January 5, 2021: Ten Living Secretaries of Defense Sign Letter of Warning

1/5/21: Lame Duck Don has fifteen days left to screw up the country and he’s doing his best. 

That means, for most Americans, and all of us who cherish the rule of law, he’s doing his worst.

 

____________________ 

“We did not swear it to an individual or a party.” 

Letter signed by the ten living former Secretaries of Defense

____________________

 

Ten secretaries of defense sign - including Mark Esper, right, chosen by Trump.

 

It should be telling (but for many Trump fans it won’t) that the ten living former Secretaries of Defense have signed a letter of stark warning. That such a missive is necessary tells us all that we need to know about the menace that is President Trump. Signatories include the first two Defense secretaries he hired, and then fired. These are men who know what he’s like behind closed doors. 

The bipartisan group writes: 

As former secretaries of defense, we hold a common view of the solemn obligations of the U.S. armed forces and the Defense Department. Each of us swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We did not swear it to an individual or a party.

 

American elections and the peaceful transfers of power that result are hallmarks of our democracy…This should be no exception.

 

Our elections have occurred. Recounts and audits have been conducted. Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts. Governors have certified the results. And the electoral college has voted. The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived.

 

As senior Defense Department leaders have noted, “there’s no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of a U.S. election.” Efforts to involve the U.S. armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory. Civilian and military officials who direct or carry out such measures would be accountable, including potentially facing criminal penalties, for the grave consequences of their actions on our republic.

 

…Acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller and his subordinates – political appointees, officers and civil servants – are each bound by oath, law and precedent to facilitate the entry into office of the incoming administration, and to do so wholeheartedly. They must also refrain from any political actions that undermine the results of the election or hinder the success of the new team.

 

We call upon them, in the strongest terms, to do as so many generations of Americans have done before them. This final action is in keeping with the highest traditions and professionalism of the U.S. armed forces, and the history of democratic transition in our great country.

 

You wish Trump fans would think this over, and it would sink in: The ten living men who have led the Department of Defense concur. 

They must warn the military not to step in; and the only person who could order the troops to do so is the mendacious, unethical man currently occupying the White House, Donald J. Trump. 

Arsonist of democracy. 

 

POSTSCRIPT: Rejected Don still has his supporters, ready to help him burn the house down. Glen Beck, who talked about going to war on Monday (see: 1/4/21), now advises his audience that they should “channel their inner Martin Luther King Jr. and avoid violence.” But Dan Bongino isn’t ready to concede anything. He tells listeners to his popular podcast that Democrats “rigged the rules to make sure that any potential outcome would go their way.”