A politburo by another name is still a politburo
Let us use our brains and think something through.
I’m going to pose a provocative question, and I would like to know what the counter argument is — if any.
I ask with the deepest sincerity.
Thomas E. Ricks is a Washington Post veteran, and one of the foremost experts on the US military. He is a contrarian, a disrupter, and a chronicler of strategic and tactical failure across Iraq and Afghanistan.
Ricks is a deep thinker about the US military, and does not fetishize the shiny stars and ribbons.
In fact, he is one of the few who has consistently challenged the orthodoxies of a Defense Department that costs $1 trillion per year, and cannot pass an audit.
Let me show you some pictures. Note the difference in the quantity of ribbons and decorations amongst the men.
These are photographs of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force Dwight Eisenhower, his boss, the Chief of Staff of the US Army George C. Marshall and Omar Bradley, commander of the 12th United States Army group, comprising 43 divisions, after winning World War II.
Here are there 21st century contemporaries:
Inflation is more than an economic phenomenon.
In fact, did you know that there were more general officers in Baghdad than there were in Europe on VE Day?
Ricks does.
Among his more provocative proposals is to fix the US Army by dramatically shrinking it. There is great merit to the idea, and it is consistent with American defense posture for much of the history of the country.
Another is that the service academies — West Point and the USAF Academy — are unnecessary and expensive anachronism that deliver a community college quality education.
Ricks argues that the officers of the US Armed Forces should come via ROTC and officer candidate school.
Let’s begin the thought experiment.
I will not inveigh about Ricks’ argument beyond saying that for this experiment, I accept it fully.
Now, it is fair to say that the most obvious argument against this position is the duration of the institutions on the chopping block and their enormous contribution to the United States.
The contribution is singular. These institutions prepare the nation’s warrior chiefs for command.
Here is how Douglas MacArthur described the duty and the role of West Point in 1962:
Duty, honor, country.
Here is the West Point honor code:
A Cadet will not lie, cheat or steal, or tolerate those that do.
Here is my question:
Surely there would be great outrage from Lindsey Graham and every other MAGA US senator if anyone were to dare suggest shuttering West Point, but what is the point of West Point in a world where Pete Hegseth is Defense Secretary?
Explain it to me.
Senator Susan Collins and Senator Lisa Murkowski have said no to the ludicrous idea that Pete Hegseth can be secretary of defense.
There is no society on Earth that takes its national defense seriously — or understands the moral covenant with the men and women asked to defend their nations — that would ever consider a person possessing the character, moral and qualification defects that Pete Hegseth brings to the table to be the leader of anything near their military. Ever.
It is a grotesque farce. He is the most unfit person in American history to ever be nominated to lead a US Armed Force.
It is a despicable nomination that is a referendum on whether the United States has a functioning upper house within a co-equal Article I branch of government at all?
A politburo by another name is still a politburo.
There is no justification for giving advise and consent to the Hegseth nomination.
It is an abomination.
The idea that Mitch McConnell will sanction the travesty shows how corrupt the government was that Trump was able to topple.
This is an important moment for the country.
Without a Senate there is no republic. Only in a country without a Senate could there ever be a Secretary Hegseth.
I’m unable to comment on the continued need for the service academies other than to say that almost without exception our military leaders are educated there. With respect to the Senate once called the greatest deliberative body in the world, it has become almost without exception a collection of misfits, toadies, and sycophants. That Tuberville and Johnson who both may be the most intellectually changed imbeciles to be elected and others like Graham who is despicable and Markwayne Mullen who’s a thug are hard to reconcile with the likes of Daniel Webster and other giants. They denigrate the chamber where they sit
This is just the blatant truth. If they confirm him, it will just be more proof that the Republican party has turned on America and is in league with our worst sworn enemies. This is some kind of world-wide right-wing collaboration to dethrone America from the top of the food chain.
Trump will try to abdicate as much American responsibility and leadership onto Putin and Xi as he possibly can. His mission is to make sure that Russia and China run the world order. If Trump is successful, Putin and Xi will be setting and enforcing the global order in any way they want. Our adversaries own Trump COMPLETELY.