New Book Says Trump Really Mean To Generals

A forthcoming book by a Washington Post reporter is fully dedicated - unsurprisingly - to attacking the current President. Vox Day provides of snippet of some DailyBeast coverage of the new book.

The president reportedly called Afghanistan a “loser war,” and told his military leaders: “You’re all losers... You don’t know how to win anymore... I want to win... We don’t win any wars anymore... We spend $7 trillion, everybody else got the oil and we’re not winning anymore.” It’s reported that Trump was so angry at this point that he wasn’t breathing properly.

In his most incendiary comment, Trump—a man who, remember, managed to get out of military duty in Vietnam due to a supposed bone-spur problem—is said to have told the assembled forces, “I wouldn’t go to war with you people... You’re a bunch of dopes and babies.”

The comment reportedly left the room dumbfounded. Tillerson was “visibly seething,” and decided to speak up. The secretary of state said, “No, that’s just wrong... Mr. President, you’re totally wrong. None of that is true.” When the meeting ended soon afterward, Tillerson reportedly stood with a small group of confidants and said, “He’s a fucking moron.”

One senior official summed up the meeting: “We needed to change how he thinks about this, to course correct... They were dismayed and in shock when not only did it not have the intended effect, but he dug in his heels and pushed it even further on the spectrum, further solidifying his views.”

It's always amusing when they try to appeal to red-state America with their TDS. Flyover country loves muh military more than anything, right? Supposedly, Trump's brusque handling of the generals should dampen his support among his red-blooded base. What they don't realize is that most Americans' hatred for the Washington Post is stronger than their loyalty to Washington's armies. This book won't move the needle at all and, if it did, it will only serve to lower the military's approval rating.

How is he wrong? The liberals, who only a decade or so ago were holding anti-war rallies across the globe, are now attempting to humiliate the president for not understanding the virtues of perpetual warfare. The portion that Vox quoted is not even the most condescending aspect of the article.

The book states that the meeting took place six months into Trump’s presidency after his generals became concerned about “gaping holes” in Trump’s knowledge of America’s key alliances. The idea was to bring Trump to the Pentagon’s Situation Room, where military leaders, so the plan went, would give him a crash course on who America’s allies were, why they were worth keeping on side, and where on earth they were located.

The account states Trump repeatedly interrupted the lesson after apparently being triggered by a word or phrase uttered by the military leaders. One example given is that he heard the word “base” during the lesson, which sparked him into launching a tirade about how “crazy” and “stupid” it was that the U.S. paid to build and maintain bases overseas.

Because of the rabid anti-Trump coloring of the Washington Post and the DailyBeast, it's impossible to tell what the actual attitude of the generals was but, if they were even a fraction as condescending as his described here, then it's no wonder he grew angry with the proceedings. One can imagine about how the meeting went. "And if you look at this spot on the pretty map, Mr President, this is where the Kurds live. The Kurds are a key asset to US interests because blah blah blah."

It's hard for the Washington Post elites to understand that most Trump supporters have served in the military or have close friends & family who have. The rank-and-file somewhat despise the general staff. It's well understood that there is some strange magic in getting promoted to general, which somehow involves passing over all the highly competent and charismatic Colonels & Lt Colonels and picking slimy, weaselly careerists. Vox calls them "mediocre perfumed princes," which errs on the side of being polite. These people really are self-appointed royalty who are largely disconnected from their troops and their missions.

The worst story I heard had to do with human remains (HR) flights, which I heard from someone who was directly involved. Every so often, the Air Force was tasked with sending a cargo plane to gather the bodies of deceased servicemen to return them to the US for burial. A general had planned to travel within theater for a golf trip, but his personal jet went down for maintenance. There were no other similar planes available, so he ordered that a cargo jet tasked with HR duty be re-assigned for his use. This caused quite a stir in the office responsible for processing those requests. Ultimately, the shop lead - a master sergeant - dismissed the request. It's unheard of for an enlisted man to contradict a general, but in this case the general's request was too much for any of the people tasked with carrying it out to stomach. They were shocked that a general would so callously display that dead soldiers and airmen were less important than his golf outing.

Those are the same generals that the Washington Post just can't believe the president would treat harshly. They're the same strategists who have implemented the current strategy of subverting whichever faction seems to be the strongest. That's why they can't ever leave, because the region was de-stabilized when Hussein was ousted and order has only been maintained by constant outside intervention. There are now Americans old enough to vote who were born after the Afghanistan war started. What we don't need is another anti-Trump harangue but a book titled something like How To Win A War In Under Two Decades and provide a copy to every general in the country.