"I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump – I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad." -- Donald J. Trump, March 13, 2019
JACK BLANCHARD with DASHA BURNS at POLITICO:
JACK BLANCHARD with DASHA BURNS at POLITICO:
In the early hours of this morning, Trump gave another highly partisan speech to the U.S. military, hailing his own political achievements and repeatedly condemning his Democratic opponents and critics in the media.
War fighters unite: Trump was addressing hundreds of U.S. Navy personnel onboard the USS George Washington aircraft carrier in Tokyo Bay, Japan, about 6,500 miles from D.C. In a raucous, rambling, hourlong speech that flipped between jokey asides and fiery rhetoric, Trump told the troops that the U.S. military is “no longer politically correct” and should “defend our country whatever way we have to.”
Close your ears, Norway: Trump expressed regret that the U.S. military no longer seeks “the spoils” of war. And the rank-and-file cheered as he told them: “No enemy will ever even dream of threatening America’s Navy ... And if they do, the American sailor stands ready to crush them, and sink them, and wreck them, and blast them into oblivion.” Trump joked that such sentiments could cost him the Nobel Peace Prize. (And he might be right.)
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But what’s most striking is Trump’s willingness to use the troops as a foil for his highly partisan rhetoric. He repeatedly condemned his predecessor Joe Biden, told his audience the 2020 election had been rigged and savaged Democratic governors who resist military incursions into their cities. “People don’t care if we send in our military, our National Guard,” Trump told the troops. “They just want to be safe.”
Trump also called out the “fake news media,” encouraging the troops to deride the gathered journalists, before admitting later, a little grudgingly: “They’re getting better. They’re not there yet.”
The new normal: This was the third politically charged speech Trump has made to members of the U.S. forces in a month, following his highly controversial address to hundreds of generals in late September and his self-described “rally” to U.S. Navy sailors in Virginia the following week. It’s a clear break from any of his predecessors of recent times, and is happening at the very moment Trump is increasingly seeking to deploy the military for domestic law enforcement here in the U.S. And it’s making some members of the military — privately — very nervous indeed.
