Hegseth's characterization of Adm. Lisa Franchetti as a DEI hire would be laughable, if it weren't so dangerous, coming from a Fox News personality hired because he literally came from central casting. His qualifications are a participation trophy compared to her's. Given his statements and actions, he is not just unqualified, he is anti-qualified to be SecDef.
Excerpt of Adm. Franchetti's qualifications from the article linked in Mr. O'Neill's column:
"Prior to becoming CNO, her previous flag assignments included: vice chief of naval operations; director for strategy, plans and policy, J5, Joint Staff; deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting development, N7; commander, U.S. 6th Fleet; commander, Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO; deputy commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and U.S. Naval Forces Africa; chief of staff for strategy, plans and policy, J5, Joint Staff; commander, Carrier Strike Group 15; commander, Carrier Strike Group 9; and commander, U.S. Naval Forces Korea, according to her Navy bio."
The removal of women from leadership, both Admiral Franchetti and Admiral Fagan of the Coast Guard, can only be construed as arising from misogynistic animus.
Let’s call it what it is – a Purge. Don’t forget the firing of the JAGs as well. As a former military officer, I took my oath to protect the constitution very seriously. To me, the military is the last line of defense against a regime that encourages a parallel violent militia to threaten anyone who the cult leader identifies as an “enemy of the people”. In fact, it may come down to physical removal of this dire threat to our way of life and the military would be the only countervailing force to perform this task. Will they? If not, we are all screwed. And by “we” I mean not only Americans, but the world.
I can't fathom how this can be termed as "...att best, this signals a move to consolidate control over the Pentagon". Having control of entire American military can be a frightening scenario. I can only hope that our military rank and file consider loyalty to country and Constitution taking priority, always, over contrary civilian leaders.
We have to be honest with ourselves about what is happening right before our eyes. It is terrifying, but we have to meet this moment. It has never been more important to stand up. We have history as our guide and it shows us what we have to do. Refuse to obey, do your best impression of the toddler in chief, Americans.
Don't believe I want to act as toddler Trump, so what does an ordinary American do other than contact those leaders who have greatly let us down by not stopping Trump?
"Tehran and Beijing are not trembling. They are calculating."
Truer words could not be written about this -- our adversaries are seeing what Trump is doing to both the military and our foreign aid programs and they'd cheering because they know it creates opportunities and openings for them. What amazes me is how so many voters thought that electing a self-absorbed idiot like Trump was going to somehow make us stronger.
Hegseth's characterization of Adm. Lisa Franchetti as a DEI hire would be laughable, if it weren't so dangerous, coming from a Fox News personality hired because he literally came from central casting. His qualifications are a participation trophy compared to her's. Given his statements and actions, he is not just unqualified, he is anti-qualified to be SecDef.
Excerpt of Adm. Franchetti's qualifications from the article linked in Mr. O'Neill's column:
"Prior to becoming CNO, her previous flag assignments included: vice chief of naval operations; director for strategy, plans and policy, J5, Joint Staff; deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting development, N7; commander, U.S. 6th Fleet; commander, Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO; deputy commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and U.S. Naval Forces Africa; chief of staff for strategy, plans and policy, J5, Joint Staff; commander, Carrier Strike Group 15; commander, Carrier Strike Group 9; and commander, U.S. Naval Forces Korea, according to her Navy bio."
The removal of women from leadership, both Admiral Franchetti and Admiral Fagan of the Coast Guard, can only be construed as arising from misogynistic animus.
Let’s call it what it is – a Purge. Don’t forget the firing of the JAGs as well. As a former military officer, I took my oath to protect the constitution very seriously. To me, the military is the last line of defense against a regime that encourages a parallel violent militia to threaten anyone who the cult leader identifies as an “enemy of the people”. In fact, it may come down to physical removal of this dire threat to our way of life and the military would be the only countervailing force to perform this task. Will they? If not, we are all screwed. And by “we” I mean not only Americans, but the world.
I totally agree with you.
I can't fathom how this can be termed as "...att best, this signals a move to consolidate control over the Pentagon". Having control of entire American military can be a frightening scenario. I can only hope that our military rank and file consider loyalty to country and Constitution taking priority, always, over contrary civilian leaders.
We have to be honest with ourselves about what is happening right before our eyes. It is terrifying, but we have to meet this moment. It has never been more important to stand up. We have history as our guide and it shows us what we have to do. Refuse to obey, do your best impression of the toddler in chief, Americans.
Don't believe I want to act as toddler Trump, so what does an ordinary American do other than contact those leaders who have greatly let us down by not stopping Trump?
"Tehran and Beijing are not trembling. They are calculating."
Truer words could not be written about this -- our adversaries are seeing what Trump is doing to both the military and our foreign aid programs and they'd cheering because they know it creates opportunities and openings for them. What amazes me is how so many voters thought that electing a self-absorbed idiot like Trump was going to somehow make us stronger.
Times like this,I miss Senator McCain.
Now we have killer Caine... what could go wrong??.....
This is like a coup without the military,,,,,, this was some days ago,,,,but, now if they bow to Trump…we are toast. Where is Congress?