WHITE HOUSE
Trump hails military, sidesteps flashpoints in
address to West Point grads
In front of more than 1,000 socially distanced cadets
donning white face masks, the president sought to present a stoic but uplifting
message.
By EVAN
SEMONES
06/13/2020
12:28 PM EDT
Against a
backdrop of a global pandemic and rising tensions with military brass over his
handling of nationwide protests, President Donald Trump largely sidestepped the
nation’s unfolding crises during a commencement address before West Point
cadets at the U.S. Military Academy on Saturday.
In front of
more than 1,000 socially distanced cadets donning white face masks, the
president sought to present a stoic but uplifting message befitting the
historic Plain parade ground overlooked by statues of the college's greatest
graduates.
In a
ceremony notably bereft of families and friends of the graduating class, Trump
also briefly alluded to the crises and controversies gripping the country,
thanking the military for combating the “invisible enemy” from China and the
National Guard for enforcing the “constitutional rule of law” on America's
streets in an address that in parts reflected Trump’s “America First” approach.
“Each of
you begins your career in the army at a crucial moment in American history,”
Trump said. “We are restoring the fundamental principles that the job of the
American soldier is not to rebuild foreign nations, but defend and defend
strongly our nation from foreign enemies.”
It’s not
the duty of U.S. troops “to solve ancient conflicts in far away lands that many
people have never even heard of,” Trump told the cadets.
West Point
United
States Military Academy graduating cadets gather during commencement ceremonies
on Saturday in West Point, N.Y. | John Minchillo, Pool/AP Photo
“We are not
the policemen of the world, but let our enemies be on notice, if our people are
threatened, we will never ever hesitate to act and when we fight, from now on,
we will only fight to win,” Trump added.
Trump’s
speech before the graduates comes during a contentious time in his relationship
with the armed forces amid his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
A number of
officials, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs Chairman
Gen. Mark Milley, have distanced themselves from actions Trump has taken in
response to protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death in police custody,
which have including deploying National Guard troops and discussing the
activation of troops to quell peaceful demonstrations.
Esper said
publicly he opposed the deployment of active troops and Milley on Thursday said
his participation in a June 1 photo op with Trump at St. John’s Church near the
White House was a “mistake" that tarnished the military's hard-earned
reputation as being divorced from politics.
Trump also
this week publicly came out against removing the names of Confederate generals
from military bases, saying his administration won’t consider the idea amid
calls from former military leaders and senators of his own party to do so.
In his
29-minute address, Trump encouraged cadets to embrace the example set by past
military commanders, including Union General Ulysses S. Grant, one of many West
Point graduates whose statues ring the Plain.
West Point
President
Donald Trump is offered a class gift by Class President Cadet Joshua Phillips
after speaking to over 1,000 cadets in the Class of 2020 at a commencement
ceremony on the parade field, at the United States Military Academy in West
Point, N.Y., on Saturday. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo
“Right now,
America needs a class of cadets by your model, with vision to lead,” Trump
said. “We need you to carry on the spirit of the great General Ulysses S.
Grant.”
Trump’s
decision to speak in person with the cadets in New York — an epicenter for
pandemic-related cases — had received widespread criticism over concerns the
gathering could put the health of attendees at risk.
In his
speech, Trump thanked the military for their contributions in helping to fight
the outbreak.
“I want to
take this opportunity to thank all members of America’s armed forces in every
branch, active duty, National Guard and reserve who step forward to help battle
the invisible enemy, the new virus, that came to our shores from a distant land
called China,” Trump said. “We will vanquish the virus, we will extinguish this
plague.”
Cadets were
required to quarantine for two weeks and be tested for the coronavirus before
attending the speech, The New York Times reported on Friday.
The
president is expected to return to his Bedminster, N.J., golf club Saturday
afternoon, where he is scheduled to host a roundtable with some 15 supporters
later in the day. According to an RNC official, the event is set to raise $3
million for “Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee benefiting the Trump
campaign, RNC, and 22 state parties,” a pool report said.
Why Trump loves the US military – but it doesn't
love him back
The president’s West Point speech went smoothly but
protests have focused a harsh light on his use of the military
Julian
Borger
Julian
Borger in Washington
Published
onSun 14 Jun 2020 06.00 BST
Donald
Trump attempted to solidify his bond with the US army on Saturday, delivering
the graduation speech to cadets at the United States Military Academy and
boasting of a “colossal” $2tn rebuilding of American martial might.
Trump’s West
Point speech was studiously vapid, with only a modicum of partisan boasting.
But the political setting crackled with civil-military tension.
When all
else fails – and that has happened a lot – the president has embraced the flag
and hugged the military. But these days the military is not hugging back. It
stands to attention as duty demands, but as inertly as Old Glory, the banner
which Trump has taken to fondling at public events.
The
president likes to refer to the soldiers around him as “my generals” and “my
military”. The possessive pronoun always jarred with the spirit of civ-mil
rectitude, even before it became evident how literally Trump interpreted it.
Saturday’s
ceremony at West Point was the embodiment of the president’s approach. More
than a thousand cadets from the class of 2020 were called back from their homes
to the campus, 50 miles north of New York City, despite the coronavirus
pandemic, so Trump could give a televised speech.
Fifteen
cadets tested positive. The rest had to quarantine for two weeks. The whole
show was widely disparaged as stage dressing for Trump’s re-election campaign,
days after the president crossed a line in the exploitation of military leaders
as props.
On 1 June,
the president had the area around the White House cleared of peaceful
demonstrators who were protesting police killings of black Americans. Tear gas
and other chemical irritants were used as well as rubber bullets, baton charges
and mounted police, all so Trump could walk across Lafayette Square to pose
with a Bible in front of St John’s, the so-called “church of the presidents”.
In his
entourage were the defense secretary, Mark Esper, and the chairman of the joint
chiefs of staff, Gen Mark Milley, the latter dressed in battle fatigues. In the
presence of scores of soldiers from the national guard, it certainly looked
like Trump’s suppression of peaceful protests was a military operation, in
violation of norms that have underpinned US military conduct for a century and
a half.
Trump
planned to go much further, invoking the 1807 Insurrection Act to deploy an
elite combat unit from the 82nd Airborne on the streets of the capital.
“What we
have here is an effort to use the military to partisan advantage to the point
of potentially putting troops in the streets to confront protesters [and] to
present himself as the law and order president, which is a concept with pretty
historical racial overtones,” said Risa Brooks, professor of political science
at Marquette University.
As the full
impact of the photo op debacle dawned, Esper and Milley slammed on the brakes.
Esper reportedly came close to being fired, by opposing the use of the
Insurrection Act and ordering the 82nd Airborne home. The former army officer
and arms trade lobbyist pleaded cluelessness, saying he had no idea he was
being roped into a photo-op at St John’s.
This week,
in a video address to the National Defense University, Milley apologised for
his presence, saying it had been a mistake. In an administration for which
absolute personal loyalty is everything, the longevity in office of both men
seemed to be in question. They are facing powerful countervailing winds.
A string of
retired generals denounced Trump’s behaviour. James Mattis, the marine
commander who was Trump’s first defense secretary, accused him of “abuse of
executive authority” and making a “mockery of the constitution”.
Ahead of
the West Point ceremony, hundreds of its graduates wrote to the class of 2020.
“We are
concerned that fellow graduates serving in senior-level, public positions are
failing to uphold their oath of office and their commitment to Duty, Honor,
Country,” the open letter said, in a reference to Esper, class of 1986. “Their
actions threaten the credibility of an apolitical military.”
Peter
Bergen, director of international security at the New America think tank, and
author of Trump and His Generals: The Cost of Chaos, said: “I think this is the
biggest split between the military and the civilian leadership. I can’t recall
a time where there was more of a fissure.”
‘A very
delicate position’
Such
tremors under the pillars of the republic have been amplified by racial
tensions, the restless fault line in US society and politics.
The US
armed forces reflect the diversity of the nation far more than other
institutions. Amid protests over the killing of George Floyd, black officers
who posted emotional videos expressing the agonies of bearing witness to
systemic racism were backed by the top brass.
The protest
movement also gave new impetus to attempts to do away with symbols of the
Confederacy. The navy and marine corps banned displays of the Confederate flag
and the army has been taking steps to review whether 10 of its bases should be
named after Confederate officers.
Alice Hunt
Friend, a former senior Pentagon policy official now at the Centre for
Strategic and International Studies, said: “Senior military leaders, both
active and retired, are in a very delicate position because they want to
maintain their nonpartisanship … but they also want to talk about how important
it is for the American military to be anti-racist.”
The
widening gap between racially sensitive armed services and a presidency that
draws significant support from white nationalists became vividly apparent this
week. On Monday, the Pentagon indicated that Esper was considering changes to
bases named for Confederate generals. On Wednesday, Trump decreed by tweet: “My
Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and
Fabled Military Installations.”
“Our
history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with,” he
declared. “Respect our Military!”
Respect for
the military is a powerful drug in US politics. It has retained the confidence
of an overwhelming majority of an electorate largely contemptuous of other
institutions. The endorsement of seasoned flag officers is enthusiastically
sought at election time, though the actual electoral benefits appear to be
marginal.
Trump
surrounded himself with generals at the start of his tenure. They have all
since fled and are now either critical or silent.
The
president is their commander in chief, but their loyalty is to the
constitution. They must obey every order Trump gives them, as long as it is
legal. In admitting he had been led into crossing that line, Gen Milley
signalled he was on guard to stop it happening again.
But that can be a hard judgement to make. What
happens, say in October, if Trump is behind in the polls and wants to conjure
up a military adventure abroad or a show of strength on US streets?
In October
2018, the army went along with an order to send hundreds of troops to the
Mexican border, a couple of weeks before the midterm elections, a move that
allowed the president to claim he was taking strong action on immigration.
“There is
no way that the senior military leaders are not having a host of really
difficult conversations among themselves about what the next six months or so
will look like, about what they might be asked to do, and what would be
appropriate to do,” said Mara Karlin, former assistant secretary of defense for
strategy and force development, now director of strategic studies at the Johns
Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
“I think
it’s going to be a really bumpy few months.”
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