Trump Doesn’t Respect the US Military

President Trump does not respect the US military, or the special role it plays in our country.

West Point is the school where Army officers are trained.  The Army had called off the West Point public graduation ceremony, deciding it was not worth the risk to the graduating cadets.  President Donald Trump overrode the decision of his military, of the chain of command, to order West Point to hold a graduation ceremony just so he could give a speech. 

I am not a Trump fan, and I did not vote for him.  But I worried less about his presidency that many of my more liberal friends.  While I knew he would batter our institutions, I was confident that they would be strong enough to withstand it.  I also actually believed Trump would realize that being reelected was dependent on being the leader of the whole country, not just those who voted for him the first time.  And finally, I thought that Trump understood and respected the special role of the military, that they were the defender of our nation, not the political prospects of any given elected leader.

I was very wrong, on pretty much every point. Trump has no special respect for the military. He views it as some combination of a prop for his daily pageant of ego and a part of the Deep State intent on thwarting his will.

I hope those many voters that respect and value our military understand the damage he is doing.