Posted on 06/03/2020 9:57:03 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Defense Secretary Mark Esper abruptly reversed a decision to order active-duty troops home from the national capital region on Wednesday, capping a roller-coaster eight hours that have raised new questions about whether the beleaguered Pentagon chief will keep his job.
Esper irked the White House Wednesday morning when he appeared in front of cameras to proclaim his opposition to deploying active-duty troops to respond to protests around the country — a move that many saw as a break with the president, who on Monday threatened to do just that if state and local officials fail to deal with violent protests breaking out across the country.
Though Esper did not specifically contradict the president, his message and forceful tone rubbed some in the White House the wrong way, two White House aides and two others close to the discussions tell Politico.
Earlier in the day, Esper ordered 200 active-duty soldiers from the 82nd Airborne’s immediate response force — brought to the national capital region to deal with unrest if needed — to return to their home base after two days of more peaceful demonstrations in D.C. But Esper abruptly overturned the decision just hours later, after a meeting at the White House and other internal Pentagon discussions, according to The Associated Press. …
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Get out of our Pentagon, you stinking piece of rotten garbage.
Any hint of insubordination needs to be dealt with harshly at this stage. Esper has to go. As they say: lead, follow or get out of the way.
[Esper seemed to acknowledge that appearing in the photograph was misguided, saying that in his efforts to remain apolitical “sometimes I am successful and sometimes I’m not as successful.” However, he stressed that “my aim is to keep the department out of politics.”]
Esper forgot what happened to MacArthur when he defied Truman.
Who the heck does this bozo think he is
He should be gone. Appoint an acting SecDef until after the election.
So Esper has now reversed on:
1. He wasn’t told of the photo-op at the church
2. The role of the military under Trump
This guy is stupid and dangerous.
First this sack of chit should be fired for insubordination.
Now he needs to be fired for stupidity.
He better not need the job. Anybody who takes a job like this had better not need the job because when he disagrees and can’t abide by orders he needs to just resign. It is the honorable and most effective way to disagree on matters of principal. If it is not important enough to resign over STFU and follow orders.
Are people these days just fools or have they never been taught better?
I’d kick Esper’s ass out so hard he would have to unzip to talk.
Yes, he should be out the door after that.
Problem there was, the matter of who was right was reversed.
It’s a mistake to deploy active duty troops inside CONUS. Something will happen, and it will absolutely be pinned on the president.
Let the blue states burn.
And I say that from far behind enemy lines in California.
AMEN!
Obviously a SecDef defying the COMMANDER IN CHIEF cannot remain.
Especially when his insubordination is intentionally public.
When you have to explain to your Sec. Def. why you need troops to be prepared to restore order after all that has happened in Washington this last week you need to find a new one who is smart enough to read between the lines. Esper isn’t.
Lebanese Christian. We get a lot of RINOs from that quarter, the Sununu clan included. It would be nice if Trump had appointed a southerner, not another blue state native, to be SecDef.
Who is going to “pin” anything on the POTUS? And what “something” will happen that already hasn’t happened elsewhere in the country?
Also, “(l)et(ting) the blue states burn” is a violation of the Guarantee Clause (Article 4 Section 4) of the Constitution.
What about the red states? We’re burning too.
What are the odds that two military bureaucrats would strike against Trump on the same day.
Allen West for SECDEF.
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