January 18, 2019
DON'T CRY FOR ME...:
Trump Tried Partisan Applause Lines Inside the Pentagon. Nobody Applauded.: Inside the Pentagon, senior military leaders sat silent as President Trump attacked Democrats during a missile defense speech (KEVIN BARON, JANUARY 17, 2019, Defense One)
This kind of partisan attack is simply not done by at the Pentagon. Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, who was traveling overseas, have taken extraordinary steps to keep political discourse away from the military. In part, they did so by sharply reducing their press appearances, public engagements, and the number of reporters permitted to travel with them abroad. The select officers and civilians picked to hear this speech apparently got the message. The room did not applaud.Still, the president continued to wade into politics by tweaking the noses of his predecessors and taking personal credit for new policies and arguably untrue advances in foreign relations.
Posted by Orrin Judd at January 18, 2019 4:00 AM