward the initial order from the President or Secretary of Defense” would likely fall within the meaning of traditional accomplice liability, and could be charged for murder under Article 118.

Even if a corrupt Supreme Court gave Trump criminal immunity for murder (an unsettled question), someone should let Hegseth know that immunity does not extend to him, or to other service members piloting the drones or firing the missiles under orders that are obviously illegal.

Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. Her Substack, The Haake Take, is free.

This Trumper wants the truth? He can't handle the truth!

On Sept. 30, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth pontificated before his captive audience of 800 admirals and generals whom he had summoned from locations around the globe. The media reports of the event focused on soundbites: new physical fitness requirements, grooming standards (“no more beardos” — but don’t tell Vice President JD Vance or the president’s son), eliminating “woke” policies, and other elements of his department’s new “warfighting culture.”

Observing that the military’s policy on “hazing, bullying, and harassment is overly broad,” Hegseth also said that the inspector general’s office “has been weaponized, putting complainers, ideologues, and poor performers in the driver’s seat.”

He dealt with that problem too.

Hegseth’s New Rules of Engagement, No. 1 — Avoid Accountability

As with all IGs, the Defense Department’s inspector general operates independently to assure government accountability. The office pursues waste, fraud, abuse, corruption, mismanagement, whistleblower complaints, and more. With Hegseth in charge, its plate is full.

As Hegseth railed against the IG, it was investigating Signalgate — his massive national security breach. On March 15, he used the Signal app to discuss with top Pentagon leaders detailed plans for an imminent attack on Houthis in Yemen. But the chat mistakenly included the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic. Another Signal chat that day involving similarly sensitive information included his wife, brother, and personal lawyer.

On Sept. 30, Hegseth published new rules for inspector general investigations, including:

Within seven days of a complaint, an investigation must be initiated or the complaint closed.
An investigation can “be initiated only if the complaint meets credible-evidence standard [sic].”
The subjects of an investigation must receive status reports every 14 days.
“Command directed investigations must be closed within 30 days of initiation.”

The Signalgate investigation itself is evidence that thorough investigations of complex issues cannot occur before the 30-day deadline. That will kill them.

The new timelines and reporting requirements are part of the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to curtail oversight of legally questionable moves, according to Sen. Jack Reed (R-R.I.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

But there’s more.

Hegseth’s New Rule of Engagement, No. 2 — Suppress Facts

On Sept. 19, Hegseth issued a new policy that every reporter in the Pentagon had to sign: They could access the building only if they agreed to publish information that was “approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified.”

Any reporter who violated the policy would face punishment ranging from the denial of press privileges to criminal prosecution. Reporters who failed to sign the new agreement by Oct. 14 were required to turn in their press passes.

On Oct. 6, Hegseth revised the policy so that it didn’t appear to be such a plainly unconstitutional prior restraint on a free press. The 21-page document clarified that reporters need not submit their materials in advance of publication. But it shifted the focus from punishing journalists who publish information that Hegseth doesn’t want disseminated to: 1) undermining journalists’ ability to gather it in the first place; and 2) inhibiting Defense Department employees from providing it.

Specifically, the policy warned that journalists who “solicit” federal employees to disclose information that has not been approved for release may lose their press credentials. And according to the revised memo, “Solicitation may include direct communications with specific (Defense) personnel or general appeals, such as public advertisements or calls for tips encouraging (Defense) employees to share non-public (Defense) information.”

The Pentagon Press Association represents more than 100 news organizations. In a powerful statement, it said Hegseth and his department were trying to “stifle a free press” with the new policy that “conveys an unprecedented message of intimidation to everyone within the DOD, warning against any unapproved interactions with the press and even suggesting it’s criminal to speak without express permission — which plainly, it is not.”

As Politico reported, it was “an unprecedented move that demands media outlets hand the department vast control over what they publish … The new rules give the Pentagon wide latitude to label journalists as security threats and revoke passes for those who obtain or publish information the agency says is unfit for public release.”

Every major news organization, including the conservative outlets Newsmax and Fox News (Hegseth’s former employer), refused to sign Hegseth’s document. Only the far-right, pro-Trump One America News agreed.

Here’s Fox News’ statement:

Today, we join virtually every other news organization in declining to agree to the Pentagon’s new requirements, which would restrict journalists’ ability to keep the nation and the world informed of important national security issues. The policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections. We will continue to cover the US military as each of our organizations has done for many decades, upholding the principles of a free and independent press.

The Lessons

Two themes emerge from this sequence of events:

First, because Pete Hegseth can’t handle accountability or criticism, transparency is his enemy.
Second, collective action to resist Trump administration assaults on the Constitution is possible.

Never give in. Never give up.

Trump is preparing a coup — the evidence is clear if you know where to look

Is the U.S. military already in the early stages of a Trump-led coup against our Constitution?

Inside the Pentagon, loyalty is being elevated above law as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth quietly removes senior military lawyers, the very officials meant to uphold legality and restraint, and replaces them with loyalists.

The purge has also happened to senior military leadership. On Thursday, the New York Times reported that Adm. Alvin Holsey, the head of U.S. Southern Command, which has overseen the strikes against boats off the coast of Venezuela, is stepping down.

While Adm. Holsey has not said why he’s leaving, it may well be a continuation of the troubling trend of purges of highly qualified senior military officials who may have been inclined to restrain Trump’s illegal and fascistic impulses.

The recent purge of military attorneys, in particular, isn’t routine bureaucracy; it’s the deliberate dismantling of the safeguards that prevent America’s armed forces from becoming a political weapon against America’s citizens and democracy.

It’s hard to overstate the significance of what’s happening right now inside the Pentagon.

At the Washington Post, David Ignatius asks why the military has not spoken out against Trump’s attacks on boats off the coast of Venezuela and what I characterize as his unconstitutional deployments of troops against American civilians. Ignatius answers his own question in the article’s second paragraph:

“One chilling answer is that the Trump team has gutted the JAGs — judge advocate generals — who are supposed to advise commanders on the rule of law, including whether presidential orders are legal. Without these independent military lawyers backing them up, commanders have no recourse other than to comply or resign.”

Judge Advocate Generals, or JAGs, are the institutional safeguard against unlawful orders: they advise commanders on rules of engagement, the Geneva Conventions, and the limits of presidential authority.

When an administration starts purging them, we’re not looking at a routine personnel shuffle. We’re seeing the careful dismantling of the guardrails that prevent America’s military from being weaponized against the American people.

This purge began with Hegseth’s February firing of the top lawyers for the Army, Navy and Air Force. He claimed they simply weren’t “well suited” to provide recommendations on lawful orders. But no criminal charges were alleged, no ethics complaints cited; he simply removed them wholesale.

The message is clear: loyalty trumps legal judgment. Just like in Third World dictatorships. Just like in Putin’s Russia, which increasingly appears to be Donald Trump‘s role model.

Once the old guard was removed, Hegseth quietly moved to remake the JAG corps itself. According to reporting in the Guardian, his office is pushing an overhaul to retrain military lawyers in ways that give commanders more leeway and produce more permissive legal advice.

His personal — not military — lawyer who defended him against sexual abuse allegations, Tim Parlatore, has been involved in this process, wielding influence over how rules of engagement are interpreted and how internal discipline is handled.

At the same time, the Secretary has transformed Pentagon press controls. This week, the Washington Post exposed how Hegseth used Parlatore to help draft sweeping restrictions on journalist access and movement within the Department of Defense.

Under the new rules, similar to the way the Kremlin operates, reporters are required to sign pledges stating they won’t gather or use unauthorized material (even unclassified), or risk losing their Pentagon credentials if they stray. The policy also limits reporter mobility within the Pentagon and curtails direct contact with military personnel unless escorted.

The reaction was swift. Dozens of media organizations — Reuters, the Times, the Post, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, the Atlantic — refused to sign Hegseth’s pledge, citing constitutional concerns and the chilling effects of such controls. Only the far-right One America News agreed. Meanwhile, the Pentagon Press Association declined to sign and warned that these rules constitute “a disturbing situation” intended to limit leaks and suppress accountability.

Put these moves together and a frightening pattern emerges: purge independent legal advisers who might say “no,” and gag the press before the damage can be exposed. Combine that with increasingly aggressive, unilateral action by the military abroad, and you have the outlines of a strategy for bypassing democratic oversight.

A Trump-forced coup, in other words.

Wednesday, the U.S. Navy again struck what Trump claims was a drug-trafficking vessel off Venezuela, reportedly killing six people. There was no clear congressional authorization, and the legal justification remains opaque. When you remove internal legal dissent and public scrutiny, the threshold to use force becomes dangerously low.

The domestic implications are equally chilling. Trump has publicly said that he wants to use U.S. cities as training grounds for troops, and openly declared he would fire any general who fails to show total loyalty.

A wannabe dictator can’t deploy troops into American neighborhoods if he still has JAGs saying “that’s not legal,” or a press corps reporting on where they go. First he has to make sure there are no internal brakes and no public witnesses. That’s how coups are built.

Defenders will argue this is about “efficiency,” about correcting an overly cautious JAG culture, or about closing leaks. But that’s clearly a lie: real reform would emphasize transparent standards, not loyalty tests.

If the JAG corps must be reformed, it should be done by independent committees, not by one political operator calling shots. If press controls must be tightened for security, those rules should be public, constrained by constitutional guardrails, and open to judicial review, not enforced behind closed doors.

Make no mistake: this is not abstract. JAG officers are a bulwark against unlawful war, war crimes, and misuse of force at home. Silencing and replacing them is not the act of a healthy republic: it’s the early work of authoritarian takeover.

Combine that with gag orders and the purge of senior military leadership that might resist Trump’s illegal moves, and we’re watching the architecture of strongman autocracy being assembled piece by piece.

A military coup doesn’t typically happen in one dramatic moment, even though it appears that way when it reaches a climax. It begins through personnel decisions, institutional erosion, secrecy, and incremental normalization of power. The moment the legal counsel corps stops buffering against rash orders, the moment the press is muzzled, the path darkens.

We’re closer to that moment than many — including across our media — realize or are willing to acknowledge.

So the question now is whether there are still Republicans in Congress who will demand hearings, whether military leaders will raise alarms, and whether citizens will recognize the stakes.

Saturday's “No Kings Day” wasn’t just a slogan. It was a literal call to defend the republic. The time to act is before the tanks roll, not after.

Because what’s happening right now may not look like a coup to the average American, but it is unmistakably the preparation for one.

We have proof Trump is unfit for office. Will these key players use it to bring him down?

Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News bobblehead with documented alcohol problems, summoned the military’s top 800 generals, admirals and flag officers to Quantico, Virginia this week to degrade them with a juvenile rant he could have delivered on Zoom.

Pacing back and forth in front of a backdrop from Patton, cosplaying Hegseth delivered what’s been called “an unhinged address filled with confusing contradictions, wild-eyed cheerleading, and politically charged rhetoric.”

Hegseth seemed oblivious to the fact he was lecturing brass with far more military expertise and experience than his own.

Hegseth’s speech was a tired attack on “woke.” He told the officers, “No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate-change worship. No more division, distraction, or gender delusions... As I’ve said before and will say again, we are done with that shit.”

He then suggested hazing and harassment are now OK, assuring brass that they shouldn’t be overly concerned with legalities. He offered up new directives “designed to take the monkey off your back and put you, the leadership, back in the driver's seat.”

He defined, for the four-star generals, what it means to be in the US military: “We don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt, and kill the enemies of our country.”

The enemies of our country, they would next learn from Donald Trump, are Americans.

Proof of insanity

At the conclusion of Hegseth’s immature rant about beards, killer ethos and real men, Trump stepped into the spotlight like it was a MAGA rally.

Meandering from topic to topic for more than an hour, Trump mused on his fondness for the television show Victory at Sea, asserted his claim to a Nobel Peace Prize, criticized how former Presidents Obama and Biden walk down stairs, described how he walks down stairs, insulted “radical Democrats,” declared his love for tariffs, attacked Biden or his autopen 11 times, criticized how military ships “look,” mentioned making Canada the 51st state, and described the kind of thick paper he prefers to use when signing promotions.

Trump bizarrely told the officers he’d ended more than six wars, even though many people in the room continue to work on his “resolved” conflicts as they rage on. He also repeatedly mentioned nuclear weapons.

“I rebuilt our nuclear … I call it the N-word. There are two N-words, and you can’t use either of them.”

Several officials called Trump’s speech truly disturbing and evidence its speaker is unwell — “even for Trump.”

After bragging earlier in the day that he could and would fire “any officer” he “doesn’t like … on the spot,” Trump told assembled brass they were crucial in his fight against the “enemy from within.” Distilled, Trump said they would soon be fighting Americans.

Hyping the pitch, Trump claimed, “We’re under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms.” He then added ominously that “our inner cities” were becoming “a big part of war now,” and that “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.”

Using American cities as “training grounds” for Hegseth’s extra-legal “lethality” operations meant to “kill people and break things” is batshit Reichstag Fire lunacy.

If we had a functioning government, Trump’s speech would already have triggered his 25th Amendment removal for mental infirmity, and his declaration(s) of war against American cities would be adjudicated as “levying war” against the US, otherwise known as treason.

Silence isn't golden

CNN reports that Trump was thirsty for a reaction, but the brass sat quietly.

Trump’s frustration was clear, given that he had so successfully whipped up lower-ranking troops at Fort Bragg earlier in the year. In June, he shamefully got young enlistees to boo as he attacked Biden. This week, in front of a mature audience, he got crickets.

At one point, Trump implored the audience to applaud him, saying, “I’ve never walked into a room so silent before … If you want to applaud, you applaud.” He then attempted a joke, saying hey, “If you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room. Of course, there goes your rank. There goes your future.”

Hilarity did not ensue.

Instead of clapping wildly — or even at all — the Generals served up discipline, delivering the silent message that they took an oath to the Constitution, not to him.

Attendees were aghast at the whole affair. The Intercept reports multiple officials who called Trump’s speech “embarrassing” and criticized Hegseth for gathering top commanders from around the world for a speech that was just like “his social media posts.”

One officer called Hegseth’s address “garbage.” Another said: “We are diminished as a nation by both Hegseth and Trump.” Another called it disqualifying, adding that, “It shocks the conscience to hear Hegseth — he is no warrior — endorse bullying and hazing of service members. How dare this former National Guard major lecture our military leaders on lethality.”

Patriots worried about the Constitution should take heart. The disastrous spectacle delivered a silver lining that may well save the republic.

Generals know what they must do

The silver lining is that every high-ranking officer stationed everywhere in the world now knows, without a doubt, two crucial facts they may only have suspected before Quantico:

Hegseth plans to disregard the rules of engagement to deliver maximum “lethality,” regardless of domestic and international law; and
Trump is unwell, and mentally unfit to serve as Commander-in-Chief.

Knowledge of those two facts will inform decisions on how to respond to illegal orders. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, they are required to disobey illegal orders, including those that violate US law as well as the Constitution.

Having heard Hegseth’s criminal intent, and having experienced Trump’s insanity, the officers’ resolve to disobey any and all illegal orders will only strengthen.

Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. Her Substack, The Haake Take, is free.

Pete Hegseth wants 'male warrior spirit'? He's lucky my Mom isn't here to set him straight

On Tuesday, our newly-dubbed “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth told our military’s top brass that they must restore the "male warrior spirit" to the armed forces.

“Male” spirit, Pete? Excuse me, Pete. My mother, Gladys Palast, was honored by President Bill Clinton as the very first woman who volunteered for the US Coast Guard after the attack on Pearl Harbor

Let me tell you, Little Petie, Mom was a WARRIOR. How DARE you insult my mother’s courage and initiative and then introduce General Bone Spurs Trump as the guy “who has your back.” Hmmm. Trump got out of the war in Vietnam by claiming he had a bone spur in one foot — but he can’t remember which one.

And let’s not forget, on the day after his second inauguration, Trump fired Adm. Linda Fagan as Commandant of the Coast Guard for no visible reason other than she has a vagina. Trump is lucky that Mom ain't around anymore, because I know she'd go back to the White House to kick his ass and show him what a woman warrior can do.

Gil and Gladys Palast in uniform at their wedding 1943. Dad fought in the Phillipines.

And also, just one day after the inauguration, he fired Gen. Charles Q. Brown, a 4-star general, Chair of Joint Chiefs of Staff, a pilot with 130 hours of combat flights in an F-16, for no other visible reason other than Brown is, well … brown.

Brown was replaced, for the first time in US history, by a guy who never even attained the rank of general. Dan Caine is a flunky who flattered Agent Orange when he visited Iraq during his first term. Before taking charge of America’s military, Caine was a Wall Street speculator. Maybe, if the market drops again, Trump will award Caine a purple heart. Trump said he was moved to appoint Caine because of his nickname, “Razin' Caine.” Actually, his nickname is properly written, ”Raisin Caine,” because he was retired and dried up.

That's OK, because Trump doesn’t use our military to confront bad guys. The military’s new mission is to harass Democratic mayors because TACO Trump always folds and crumbles into pieces when an enemy bites. Vladimir Putin is still living in the glow of the Lewinsky he got from Trump in Alaska, and China boasts about invading Taiwan.

Putin and Xi Jinping don't think that Trump is a paper tiger. They've tagged him as a paper three-toed sloth.

To be old, un-gifted and fat

Hegseth called together all the top brass in the military to boost his side gig as a Jenny Craig Weight Loss Program salesman. He used the term “fat” three times. The generals and admirals, many of whom were ordered to fly thousands of miles to this PR dog-and-pony show, were forced to listen to their Secretary say:

“It's completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the country and the world. It's a bad look.“

A bad look? Has Hegseth ever looked at our Commander-in-Chief, the bloviating porcine bigot in a red tie? Mom could have taken General Bone Spurs to the mat. (I am strictly non-partisan, but Mom wasn’t. Here’s a photo of her, two days before she passed away at 97, smiling in her “Impeach Trump” T-shirt.)

Gladys Palast, at 97.

Our enemies must be laughing their keisters off knowing that our commanders were pulled out of the field to hear Hegseth commanding them to get a shave.

“No more beard-os,” said our Secretary of War. (Though I do applaud his physically attacking JD Vance with a razor … OK, I made that up.)

Declaration of War — on America

The most pathetic moment of Trump’s speech was at the beginning when he complained that he did not get applause from the generals upon his entry. Instead of the applause he was begging for, he got sly laughter. Then Trump turned on his threat machine. “Don’t laugh! Don’t laugh! You’re not allowed to do that! ... If you don’t like what I’m saying you can leave the room. Of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future.”

Still no applause but some nervous laughter. This is, after all, their Commander-in-Chief and he’s punished dissent and competence with not only firing but physical threats. After 4-Star Gen. Mark Milley retired as head of the Joint Chiefs, Trump removed Milley’s security detail. It’s only been a month since Trump and Hegseth canned Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency after they caught him telling the truth. (Trump has re-named it the Defense Stupidity Agency … OK, I made that up as well.)

But while the Hegseth and Trump speeches seemed to have been drafted by Groucho Marx, I have to agree with Trump: “Don’t laugh.” His speech was, effectively, a declaration of war on Americans, specifically, “inner cities” — the oldest trope for Black Americans -- “which we’re going to be talking about because it’s a big part of war now. It’s a big part of war.”

WAR??? The generals didn’t miss the point: they were dragged back to the States because their Commander is telling them that the real enemy is America itself, “the enemy within,” a chilling phrase he borrowed from his mentor, Roy Cohn, the Grand Inquisitor of the McCarthy era of political terror. Scarier still, Trump is bringing back McCarthyism with a bullet. Literally. He said,

“I told Pete we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.”

American citizens will now be target practice.

Think I’m kidding? It’s begun. Just this week, a member of our team was observing a demonstration in a Chicago suburb in front of a new ICE detention center. The demonstrators were outside a fence, protesting peacefully, when, according to our reporter, federal agents on the roof, utterly unprovoked, started firing pepper balls. How soon before some kid, trained as a soldier, not a cop, will fire real bullets after a “provocation”?

Broadview ICE facility, Illinois Protesters in front of the Broadview ICE Processing Facility, Illinois, just before the agents (on roof) began firing pepper balls at the demonstrators. Photograph: Patrice Gallagher for the Palast Investigative Fund 2025.

Trump’s hauling generals to his goofy confab can be put down as a ridiculous publicity stunt. But this stunt was scheduled only days after Trump issued National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7) directing the full force of the federal government to go after those who show “hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.”

We have located the enemy, and it is … Portland.

For all the stifled laughter, the military understood the grim order: their next war will be against America.

Greg Palast is the author of several New York Times bestsellers including The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. See his reports at https://substack.com/@gregpalastinvestigates

Elite Pentagon Marine appears on podcast that called for Hegseth's execution

A decorated Marine Corps colonel assigned to the Joint Staff at the Pentagon appeared on a podcast co-hosted by his brother that promotes antisemitism, white supremacy and political violence — including one segment that appeared to call for the execution of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

Col. Thomas M. Siverts appeared on The Berm Pit podcast in March 2023. The 40-minute video shows Siverts discussing his career as a Marine Corps officer with his younger brother, Scott Siverts, the podcast co-host.

In a separate episode recorded in late 2024, the younger Siverts and co-host Matt Wakulik discuss how they would grade President Donald Trump’s cabinet picks.

“Why don’t we grade them on a scale of how many bullets I put in their head,” Wakulik proposed, as Scott Siverts laughed.

When Siverts named Hegseth, a soldier turned Fox News host and controversial cabinet pick, Wakulik said: “Six bullets. I’d have to put another one in there after I emptied the whole chamber — or the whole cylinder.”

Wakulik, a Pittsburgh-area resident, regularly espouses antisemitic views. Citing perceived failures in relation to the Jeffrey Epstein case and other conspiracy-adjacent fixations, he has said Donald Trump should be executed and FBI Director Kash Patel tortured.

In the segment about Hegseth, Wakulik also advocated execution for senior Trump administration officials including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

Only Tom Homan, architect of Trump’s draconian deportations policy, would be spared.

Considering Hegseth, Wakulik also disparaged his support for Israel.

Siverts said: “The only problem with that is when you have dual allegiance — well, it’s Biblical, right? You can’t serve two masters.”

Scott Siverts told Raw Story that to some extent he understood why people would be outraged about the segment.

“It’s distasteful, off-putting, inflammatory,” he said. “Matt did it on the fly. He takes it to the next level, and I kind of laugh at it.”

While noting that The Berm Pit hasn’t produced a new episode since June 5, Siverts said he planned to scrub political content off the internet and sell the podcast to two active-duty Marines at Camp Pendleton in California.

Citing reputational harm and strained family relationships due to public backlash against his and Wakulik’s rhetoric, Siverts said his decision to quit the podcast was also motivated by concern that he would be held liable if someone in his audience carried out a violent act.

“I’m agreeing with your position that some rhetoric probably will radicalize people, which is why I’m stepping away from the podcast,” Siverts told Raw Story. “I understand the backlash I’ve received.”

Raw Story also reached out to Col. Thomas Siverts. Reached by phone, and asked if he was aware that the podcast his brother co-hosts had featured a discussion about executing Hegseth, Col. Siverts hung up.

The Joint Staff Public Affairs office at the Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment about Col. Siverts’ podcast appearance.

Scott Siverts said that following public backlash against the podcast including a successful campaign to get him fired from his job as a bar manager at Mario’s Saloon in Pittsburgh, his brother called to find out what the controversy was about. Scott Siverts said he offered to take down the episode featuring his brother.

“Nah, leave it up,” Col. Thomas Siverts said, according to Scott. “There’s nothing wrong with what we said. I didn’t serve my country and risk my life so you couldn’t have the freedom of speech. I like the episode. If they come after me at some point, I don’t care. It’s free speech.”

Matt Wakulik, an antisemitic podcaster and self-proclaimed militia leader, carried an AR-15 at a pro-Second Amendment rally in Richmond, Va. in January 2020. Anthony Crider

At the time of his interview with his brother in March 2023, Col. Thomas Siverts was commanding officer of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, stationed at Camp Pendleton. A communications officer with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit listened to the interview in real time and approved it for publication, Scott Siverts told Raw Story.

The 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit could not be reached for comment.

Scott Siverts said his brother’s interview took place before the podcast took an explicitly political turn. Two months earlier, though, Siverts had hosted Wakulik, who would become his co-host, as a guest.

In an episode titled “The Militia Man,” the two discussed Wakulik’s unsuccessful run for Allegheny County sheriff, which drew controversy over his paramilitary group wearing patches displaying the Valknut, a symbol associated with white supremacy.

‘Lotta big projects’

While a spokesperson for the Joint Staff declined to confirm that Col. Siverts is employed there, Scott Siverts confirmed to Raw Story that his brother is currently assigned to the Pentagon.

Col. Siverts discussed his Pentagon assignment in an August 2024 interview for the 4 Years a Slave podcast, its title referring to the standard length of a U.S. military active-duty commitment.

“I’m on the Joint Staff, so I get to see some of the inner workings of how the Joint Staff supports the chairmen and SecDef and carrying out strategic objectives,” Col. Siverts said.

The Joint Staff includes representatives of all branches of the military, and assists Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in maintaining the integration of all combatant forces. Caine is the principal military advisor to President Donald Trump. In June, Caine stood alongside Hegseth and addressed reporters about the U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.

“Lotta big projects going on,” Siverts said on the 4 Years a Slave podcast. “You got everything going from, you know, current what’s going on in the world today to guys working programs 10, 15 years — maybe even longer than that — years out.”

As commanding officer of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Siverts’ operational focus was enhancing U.S. national security posture in Southeast Asia, where China has long been considered the primary geopolitical rival.

Siverts received the Legion of Merit “for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding services as a commanding officer” of the unit, which deployed for exercises with allies in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore.

“What they did there was absolutely amazing and gave our great nation a strategic hedge in the battle that’s going on in the Pacific and competition,” a Marine Corps officer said during the change of command ceremony at Camp Lejeune in June 2024.

The officer hailed Siverts’ unit for standing up a “credible, combat-capable force” that “can flip a switch and they can start laying down lead and stacking bodies, if need be, and offer a credible deterrent to any adversary foolish enough to threaten the United States citizens or our interests.”

Siverts’ Legion of Merit lauded him for fostering “meaningful interaction, mutual trust and respect” with allies and for “genuine passion for professional development and welfare of the Marines and sailors under his charge.”

Scott Siverts also served in the Marine Corps. His podcast’s name references an earthen mound surrounding a pit on a firing range.

“I’ve always looked up to you. You’ve been a role model for me, and you’re the reason I joined the Marine Corps, too, and enlisted right out of high school,” Scott Siverts said of his brother in their interview, adding that he was his “third-biggest fan,” after Col. Siverts’ wife and daughter.

Scott Siverts said he was present when his brother received his officer commission through the Marine Enlisted Commission Education Program at the University of Virginia in 1989 and when he was promoted to colonel at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia in 2021.

‘Allies of Evil’

Col. Siverts’ interview on The Berm Pit did not cover political issues, and his remarks did not give any indication of whether he agrees with his younger brother’s views.

The landing page for the podcast on the video streaming service Rumble features thumbnails for later episodes that clearly point to pro-Hitler, antisemitic stances.

One displays the text “The Allies of Evil,” alongside a photograph of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin. Another states, “General Patton said we fought the wrong enemy,” referring to Gen. George S. Patton, who commanded the Seventh Army in the Mediterranean during World War II.

Another episode, entitled “Remembering 9/11,” shows four men depicted as Jews who appear to be celebrating the attack on the World Trade Center.

In episodes of The Berm Pit which appear to have been recorded after Col. Siverts’ interview, his younger brother expresses agreement with the idea that murder of elected officials with opposing views is justified, and contemplates the possibility of race war.

“I still believe that it is the responsibility of the people to organize against any corrupt politician anywhere — I don’t care if it’s a school board member up to a senator or representative,” Wakulik says, in an episode published in April 2024.

“If they are that corrupt and all this is going on, then they need to be threatened, or actually shoot them in the face. Because violence and the threat of violence is the ultimate deterrent. Where is the lie, Scott Siverts.”

“Uh, no lies detected,” Siverts responds.

In an episode streamed four months ago, Wakulik asks: “If there was a race war between whites and Blacks, where whites still make up 55 percent of the population and Blacks make up 13 [percent], and white as we know are more likely to be not only trained but armed with firearms, if that was to happen … who would win that war, that race war?”

Siverts responds: “Well, I mean, it’s a no-brainer.”

Scott Siverts insisted his brother “does not share” his political views.

“My brother told me he hasn’t voted since 1996,” Siverts added. “He doesn’t get political. He serves the commander in chief, regardless of party. He doesn’t see color, except green for Marines. The last guy he voted for was Bill Clinton.”

Scott Siverts told Raw Story that in summer 2023, he asked his brother about Alan Sabrosky, a retired Marine Corps officer and frequent guest on The Berm Pit, including the “Allies of Evil” episode. When he asked his brother if he knew who Sabrosky was, Scott Siverts told Raw Story, his brother responded, “I think I do. I heard he’s an antisemite.”

Republican senator takes a shot at Trump's 'peace through strength' slogan

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) slammed President Donald Trump's move to "rebrand" the Department of Defense to the Department of War, taking a shot at Trump's "peace through strength" slogan.

"If we call it the Dept. of War, we'd better equip the military to actually prevent and win wars. Can't preserve American primacy if we're unwilling to spend substantially more on our military than Carter or Biden. 'Peace through strength' requires investment, not just rebranding," McConnell posted on X.

The 83-year-old senator and longest-serving Senate party leader has criticized Trump and the growing MAGA wing of the Republican Party.

He warned earlier this week that America was slipping into a time reminiscent of the 1930s, with a similar slogan, "America First," that poised the United States to enter an isolationist period. He has previously warned that it could put the U.S. in a "dangerous" global situation.

The phrase "America First" originated in the 1850s nativist American Party. It was used by President Woodrow Wilson during World War I. And in the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan adopted the slogan.

The president intends to sign an executive order changing the agency's name to the Department of War, which it had been called from 1789 until its 1947 reorganization.

Other critics have called the president's rebrand "a sign of weakness."

"The name 'Department of War' conveys a stronger message of readiness and resolve compared to 'Department of Defense,' which emphasizes only defensive capabilities," the executive order says.

“It’s a much more appropriate name, especially in light of where the world is right now,” Trump said. He called the previous name "woke," according to The Associated Press, adding that it "just sounded better."

Thom Tillis had a chance to serve his country – he blew it

The incompetence of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense is painfully obvious. Former Fox & Friends weekend host Pete Hegseth was never qualified for the job.

Belatedly, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — who became the key vote to confirm the nominee — admits it.

Tillis squandered a unique opportunity to protect the nation from Hegseth. The country is now paying the price for his cowardice.

Tillis’ reversal

In a phone call with Trump just before Christmas, Tillis promised to support all of Trump’s cabinet picks. But he developed strong reservations about Hegseth — strong enough to participate in a secret effort to kill the nomination. Serious issues about character, statements about barring women in combat, and allegations of sexual misconduct dogged Hegseth. He had none of the qualifications necessary to run the defense department of more than 2 million military and civilian personnel.

Other Republicans — including Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — had similar concerns. And to confirm Hegseth, Trump could afford to lose only three Republican senators. Ernst, a combat veteran who survived a sexual assault, capitulated to pressure from Trump’s supporters who threatened a primary challenge in her upcoming reelection. The other three — Murkowski, Collins, and McConnell — held firm.

That left Tillis. After weeks of coordinating with fellow senators to oppose the nomination, he caved. As with Ernst, the threat of a Trump-endorsed primary challenger lurked. But Tillis attributed his earlier resistance to “vetting” and said that he decided to support Hegseth after conducting “due diligence.”

Even so, his abrupt, 11th-hour reversal from “no” to “yes” surprised Murkowski and Collins. And it positioned Vice President JD Vance to cast a tie-breaking vote that put Hegseth in charge at the Pentagon by one of the narrowest margins of any defense secretary in modern history: 51 to 50.

Hegseth’s scandals

Before long, Hegseth’s incompetence revealed itself.

In his first major overseas appearance on Feb. 12, he “made a rookie mistake,” according to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee. Hegseth told NATO and Ukrainian ministers that a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders was “an unrealistic objective” and ruled out NATO membership for Kyiv. Hegseth’s comments gave away Ukraine’s negotiating leverage before cease-fire negotiations with Russia had even begun.

“I don’t know who wrote the speech,” Wicker continued. “[I]t is the kind of thing Tucker Carlson could have written, and Carlson is a fool.”

Then came the “Signalgate” scandal. Hegseth was on a group chat from March 13-15 that inadvertently included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. The chat detailed sensitive information describing the United States’ imminent attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Shortly after that scandal became public came Signalgate II. The New York Times reported that Hegseth himself had shared detailed information about the forthcoming strikes in Yemen on March 15 in a private Signal group chat that included his wife, brother, and personal lawyer.

According to the Times, “Mr. Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, a former Fox News producer, is not a Defense Department employee, but she has traveled with him overseas and drawn criticism for accompanying her husband to sensitive meetings with foreign leaders.”

“Mr. Hegseth’s brother Phil and Tim Parlatore, who continues to serve as his personal lawyer, both have jobs in the Pentagon, but it is not clear why either would need to know about upcoming military strikes aimed at the Houthis in Yemen.”

There’s more. Recently, the public learned that Hegseth paused U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine without informing Trump. A week later, Trump resumed the shipments.

Tillis’s lamentations

At long last, Tillis found his spine — but only after announcing that he would not seek reelection in 2026. In a July 9 interview on CNN, he admitted the truth about Hegseth: “With the passing of time, I think it’s clear he’s out of his depth as a manager of a large, complex organization.”

As for Hegseth’s unilateral pause on weapons to Ukraine without informing Trump, Tillis said, “That’s just amateurish. That’s from somebody who doesn’t understand large organization dynamics.”

Would Tillis vote to confirm Hegseth today? “Now, I have the information of him being a manager, and I don’t think his probationary period has been very positive.”

In the same interview, Tillis also commented on his affirmative vote for another Trump cabinet member whose incompetence is likewise becoming clear and deadly: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“Quite honestly, the main reason I supported Kennedy was because [Sen.] Bill Cassidy [R-La.] thought that we should see how it plays out,” Tillis said.

That cabinet pick is not playing out very well either. Just ask Sen. Cassidy.

Steven J. Harper is an attorney, adjunct professor at Northwestern University Law School, and author of several books, including Crossing Hoffa -- A Teamster's Story and The Lawyer Bubble -- A Profession in Crisis. He has been a regular columnist for Moyers on Democracy, Dan Rather's News and Guts, and The American Lawyer. Follow him at https://thelawyerbubble.com

'I'm looking forward': GOP senators won't even say embattled Hegseth's name

WASHINGTON — Republican senators may have confirmed Pete Hegseth as the nation’s 29th defense secretary, but as Pentagon scandals keep stacking up, powerful U.S. senators are refusing to even discuss the embattled military leader.

In March, congressional Republicans rolled their eyes, joked or laughed nervously after Hegseth added the editor in chief of The Atlantic to a private Signal group chat where war plans were discussed.

Now, many in the GOP now seem dismayed by news Hegseth blocked military aid to Ukraine without telling his boss, President Donald Trump.

“What do you make of the news out of the Pentagon this week about the Ukraine funding?” Raw Story pressed the chair of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. “Is the media making too much out of this? Or is there something to be worried about [in] people in the Pentagon undercutting the president?”

“I just wouldn’t be able to comment,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) said as he hopped the nearest Capitol elevator.

Wicker wasn’t alone. The chair of the formidable Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), also dodged discussing Hegseth.

“Your thoughts on what happened with this Ukraine funding?” Raw Story asked.

“I know where you're going with this,” Risch said, while riding an elevator with Raw Story.

Like Wicker, Risch refused to even utter the defense secretary’s name.

“Talking about the …” Risch stammered. “I don't know anything about that, and I'm looking forward. I know you guys are looking backward. I'm looking forward. Okay?”

“Do you think my colleagues are paying too much attention to this?” Raw Story asked.

“Absolutely, yeah, absolutely,” Risch said, walking on. “There's nothing to be gained by looking backward. There's everything to be gained by looking forward.”

“But you’re not worried about people at the Pentagon trying to undercut the president?”

“Not at all,” Risch replied. “No I'm not. Listen, he knows how to do this stuff.”

Nonetheless, speculation over how President Trump will choose to handle Hegseth is mounting, given the Ukraine aid fiasco is only the latest public misstep from the former Fox News host.

Observers sense change afoot after Trump publicly attacked Russian president Vladimir Putin while greenlighting the Ukraine military package over protests from the MAGA wing of the GOP.

On Capitol Hill, for many on the far-right of the GOP, efforts to block Ukraine military aid are in the rearview mirror.

For years, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) was one of the loudest voices of resistance to funding Ukraine. Not anymore.The former Homeland Security Committee chair says it’s a proverbial new day.

“Curious for your thoughts on the seemingly new Ukraine policy?” Raw Story asked.

“It's kind of recognizing reality,” Johnson said. “I mean, the aggressor here is Putin … President Trump's given him every opportunity like he gave the ayatollahs [in Iran] to come at the table. You know, 'End this war, end your nuclear program.' He's trying to do the same thing.”

What then does Sen. Johnson make of Hegseth cutting military aid without clearing it with the White House?

“I’m not even aware of it,” Johnson said. “So I have no comment on that.”

Other more MAGA-tinged Republicans are also singing a new tune.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), a member of the Homeland Security Committee and a committed America First populist, joined Johnson in vigorously opposing President Joe Biden's efforts to assist Kyiv.

“What is this?” Hawley asked. “I've been asked a lot of Hegseth questions recently.”

Raw Story helped him out: “Is the media making too much of this? It kind of seems like President Trump might have been undercut on Ukraine policy.”

“Well, I mean, listen, I mean, everybody … he [Hegseth] serves at the pleasure of the President. Like, the President wants him gone, he'll be gone,” Hawley said, before entering the Senate chamber.

“But I think he seems to be doing a good job. I don't know. Again, I don't get caught up in cabinet drama.”

“No buyer’s remorse?” Raw Story pressed.

“Well, I mean, I didn’t buy him,” Hawley said. “He’s the president's choice.”

“That’s a nice way to wash your hands of every nominee,” Raw Story said.

“I thought he was qualified to do the job,” Hawley said. “Beyond that, he's the President's choice, which is why I also won't have a meltdown if it's like … ‘Well, the President's gonna change him.’ He can do whatever he wants with his cabinet.”

‘Watch your step’

Democrats — most of whom support funding Ukraine in its war against Russian invaders — are worried over the national security implications of Hegseth’s latest error, even as many sense the president losing faith in his Pentagon chief.

“Well, you better watch your step,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) — the Senate minority whip — told Raw Story. “Doesn't take much to get this president to decide that you're finished.”

Democrats who opposed Hegseth's confirmation are hoping this episode will at least go some way to restrain him.

“If Secretary Hegseth has not figured it out now or figured it out yet, he works for someone,” Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) told Raw Story.

“It appears that this Secretary just wants to be in charge, [to] be the president himself. And you know, I appreciate the President standing up to him and supporting Ukraine in this case.

“But it's very concerning that the Secretary of Defense is making arbitrary decisions without those that he has to work with and report to, namely, Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio as well as the President of the United States.”

As for powerful GOP senators like Wicker and Risch avoiding Hegseth like the plague?

“Turning a blind eye to all of this is not good for our national security, especially when we have responsibilities of oversight. This should be very concerning, and there should be briefings and hearings and gifts or whatever required to be able to get to the bottom of this,” Sen. Luján said.

“Someone needs to have answers.”

This man killed more Americans than anybody in history. Trump's now his toady

Robert E. Lee killed more Americans than Hitler. More than Khrushchev. More than King George III, Ho Chi Minh, or Kim Il Sung. He killed more Americans than we’ve lost in every war since the American Revolution, combined. He was the largest mass murderer of Americans in our nation’s history.

Gen. Lee was not a good man: he was a morbidly rich oligarch who not only bought and sold enslaved human beings but delighted in whipping and torturing them.

Three of the two hundred-plus enslaved people he held at his plantation — Wesley Norris, his sister Mary, and their cousin George Parks — escaped and were captured in nearby Maryland. The report in the March 26, 1866 edition of The New York Daily Tribune, quoting Wesley Norris at length, tells us all about Lee’s proclivities:

“He then ordered us to the barn, where, in his presence, we were tied firmly to posts by a Mr. Gwin, our overseer, who was ordered by Gen. Lee to strip us to the waist and give us fifty lashes each, excepting my sister, who received but twenty; …

“Gen. Lee, in the meantime, stood by, and frequently enjoined Williams to ‘lay it on well,’ an injunction which he did not fail to heed; not satisfied with simply lacerating our naked flesh, Gen. Lee then ordered the overseer to thoroughly wash our backs with [excruciatingly painful saltwater] brine, which was done.”

Fearing Lincoln might end slavery in America, Lee raised an army and tried to use it to end democracy in the United States. He thus committed treason in a way that exceeded even Benedict Arnold’s wildest fantasies. His war killed almost 750,000 men, women, and children, all Americans.

No American has ever betrayed or visited as much violence on this country as severely as did Robert E. Lee.

And so, when Lee lost the war that he’d started against us, the federal government seized his slave plantation and turned it into a cemetery for the Civil War dead. It’s today named Arlington National Cemetery.

So, perhaps it makes perfect sense that the current chief betrayer of the ideals of our nation, convicted felon and Putin toady Donald Trump, would brag to a group of American soldiers that he’s going to rename a military base after Robert E. Lee. (In fact, like others, the renamed base will officially recognize a different Lee.)

Even more shocking, in what’s an astonishing indictment of how our educational system has de-emphasized civics in the years since Reagan and George W. Bush both took an axe to civics education, the assembled soldiers cheered the news that Lee’s name would again desecrate a military facility.

Trump then went on to repeatedly lie to our soldiers, falsely claiming that:

He won the 2020 election which he told them was “rigged and stolen”
He sent the National Guard into Minnesota “and I saved it” during the George Floyd protests, when in fact it was Gov. Tim Walz who did so
He defeated ISIS “in four weeks” — it took two years to liberate the ISIS caliphate
“Nobody wanted to join” the military under Joe Biden, a blatant lie
Countries like “Congo” dumped their prisoners and people from their mental hospitals here, saying, “Their countries would bus them or drive them right to our border and say, ‘Go in there. If you ever come back, we’re going to kill you.’”
He’d brought water to LA during the fires when in fact he’d just ordered a field flooded in northern California, screwing up water allocations for agriculture
Echoed Hitler when he called Los Angeles protestors “animals” and “a foreign enemy.”

And even more disgusting than that, Trump was nakedly using those soldiers he was lying to as political props to massage his own ego and provide a made-for-Fox-“News” clip, as military.com pointed out:

“Internal 82nd Airborne Division communications reviewed by Military.com reveal a tightly orchestrated effort to curate the optics of Trump's recent visit, including handpicking soldiers for the audience based on political leanings and physical appearance. The troops ultimately selected to be behind Trump and visible to the cameras were almost exclusively male. One unit-level message bluntly said, ‘no fat soldiers.’” [emphasis added]

This is the exact opposite of the instructions to keep the military nonpartisan that President George Washington gave future generations in his farewell address:

“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism.

“The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty.”

That the Secretary of Defense, “Kegger” Pete Hegseth, would not just allow but intentionally facilitate such an offensive display of partisanship is particularly troubling when compared to the military’s actual policies in Directive 1344.10, put into place years ago to respect Washington’s advice:

“In keeping with the traditional concept that members on active duty should not engage in partisan political activity, and that members not on active duty should avoid inferences that their political activities imply or appear to imply official sponsorship, approval, or endorsement, the following policy shall apply: …

“A member of the Armed Forces on active duty shall not: …

“Participate in partisan political fundraising activities, rallies, conventions, management of campaigns, or debates, either on one’s own behalf or on that of another, without respect to uniform or inference or appearance of official sponsorship, approval, or endorsement. …

“Attend partisan political events as an official representative of the Armed Forces…”

“This is a lawful general regulation. Violations of paragraphs 4.1. through 4.5. of this Directive by persons subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice are punishable under Article 92, ‘Failure to Obey Order or Regulation.’”

When Trump blurs this line designed to keep our military nonpartisan, he’s imitating the behavior of dictators like Putin, Erdoğan, and Orbán who cultivate personal loyalty within the military, rather than respect for constitutional processes.

Trump’s and “Kegger’s” move is apparently designed to test whether rank-and-file troops will go along with his political agenda and to build a foundation for future actions in which military force can be used domestically to defend his regime rather than the Constitution (e.g., suppressing protests, enforcing disputed election outcomes, defending the suspension of elections, etc.).

This is deeply dangerous to any democracy, which is why such behavior is not allowed by the military or executive of any other advanced democracy in the world. When military loyalty becomes politicized, the risk of coups, unlawful orders, or martial law rises dramatically.

Which — given the fact that Trump’s already tried once to stage a coup against the United States — makes this all the more alarming.

But Trump didn’t stop there. He next attacked the media filming the event, saying to more applause from the troops:

“And for a little news, for the fake news back there, the fake news, ladies and gentlemen, look at them, look at them, aye yai yai, what I have to put up with. Fake news. What I have to put up with.”

In fascist regimes, the press is always one of their first targets, typically labeled as “enemies of the people,” blamed for national problems, and ultimately silenced or co-opted. Trump using such rhetoric normalizes contempt for independent journalism among armed agents of the state while it suggests the possibility of state-aligned force being turned against critical media or dissenters.

Nazi Germany, Mussolini's Italy, Putin’s Russia, and more recently Orbán’s Hungary all followed this script. By repeating it, Trump is conditioning our soldiers to follow him rather than the Constitution and the law of the land.

He even brought along a vendor of Trump merchandise in violation of military policy, including MAGA hats, T-shirts, and cards that read, “White Privilege Card: Trumps Everything.”

Historically, when democracies have slid into dictatorship, there’s a moment when the military is required to choose sides, the press is cast as a threat, and loyalty to the regime is demanded and rewarded, rather than loyalty to the law.

We’re there now. Today.

Every American, particularly those who’ve served in the military, should be outraged by Trump’s fascist performance in front of our troops. That the only senior active duty military officer who spoke to the press did so anonymously (he said, “This has been a bad week for the Army for anyone who cares about us being a neutral institution; this was shameful.”) is a damning indictment of how far away from American values we’ve let Trump drag our country.