06/14/2025
In a speech at Fort Bragg yesterday, President Donald Trump led soldiers “in a display of unseemly behavior that ran contrary to everything the founder of the U.S. Army, George Washington, strove to imbue in the American armed forces,” Tom Nichols writes. https://theatln.tc/3QKWq9tq
“It is too much to call it a ‘speech’; it was, instead, a ramble, full of grievance and anger, just like his many political-rally performances,” Nichols continues. Trump attacked former President Joe Biden, announced that he would rename U.S. bases after Confederate traitors, and “repeated his hallucinatory narrative about the invasion of America by foreign criminals and lunatics.”
“The president also encouraged a violation of regulations,” Nichols writes. “Active-duty military members are not allowed to attend political rallies in uniform … 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?”
“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?” Nichols asks. “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?”
“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,” Nichols continues at the link in our bio. “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.”
📸: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP / Getty
