The swamp is deep. No one complained when Obama remade our military leadership in his image. It should be noted that each of these generals are now about ready to retire and are prob going to be getting very high paid jobs in the military-industrial complex. Why should we believe them? Trump is trying to fight the swamp and they are fighting back...
Each of 'em is retired. Each made his statement during his retirement.
Some of 'em such as McCaffrey are going on 20 years retired. Active duty military personnel don't speak like this without consequence, flag officers especially and in particular. Trump is already talking about punishing the retired flag officers who criticize him, which the Potus can try to do and that no Potus ever tries or considers, and which with Trump is a swarm of 'em. Making America Russia Instead, he is.
It is well known btw Obama favored Marines while Trump favors American war criminals and hates American war heroes. In contrast, under Obama as Potus / CnC, Marine Corps had six 4-star generals for the first time since WW 2.
Biden will be the first Democratic Party Potus to win the active duty military vote since LBJ in '64 after Goldwater blurbed about letting generals decide on using tactical nuclear weapons in Vietnam. Goldwater's nutbag notion went nowhere fast of course, same as happened to his Republican Party nomination for Potus.
The 4 flag officers retired who are referenced in the piece that follows are:
*ADM Mike Mullin 17th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the recognized living authority in the armed forces on civil-military relations;
*GEN James Mattis former SecDef and commander CENTCOM
*ADM James Stavirdis former Nato commander
*GEN John Allen former commander, ISAF Afghanistan
That's two Navy and two Marines btw.
The ‘Khakistocracy’ Tries to Save America
This could be the beginning of the change of American democracy not to illiberalism, but to enlightenment.
June 5, 2020
In the past few days, 16 stars-worth of retired flag officers have taken to the pages of prominent websites to voice their opposition to President Donald J. Trump’s conduct in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and subsequent protests in cities across America. Together they constitute an unprecedented chorus of criticism of a sitting president by a group who used to be the highest-ranking members of the U.S. military.
The sequence of events that compelled all four—a de facto intellectual “khakistocracy”—to put pen to paper in rapid succession started on June 1 with a peaceful protest a block away from the White House. That protest was violently dispersed by D.C. police on horseback, Arlington County Police in full riot garb wielding batons and shields, Secret Service and Park Police officers, and a phalanx of National Guardsmen along H Street chucking smoke grenades and “flash-bangs” into marchers caught totally off-guard by the rapid shift in law enforcement tactics. The spectacle was too much for the four retired officers—not just Trump jeopardizing the safety of law-abiding Americans in service of a stunt, but also the apparent willingness of the Pentagon’s two ranking officials, civilian and uniformed, to take part in the charade.
In the past few days, 16 stars-worth of retired flag and general officers have taken to the pages of prominent websites to voice their opposition to President Donald J. Trump’s conduct in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and subsequent protests in cities across America...
thebulwark.com
I believe this post complements the post of the OP.
Indeed Trump ordered elements of the 101st Airborne to Washington DC for those protests and while these elite troops were not used, a colonel of the 101st said in a live interview with a local tv station that the troops were saying to their officers, "We don't belong here." Shortly afterward the elements were returned to their base in KY by SecDef Esper.
Any active duty troops that have to deal for real with a unique national emergency crisis in Washington will come from the continental USA Northern Command at Peterson AFB in Colorado, and from the Joint Force Headquarters- National Capital Region, ie, all services stationed in Washington DC and area. So I reiterate, while the armed forces would never act to destroy democracy, it is guaranteed they will act under civilian leadership to restore a destroyed democracy.