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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump doesn't care about Eddie Gallagher and the Navy SEALs. He cares about what they represent
Trump needs to keep the type of raucous patriots who would support Gallagher onside. They are a large part of his core base. Failing to back a Navy SEAL could play badly, and he doesnt want to take that risk when going into an election.Spencer reportedly tried to propose a private deal with the White House: that one way of sorting out the Gallagher problem was to restore his rank and allow him to retire as a SEAL. At another time, we might speculate that Donald Trump would love nothing more than a one-on-one meeting with the Navy Secretary to seal an agreement, one he could bring up later as proof that he often meets behind closed doors to talk shop and solve problems with respected and respectable servicepeople. The suggestion that this request was refused and then used against Spencer speaks a lot about the presidents latest domestic strategies.
Of course, Trumps main concern right now is impeachment. And with impeachment, if not removal, now a virtual certainty possibly even before Christmas he needs voter attention to be focused elsewhere. Manufactured outrage over the treatment of a convicted Navy SEAL is the perfect example. It allows Trump to appear loyal to his base and means he can flex his muscles as the commander-in-chief. Protocol and institutional norms be damned, he can say, Ill stand up for the guys who go to war for America.
Officers, including former secretary Spencer, had made clear that an intervention by the president before all precedent had been followed would undermine "good order and discipline" in the ranks and allow the military to become too politicized. You could argue that Spencer going in front of reporters on Friday when he was still on active duty counts as insubordination. But its clear he was trying to make sure protocol was followed. The bigger issue is that Trump does not care which institutions or rules he has to trample over to keep himself afloat with his supporters now.
From flouting international convention over the legal status of Israeli settlements in the West Bank to the contents of his perfect phone call with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump only knows one way: his. The theatrics he brings to the role of president will never go away particularly when distraction is one of his key weapons in ensuring he makes it into a second term in the White House.
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/trump-navy-seal-eddie-gallagher-trial-war-crimes-a9217666.html
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Trump doesn't care about Eddie Gallagher and the Navy SEALs. He cares about what they represent (Original Post)
Demovictory9
Nov 2019
OP
not_the_one
(2,227 posts)1. I bet almost all of these attempts to generate outrage are authored by
Stephen Miller
Demonaut
(8,909 posts)2. it's more than that....far more
NCLefty
(3,678 posts)3. He doesn't care about the generals or a military with bounds either.
He's playing to jingoists becuase they are his base.