#civil-military-relations

#civil-military-relations

No dictator or would-be dictator on day one has ever assembled before him in one room the entire senior officer corps of his armed forces in order to have them belittled as failures and humiliated for their slovenly personal appearance, while degrading whole classes serving in the army, navy and air force degraded as inferior and unworthy. No dictator has ever pleaded for generals and admirals to applaud his remarks, followed by deafening silence.

The public has a profound interest in prevent[ing] irreparable injury so as to preserve the court's ability to render a meaningful decision on the merits. Doe #1 v. Trump, 957 F.3d 1050, 1068 (9th Cir. 2020) (quoting Golden Gate Rest. Ass'n v. City & County of San Francisco, 512 F.3d 1112, 1116 (9th Cir. 2008)). Put simply, the issues at stake in this case are important, and the consequences of this Court's decision are far-reaching.

AP Photo/Patrick Semansky An aide to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller recently texted with high-level Trump administration officials about deploying the 82nd Airborne Division to Portland, Oregon, according to The Minneapolis Star Tribune. Images of the texts were taken by a source who then sent them to the Star Tribune. The texts indicated that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth considered deploying the legendary division within the U.S. The publication reported that Anthony Salisbury, who is a Miller deputy, communicated with other Trump officials last weekend via the app Signal in a conspicuous manner:

You kill people and break things for a living. You are not politically correct and don't necessarily belong always in polite society.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed using American cities as training grounds for the armed forces and spoke of needing U.S. military might to combat what he called the "invasion from within." Addressing an audience of military brass abruptly summoned to Virginia, Trump outlined a muscular and at times norm-shattering view of the military's role in domestic affairs. He was joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who declared an end to "woke" culture.

The president spoke in a wheezy, sleepy tone for more than an hour, on a stage clearly meant to resemble the movie Patton. His prepared remarks were full of dictatorlike complaints about "the enemy within," and justifications for using the military to police U.S. cities. But it was hard to track the major themes, as there were so many long, self-aggrandizing ad-libs.

Recent actions by the Trump Administration, including the deployment of troops and a military parade, threaten to politicize America's military and jeopardize civil-military relations. President Trump has publicly criticized Democratic politicians during a speech at Fort Bragg, urging an audience to boo his opponents, which creates an impression of the military serving partisan interests.