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THE SILENCE OF THE GENERALS
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Tom Nichols
June 10, 2025
The Atlantic
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_ As Donald Trump crossed a dangerous line at Fort Bragg, the brass
failed to speak out in the Army’s defense. He led soldiers in a
display of behavior that ran contrary to everything the founder of the
U.S. Army strove to imbue in the armed forces. _
President Donald Trump speaking at Fort Bragg, June 10, 2025 Defense
Department officials say troops who cheered and jeered at his
political statements at a rally, did not violate military regulations,
but a former military legal officer said they did , just that.(NBC
News); Photo: Brendan Smialowski / Agence France-Presse (AFP) // The
Atlantic
President Donald Trump continued his war against America’s most
cherished military traditions today when he delivered a speech
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too much to call it a “speech”; it was, instead, a ramble, full of
grievance and anger, just like his many political-rally performances.
He took the stage to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA”—which
has become a MAGA anthem—and then pointed to the “fake news,”
encouraging military personnel to jeer at the press.
He mocked former President Joe Biden and attacked various other
political rivals. He elicited cheers from the crowd by announcing that
he would rename U.S. bases (or re-rename them) after Confederate
traitors. He repeated his hallucinatory narrative about the invasion
of America by foreign criminals and lunatics. He referred to 2024 as
the “election of a president who loves you,” to a scatter of
cheers and applause. And then he attacked the governor of California
and the mayor of Los Angeles, again presiding over jeers
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elected officials of the United States.
He led soldiers, in other words, in a display of unseemly behavior
that ran contrary to everything the founder of the U.S. Army, George
Washington, strove to imbue
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the American armed forces.
The president also encouraged a violation of regulations. Trump,
himself a convicted felon, doesn’t care about rules and laws, but
active-duty military members are not allowed to attend political
rallies in uniform. They are not allowed to express partisan views
while on duty, or to show disrespect for American elected officials.
Trump may not know these rules and regulations, but the officers who
lead these men and women know them well. It is part of their oath,
their credo, and their identity as officers to remain apart from such
displays. Young soldiers will make mistakes. But if senior officers
remain silent, what lesson will those young men and women take from
what happened today?
The president cares nothing for the military, for its history, or for
the men and women who serve the United States. They are, like
everything else around him, only raw material: They either feed his
narcissism, or they are useless. Those who love him, he claims as
“his” military. But those who have laid down their life for their
country are, as he so repugnantly put it, just suckers and losers
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anonymous saps lying under cold headstones in places such as Arlington
National Cemetery that clearly make Trump uncomfortable. Today, he
showed that he has no compunction about turning every American soldier
into a hooting partisan.
Trump’s supporters and his party will excuse his behavior at Fort
Bragg the way they always have, the same way that indulgent parents
shrug helplessly at their delinquent children. But senior officers of
the United States military have an obligation to speak up and be
leaders. Where is the Army chief of staff, General Randy George?
Will he speak truth to the commander in chief and put a stop to the
assault on the integrity of his troops? Where is the commander of the
airborne troops, Lieutenant General Gregory Anderson, or even Colonel
Chad Mixon, the base commander?
And if these men cannot muster the courage to defend American
traditions—by speaking out or even resigning—where are the other
senior officers who must uphold the values that have made America’s
armed forces among the most effective and politically stable
militaries in the world? Where is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs,
General Dan Caine? He was personally selected
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Trump to be America’s most senior military officer. Will he tell the
man who promoted him that what he did today was obscene?
Will any of these men say one word? Will any of them defend the Army
and the other services from a would-be caudillo, a man who would
probably be strutting around in a giant hat and a golden shoulder
braid if he could get away with it? The top officers of the U.S.
military wear eagles or stars on their shoulders that give them great
privilege, as befits people who assume responsibility for the defense
of the nation and the welfare of their troops. They command the power
of life and death itself on the field of battle. But those ranks also
carry immense responsibility. If they are truly Washington’s heirs,
they should speak up—now—and stand with the first commander in
chief against the rogue 47th.
_[TOM NICHOLS [[link removed]] is a
staff writer at The Atlantic and a contributor to
the Atlantic Daily newsletter
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