The Disturbing Republican Attacks on the U.S. Military

In years past the Republican Party branded itself as pro-U.S. military and it would be unthinkable to trash not only top generals and admirals but also most of the rank and file members of the military.  Along came the Trump/Pence regime which sought to use members of the military as props for photo shoots but collided with the military's refusal to ignore inconvenient facts, objective reality and efforts to ban discrimination and weed out white supremacists.  Now, in the post-Trump world with Republicans in a contest as to who can most prostitute themselves to the Trump base and facts and objective reality never being allowed to interfere with GOP ideology, the U.S. military finds itself further on the firing line and under Republican attack.  A column - which includes input by the former Secretary of the Army - looks at the deplorable Republican behavior.  Here are excerpts:

This week, under questioning from Matt Gaetz, perhaps the least ethical member of Congress right now (and wow, that is a hard title to get!), the Joint Chiefs Chairman, Army General Mark Milley, fought back at the pervy congressman’s whine about the military being woke. 

"And I personally find it offensive that we are accusing the United States military, our general officers, our commissioned, noncommissioned officers of being, quote, 'woke' or something else, because we're studying some theories that are out there."

Later, Gaetz had the gall to tweet about Milley: "With Generals like this it’s no wonder we’ve fought considerably more wars than we’ve won." Gaetz wouldn't last 10 minutes at West Point.

Never in American history has a political party gone after the U.S. military. The military is sacrosanct. It is revered. It protects our freedom, our democracy. It is the envy of the world.

Gaetz and his bigoted lot are trying to ignite shitstorms over being "woke" and the teaching of critical race theory. These are attempts to score political points with the racist Trump base, and they are using the venerable U.S. military as the whipping post for their lies and slander.

The old Grand Old Party, now renamed as the Grotesquely Obnoxious Perjurers, are falsely accusing the military of being weak and disgustingly lambasting it for supporting equality.

Gaetz tried the same line of "woke" questioning about critical race theory earlier in this hearing on yet another army officer, former general and now Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who like Miley, set Gaetz straight in no uncertain terms.

"We do not teach critical race theory. We don't embrace critical race theory, and I think that's a spurious conversation," he said. "We are focused on extremist behaviors and not ideology — not people's thoughts, not people's political orientation. Behaviors is what we're focused on."

The Far Right went nuts over the testimonies of Milley and Austin, and their defense of the army and U.S. military that they love with a passion. The anti-American tandem of Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham cheered on the despicable Gaetz on Fox News, the network now known as the most vocal supporters of The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

These are just the latest in a continuing series of salvos by Republicans attempting to debase the army. Recently, you had Senator Ted Cruz implying that our army isn’t as masculine and strong as the Russian Army. What is that perilous statement supposed to accomplish for U.S. security? He and Carlson should just Zoom in from Moscow.

Similarly, you had a retired Army General, Mike Flynn, who basically worked for the Russians during Trump’s 2016 campaign, and briefly in Trump’s White House, recently calling for a military coup in the U.S.

I reached out to former Secretary Fanning and get his take on these awful takes by Gaetz, Flynn, and Cruz.

Fanning was quick to rebut the ill-fitting and grossly outdated reference. “We have unquestionably the strongest fighting force in the world. Add to that, that we make sure to recruit the very best, which is so critical in maintaining our strong force. And we have taken steps to strive for a more diverse force because that’s what’s best for the country. Not only do recruits and personnel need to be strong, but they need to be smart. We need a smarter force. And why? Because the military isn’t fighting a lot of hand to hand combat, and there’s more technology involved. We need to be strong and smart.”

What did Fanning think when he heard Flynn’s traitorous comments? “He is an anomaly, and he’s always been one, even when he was still serving, he was not well liked. . . . .“I’m assuming he doesn’t have a security clearance anymore,” Fanning added. 

Fanning was quick to say that the army, and the rest of the military, aren’t affected by these well-reported comments, and that they will continue to do their best to help each other and defend our country. 

“All of the military branches deserve credit. They strive to do their very best. The leadership understands that it needs a diverse community, with different skill sets, and soldiers dedicated to the Constitution of the United States. Persons in uniform take care of one another and learn from each other, and that’s really what’s most important to remember.”