We Have A Military Problem

Our military has largely been taken over by the Right-Wing Media Machine, and the implications of this are terrifying.

It was bad enough before. But now Trump has fired six top-ranking military leaders, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q Brown. This paves the way for Trump to have no one left in the military who dares tell him, as likely happened in his first term, "Mr. President, you can't use the military to target civilians."

And that should give us all pause. Retired Air Force Brigadier General Marty France, writing on Substack, referred to trump's firings as "The Friday Night Massacre."

Back on January 5th, NPR aired a story on a show they call "Up First," which features a weekly deep-dive called "Sunday Story." In this particular episode, Ayesha Rascoe described the aftermath following the attack on the capital on January 6th, 2021, and how, as arrests were being made, a disturbing pattern emerged. Many of the rioters had military backgrounds. Roughly 13% of them were in the military at one time or another, which is roughly double the national average. 24 of them were active duty, either current or reserves.

We have a military problem.

Certainly the Right-Wing Media Machine has much to do with this. Rush Limbaugh would regularly brag when he got a caller who had heard him on Armed Forces Radio. Military Rec Centers routinely blast Fox News in their facilities. And demonizing Democrats within the military has been fashionable ever since Bill Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," policy allowed gays to serve in the Armed Forces.

There is certainly aggressive Christian proselytization within the military, and this brings it into close proximity of Christian Nationalism. Ostensibly, people of any faith can defend this nation. In practice, however, religion is often forced. Attendees at chapel or church are often favored for promotion over non-attendees. Chaplains have a difficult time being non-partial. A wonderful organization called MRFF, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, attempts to counter this sort of thing, and already Pete Hegseth has tried to bar members of the military from being able to even contact MRFF at all.

Thus far, much of this extremism has been among the enlisted ranks. Officers, by virtue of their higher education, and training in tactical and critical thinking, have been less susceptible to the siren-song of anti-woke hatred. But they are not immune. Some of them, too, are part of the MAGA cult.

And now, six openings have just been forced upon the Pentagon, which will undoubtedly be filled with Trump loyalists.

To what extent this extremism permeates the military isn't exactly known. But it is there, and it is prevalent.

What will happen within the ranks when some are ordered to arrest or even kill their fellow American citizens? What if they are ordered to fire on the National Guard troops of a U.S. State? What will happen if they are ordered to muster outside Los Angeles? Or Chicago? What will they do? Will they obey orders, as they are constantly drilled to do without question, or will their common sense prevail?

We won't know until we get there.

I, for one, am not optimistic about the overall judgment of a bunch of 19-year-old jarheads.

Hold on to your butts.

Eric

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