Are Trump’s Generals in Over Their Heads?
For many in Washington, they’re the only thing standing between the president and chaos. But their growing clout is starting to worry military experts.
By MARK PERRY
October 25, 2017
For many of America’s senior military officers, retired Gen. John Allen’s speech endorsing Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention back in July 2016 was a kind of tipping point. Allen’s rousing address, coupled with one given by retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn for Donald Trump at the Republican convention, spread waves of discomfort through the U.S. officer corps, many of whose members thought Allen and Flynn had gone too far. “The military is not a political prize,” former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Martin Dempsey wrote in a high-profile critique two days after Allen’s appearance. “Politicians should take the advice of military leaders but keep them off the stage.”
The appearances by Allen and Flynn, and Dempsey’s letter, set off an under-the-radar debate about the proper role of retired military officers in American political life that has been deepened by President Donald Trump’s appointment of several former and current high-ranking officers to key policy positions in his administration. Far from being “off the stage,” the president has put the military front and center in his administration: retired Marine Gen. James Mattis heads up the Pentagon, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly is the White House chief of staff and Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster (who is still in uniform) is Trump’s national security adviser, having replaced Flynn.
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http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/25/donald-trump-john-allen-kelly-generals-military-215740
