Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, retired Military Nationwide Guard lieutenant colonel and fight veteran of the Iraq Struggle, wrote an op-ed for Fox Information Sunday, outlining the risks of President Donald Trump’s ongoing assault in opposition to U.S. navy management and the federal authorities’s prioritization of loyalty to Trump over service to the nation.
Because the White Home moved rapidly to swear in retired Lt. Gen. Dan Caine as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Employees, Duckworth known as into query the legality of his appointment.
“Those aren’t the qualifications required by law to be the senior-most military officer in our Armed Forces. Federal law requires the chairman to be active duty and have served in any of three senior roles: vice chairman, service chief (except the Coast Guard) or commander of a combatant command. Caine fails to meet one of these,” she wrote.
And that is all true.
Trump’s solely “national interest” in Caine’s nomination is that he supposedly informed Trump that he “loves” him and would “kill” for him, which Caine has categorically denied ever saying.
“Which means either Caine lied—under oath—or that he told the truth and Trump has no justification,” Duckworth wrote in her op-ed.
Caine’s swearing in comes lower than two months after Trump abruptly fired the earlier chair, Air Pressure Common Charles Quinton Brown Jr.
“By firing such an exemplary officer and changing him with somebody who President Trump—rightly or wrongly—believes declared fealty to him, our commander-in-chief is sending a harmful message to the power that loyalty, not experience or perhaps a dedication to upholding the regulation, will probably be rewarded,” she wrote.
Duckworth additionally known as Brown’s remedy by the Trump administration “disgraceful” however not distinctive.
Trump has fired no less than 10 senior navy officers below his racist DEI purge. Just lately, he relieved Navy Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, who was the U.S. navy consultant to NATO, and Air Pressure Gen. Tim Haugh, who oversaw the U.S. Cyber Command.
“Trump’s hiring decisions make a mockery of meritocracy, disrespect our service members’ sacrifices and do nothing to strengthen our force or our national security. Installing loyalists at the top of the military is the kind of thing autocrats do when they are trying to seize control of government,” Duckworth wrote.
Whether or not it’s the clear loyalty check used to display screen federal hires, Trump’s fixed calls for for groveling fealty from his Cupboard, or the truth that not a single individual concerned within the humiliating conflict plans leak, Duckworth’s warning stays unchallenged.
