After Esper Firing, White House Moves Trump Loyalists Into Key Pentagon Jobs

[appalachiablue]

Source: Reuters/MSN

22 mins ago. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A day after President Donald Trump fired his defense secretary, the White House installed a Trump loyalist in a key Pentagon post on Tuesday and promoted another one who has falsely called former President Barack Obama a terrorist.

Trump announced his dismissal of Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Twitter on Monday, signaling he may use his final months in office to settle scores within his administration. But the further reshuffling at the Pentagon is raising concern among Democrats about whether U.S. national security policy may become unsettled as Republican Trump exits office.

It could also potentially make it easier for Trump to execute policies that Esper had opposed, such as deploying active duty troops to suppress street protests in the United States. Trump's move sent a dangerous message to America's adversaries and dimmed hopes for an orderly transition as Democratic President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office, Democrats said.

"It is hard to overstate just how dangerous high-level turnover at the Department of Defense is during a period of presidential transition," said Representative Adam Smith, the Democrat who leads the House Armed Services Committee. Esper was replaced by Christopher Miller, who had been the director of the National Counterterrorism Center. The Pentagon said Kash Patel, who was the top counter-terrorism adviser on the White House National Security Council, would be Miller's chief of staff...

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/after-esper-firing-white-house-moves-trump-loyalists-into-key-pentagon-jobs/ar-BB1aTjhM

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- 'Official who once called Obama a ‘terrorist leader’ takes over Pentagon policy.' Politico, 11/10. The departure of James Anderson, acting undersecretary of defense for policy, paved the way for Anthony Tata to take over the policy shop.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/10/pentagon-top-policy-official-resigns-435693

[DeminPennswoods]

1. Some needless fear-mongering here

These interim yahoos will have 0 impact on anything. With Trump a lame duck, the military isn't goint to deploy active duty troops on American citizens. They can order withdrawal from Afghanistan, but that's a long process. DoD is a big, unwieldy bureaucracy and the career civilians are very good at "waiting out" temporary bosses. Take it from someone who worked where the rubber met the road in DoD.

[ResistantAmerican17]

8. An enterprising "light colonel" could walk a memo around the pentagon for 75 days..

In his briefcase.

[Marthe48]

2. Hope all military personnel REMEMBER

They swore to protect the Constitution of the U.S. A.
NOT a person holding office or in the case of impeached traitor, defending a person who has absolutely ZERO allegience to The U.S.A.

JC, are we going to end up fighting in the streets over this c.s.?

[CanonRay]

3. Who, having lost re-election, moves people into jobs with 71 days to go?

Last edited Wed Nov 11, 2020, 03:08 PM - Edit history (1)

Somebody organizing a coup, that's who.

[robbob]

14. A couple of what?

A couple of cars for a 2 car funeral procession? Don’t worry, they’ll mess that up too!😂

(I know you meant “coup”; I’ve been burned by auto correct more then a few times!)

[SharonClark]

4. Esper was a trump loyalist, himself.

[C_U_L8R]

5. Shuffling the bureaucrats won't get them an army.

Joints Chiefs, Generals, Admirals, Officers and every enlisted person won't go along with treason. Trump is engrossed in a fantastic delusion that will hurt himself more than anyone.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Might help a cover-up, though

Could be a lot of embarrassing evidence about Kushner's collaboration with the Saudis, for instance, that they'd like to disappear.

[C_U_L8R]

9. Yes. Follow the money.

You bet there's a lot of shredding, concealing, covering tracks and asses. Not to mention, profit taking. These trumps are gonna grab as much cash and state secrets as they can.

[groundloop]

11. BINGO!!!!!! tRump is creating a smoke screen to hide the shredding

tRump went into panic mode when he realized that his Post Office shenanigans weren't enough to secure the election because there's a shit-ton of information that needs to be gotten rid of.

[crickets]

13. 👆👆👆

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. And Ezra Cohen-Watnick, Michael Flynn protege, and Michael Ellis, Nunes' contact

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[BlueIdaho]

10. Do they really think our men and women in uniform

will follow these fuckheads orders?

[LudwigPastorius]

12. Fuck.

This looks like the opposite of someone who's planning on leaving their job soon.

It looks like someone installing loyalists downstream to back him up when he does something illegal.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

15. I hope these new loyal appointees don't get too comfortable in their new jobs.

Don't bother bringing any family photos, photos with pols and celebs, honorific citations from obscure organizations, don't hang anything on the walls, or display anything on the desk.

That way, moving out on Jan 21 will be easier.