Politics
Opinion: Trump proved himself unfit to be commander in chief
When I was an officer in the U.S. military, I abstained from voting in national elections, one small way to keep the armed forces nonpartisan. Now, to uphold that same value and prevent the military from becoming a political tool, I believe that in November, everyone — civilians, service members, veterans, everyone — should vote for whoever has the best chance to keep Donald Trump out of office.
This is not a political statement. This is a strategic judgment based on fitness to lead — both to defend the United States and to protect the civilian-military balance that has enabled our nation to become the greatest in history.
Today’s U.S. military is the world’s most powerful weapon, and in the wrong hands it could become a potent political tool as well. This weapon must not be placed under an unfit commander in chief, as the former president showed himself to be during the previous administration and as he has vowed to be again if he regains power.
I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican, but an American who has fought in the forces that guard our country and our way of life, in the words of our military’s Code of Conduct. I fought in Iraq, earned two Bronze Stars and taught military strategy at West Point. My commitment to military values and nonpartisanship hasn’t changed since I rejoined civilian life. What’s changed is the choice presented in American politics. There really isn’t one, because one of the two major-party presidential candidates is clearly, demonstrably, irredeemably unfit to serve as commander in chief.
Only one candidate has suggested the execution of a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Only one candidate has called our war dead — specifically, the Marines who fell at Belleau Wood in France during World War I — “suckers” and “losers.”
Only one candidate has suggested putting NASCAR drivers and college coaches in critical national security positions now held by lifelong military professionals who serve as generals and admirals.
All those are awful enough.
But what settles the question altogether is the certainty that former President Trump would end the military’s bedrock contract with the American people: nonpartisanship. He tried last time and came dangerously close.
Nonpartisanship isn’t simply a nice tradition. It’s the two-factor authentication that’s been at the heart of our nation’s defense for decades. The former president instead wants military leadership that mimics the Nazi high command.
“You f— generals, why can’t you be like the German generals?” Trump complained to his chief of staff, retired Gen. John Kelly, in 2018. Trump clarified that he wanted generals who were “totally loyal” and “yes-men,” like the Nazi commanders under Adolf Hitler.
Since America’s founding, there’s been a tension between the military and the rest of the nation’s leadership. The monopoly on violence is necessary. But monopoly means placing immense lethal power in a small, select group.
James Madison worried that “armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.” But the Revolution persuaded George Washington that a competent standing military was necessary for the country’s survival.
Over time a bargain solidified. America permitted a professional military, not loyal to a party or a president, but to all the people through an oath to uphold the Constitution. The country even granted a certain amount of autonomy in strategic matters. In exchange, the military would remain nonpartisan. It would work to earn the nation’s trust and subordinate itself to civilian leadership. Military leaders engage in an “unequal dialogue” with their civilian superiors, in scholar Eliot Cohen’s phrase. This preserves the best military advice possible while staying deferential to America’s civilian leaders. There is, of course, occasional friction between presidents and generals — well worth it to maintain this pillar of national defense.
Trump wanted to destroy that pillar. Given a second term, he probably would. In its place he would enforce a subservience that would end the ability of America’s military to provide its best (or much of any) advice on peace and war. Trump would deploy the military as a political prop in service of his own brand, as he already tried to do. And he would reshape the military and the national security apparatus so that Trumpists would rise and others would not. His second term would be staffed by those prepared to “rigorously review all general and flag officer promotions” based on pro-Trump partisan qualifications, as described in the Project 2025 playbook.
This very same mistake was an enormous Nazi failure: Hitler broke the German generals, and so his decisions went unchecked and included some of the worst strategic moves in the history of warfare.
The immediate threat of a modern commander in chief who favors the Nazi approach would be the inappropriate use of military force on America’s streets (and perhaps even at polling places). The longer threat for this kind of recklessness is unknowable but foreseeable: eroding remaining trust in the military, eviscerating the civilian-military balance, ending America’s centuries-long success story.
“It is easy to destroy an organization,” wrote retired Adm. William McRaven, former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, “if you have no appreciation for what makes that organization great.” McRaven penned those words five years ago, during the former president’s first term in office, and ended by suggesting that if nothing were to change, someone else must serve as commander in chief.
Nothing about Trump has changed. There is only one choice on Nov. 5.
ML Cavanaugh recently retired after 25 years in the U.S. Army. He co-founded the Modern War Institute at West Point. @MLCavanaugh
American Mormon voters have traditionally voted Republican. But members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Arizona have become increasingly disillusioned by former President Donald Trump. Kellen Browning, a New York Times reporter who is on assignment in the swing states of the 2024 election, explains how the division among Mormon voters could help deliver a key battleground state to Democrats in November.
EXCLUSIVE: New House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., wants to focus on two key issues for the remainder of this year – government funding and next year’s House GOP Conference rules.
“I’ve been on the Freedom Caucus, really, since, since the beginning,” Harris told Fox News Digital on Tuesday night, in his first interview since being elected chair of the ultra-conservative group.
“I’ve watched, you know, all our chairs do a great job pushing the conservative agenda with Congress, and with the American people. And right now our big fight is going to be on controlling spending. It’s going to be on what the rules look like for the next Congress.”
Harris promised, “I’m going to roll up my sleeves and battle those two issues.”
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Rep. Andy Harris has been selected the next House Freedom Caucus chair (Getty Images)
The Maryland Republican, who was first elected in 2010, was chosen to lead the Freedom Caucus for the remainder of the year after Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., vacated the role following his June primary loss to another Republican.
Harris has not been known to be particularly chatty with reporters on Capitol Hill, making him an understandable successor for a group that keeps even its membership list undisclosed.
The Freedom Caucus has also long been seen as a thorn in the side of House GOP leaders, pushing them to go further in pushing conservative policies through Congress.
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Harris, however, praised Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership on government funding ahead of a Wednesday vote on a Freedom Caucus-backed plan to avoid a government shutdown.
The plan is a six-month extension of this year’s federal funds known as a continuing resolution (CR), to give lawmakers more time to hash out fiscal year 2025’s priorities, paired with a measure requiring proof of citizenship in the voter registration process.
Rep. Bob Good recently stepped aside from the chairmanship (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“The leadership he’s shown on this issue is excellent,” Harris said. “I think if we had had this discussion one month ago and someone suggested that Speaker Johnson was going to bring a six-month CR to the floor, and, oh, by the way, we add the [Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act] into it – most people wouldn’t believe it.”
But the Democrat-controlled Senate and White House have called the legislation a nonstarter.
Harris would not say how conservatives could force Johnson to stick by the plan, even as several Republicans have publicly opposed the measure over concerns the speaker would not fight for the SAVE Act if it was rejected by the Senate.
“If it fails, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” he said.
Harris did, however, urge those GOP critics to take a “second look” at the bill ahead of Wednesday’s vote.
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“I hope they take a second look before tomorrow and realize that the important signal would send to the American people,” Harris said. “I’d love to hear the argument Chuck Schumer is going to make to say, ‘Yeah, you know, we’re going to reject that because we want illegal aliens to vote.’”
The Maryland Republican similarly would not go into detail about what changes he would want to see to the House GOP Conference rules – though the issue is expected to take center stage in the end-of-year leadership elections.
Harris praised Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership in the government funding fight (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., agreed to changing certain conference rules to win over his critics after House Republicans won the majority in the 2022 midterm elections.
That notably included lowering the threshold for triggering a vote on the speaker’s ouster – called the motion to vacate the chair – from a simple majority to just one vote.
“I hope that in its wisdom, that the Republican majority next year – because I believe there will be a Republican majority – not only adopts and endorses all those changes we made this term, but maybe make some further changes. Those will be discussed more obviously in the next two months.”
When pressed for details, Harris noted there were other members of the group besides himself.
“That’s going to be up to what the Freedom Caucus says,” Harris said. “I’m the chairman, but I’m not all the members.”
FLINT, Michigan – Former President Donald Trump argued that it is “consequential” presidents who face the threats he has over the last few months at a town hall event in Flint, Michigan, the former president’s first since surviving an assassination attempt Sunday.
“You wonder why I got shot at right. You know, only consequential presidents get shot at right,” Trump said during the town hall at Flint’s Dort Financial Center.
The event marked Trump’s first official campaign stop since the latest attempt on his life Sunday, when a lone gunman was spotted by U.S. Secret Service agents while Trump was playing a round of golf at Trump International Golf Club in Florida.
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Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a town hall meeting moderated by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, on September 17, 2024. (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP) (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
The gunman, identified as 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, was spotted by Secret Service agents as Trump moved between holes five and six on the course, with the agents firing at Routh after spotting his rifle and scope poking out of the brush.
Trump, who was about 300-500 yards away from the shooter at the time of the incident, escaped uninjured.
The attempt marked the second time Trump faced an assassination attempt, coming just over two months after the former president was grazed in the ear by a bullet fired at him during a rally in Butlery, Pennsylvania.
Trump reflected on the attempts on his life during the Michigan event, saying being and running for president is a “dangerous business.”
FBI investigators gather evidence from the perimeter of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida on Monday, September 16, 2024. (Mega for Fox News Digital)
RUBIO CALLS OUT DEMOCRATS FOR ‘CLEARLY’ INFLUENCING SECOND WOULD-BE TRUMP ASSASSIN WITH INCENDIARY RHETORIC
“It’s a dangerous business. However, being president, it’s a little bit dangerous. It’s. You know, they think race car driving is dangerous. No, they think bull riding. That’s pretty scary, right? No, this is a dangerous business, and we have to keep it safe,” Trump said.
The former president spent much of the event, which took place in a critical swing state, hitting Vice President Kamala Harris on issues such as inflation and the auto industry.
“’I’ll say this for Michigan, if I don’t win, you will have no auto industry within two to three years,” Trump said. “China is going to take over all of your business because of the electric car and because they have the material we don’t.”
Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a town hall meeting moderated by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, on September 17, 2024. (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP) (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
Michigan figures to play a key role in this year’s election. Trump won the state by less than one percentage point in 2016, but lost it to President Biden in 2020 by less than three percentage points.
Polls show a close race brewing in the state again, with Harris holding a less than one percentage point lead as of Tuesday, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average.
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