Trump and Hegseth are politicizing the military, Sen. Jack Reed says

[Uncle Joe]

“It’s the beginning of a very, very serious degradation of the military and politicization of the military,” he said.

(snip)

Speaking Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were attempting “to politicize the Department of Defense” by firing top military leaders on Friday night, including Chair of the Joint Chiefs Gen. C.Q. Brown, Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti and Air Force Vice Chief Gen. James Slife.

(snip)

Reed said of these military leaders, who had been confirmed by the Senate for what were supposed to be fixed terms in office: “These men and women were superb professionals. They were committed to their oath to defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Reed also expressed concern over the ouster of the judge advocates general of the Army, Navy and Air Force.

“If you’re going to break the law, the first thing you do is you get rid of the lawyers,” he said.

(snip)

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/23/trump-hegseth-jack-reed-00205627

[gab13by13]

1. Follow the money,

This is what happened to Russia's military, oligarchs skimmed off the top.

There's lot of money that can be stolen from the military.

[Irish_Dem]

2. And Russia's military became mediocre.

[Irish_Dem]

3. Did you ever hear this Russian joke/true story?

Probably a true story or variation of one.

A Russian officer finds out one of his men has been stealing all the tires off of the unit's jeeps.
And selling them on the black market.

The officer finds that man and beats him badly.

Not for stealing the tires, but stealing the tires and not giving him a piece of the profits.

[Uncle Joe]

4. That would be a short trip,

but I'm not sure that just money is enough for them anymore.

*rump's language is not of someone who respects national unity, the Constitution, Presidential term limits or the rule of a law unless the President declares it as a law.

I believe that he and Musk are sowing chaos on purpose to create a desired result; that being some breaking point or incident (s) to give them an excuse to declare martial law. *rump won't have to worry about running for a third term nor the Congress led by the likes of the ever shrinking Johnson to oppose an outright dick-tater ship.

So the first step is to get rid of military leaders who revere their oath to the United States Constitution, along with the military's top lawyers while making allegiance to *rump as the prime directive.

Nothing has changed with *rump since January 6th when he tried to overthrow the U.S. government, he and Musk are just working from the pinnacle of political power now.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. In Pursuit of a 'Warrior Ethos,' Hegseth Targets Military's Top Lawyers

This is one of the most scary part of Hegseth's and trump's purge of military personnel. Hegseth and trump want to remove any JAG officers who might rule that trump's orders are unlawful. This is designed to convert the military into a force loyal to trump where there will no one to stand up to any illegal orders issued by trump
https://bsky.app/profile/davidjolly.bsky.social/post/3liswwzkhwk2m

Link to tweet

Here is a link to a free article
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/us/politics/hegseth-firings-military-lawyers-jag.html?unlocked_article_code=1.zE4.Gbvm.fozhSinwG5Le&smid=tw-share

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to fire the top lawyers for the Army, Navy and Air Force represents an opening salvo in his push to remake the military into a force that is more aggressive on the battlefield and potentially less hindered by the laws of armed conflict.

Mr. Hegseth, in the Pentagon and during his meetings with troops last week in Europe, has spoken repeatedly about the need to restore a “warrior ethos” to a military that he insists has become soft, social-justice obsessed and more bureaucratic over the past two decades.

His decision to replace the military’s judge advocates general — typically three-star military officers — offers a sense of how he defines the ethos that he has vowed to instill.

The dismissals came as part of a broader push by Mr. Hegseth and President Trump, who late Friday also fired Gen. Charles Q. Brown, the country’s top military officer, as well as the first woman to lead the Navy and the vice chief of staff of the Air Force.....

The unexplained dismissals prompted widespread concern. “In some ways that’s even more chilling than firing the four stars,” Rosa Brooks, a professor at Georgetown Law, wrote on X. “It’s what you do when you’re planning to break the law: you get rid of any lawyers who might try to slow you down.”.....

By comparison, the three fired judge advocates general, also known as “JAGs,” are far less prominent. Inside the Pentagon and on battlefields around the world, military lawyers aren’t decision makers. Their job is to provide independent legal advice to senior military officers so that they do not run afoul of U.S. law or the laws of armed conflict......

In his book, “The War on Warriors,” which was published last year, Mr. Hegseth castigates military lawyers for imposing overly restrictive rules of engagement on frontline troops, which he argues repeatedly allowed the enemy to score battlefield victories.

Mr. Hegseth derisively refers to the lawyers in the book as “jagoffs.” The term led Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island and a West Point graduate, to ask Mr. Hegseth at a confirmation hearing whether he could effectively lead the military after disparaging it.

trump and Hegseth want to remove anyone who might rule that trump is issuing illegal orders or violating the rules of war. trump wanted to use the military in civil unrest during his first term and was blocked by General Milley and others. trump and Hegseth are getting rid of anyone who might stop trump from doing this in the future

This is scary

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. MaddowBlog-Hegseth defends JAG firings in the most unpersuasive way possible

Trump's first “Friday Night Massacre” targeted inspectors general and his second targeted judge advocates general. The war on accountability continues.
https://bsky.app/profile/muskow.bsky.social/post/3lix7rt6b222x

Hegseth: We don’t want any lawyers that might be obstacles to anything that might “happen”.

Sounds legit to me. 😳

Hegseth defends JAG firings in the most unpersuasive way possible - MSNBC

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/hegseth-defends-jag-firings-unpersuasive-way-possible-rcna193423

In case these dubious terminations weren’t enough, the Trump administration also announced around the same time that it’s firing the top lawyers for the Army, Navy and Air Force. In fact, Steve Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown University, wrote via Bluesky that firing these judge advocates general (JAGs) “is just as bad as, if not worse” than Trump’s other Friday night firings.

In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee and a former Army paratrooper, helped explain why:

Firing the military’s most senior legal advisers is an unprecedented and explicit move to install officers who will yield to the president’s interpretation of the law, with the expectation they will be little more than yes men on the most consequential questions of military law.

Hegseth and trump want to convert the military into a force loyal only to trump. It sounds like trump and Hegseth plan to commit acts that a real JAG would block as being an illegal order or unconstitutional

It was against this backdrop that Hegseth appeared on “Fox News Sunday” and was asked to explain the move. His answer was far from reassuring.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/post/3liu3tpbfhs2h

Link to tweet

“Ultimately, we want lawyers who give sound constitutional advice and don’t exist to attempt to be roadblocks to anything that happens,” the Pentagon chief said.

Hmm. In other words, the secretary of defense believes there might be things that “happen,” and he’s concerned that the top lawyers for the Army, Navy and Air Force might get in the way.

For those keeping a “saying the quiet part loud” list, it’s probably worth filing this quote away for future reference.

As for the larger context, it’s also worth emphasizing the apparent fact that Team Trump appears to be taking steps to eliminate watchdogs from the federal government. Indeed, the president’s first “Friday Night Massacre” targeted inspectors general, and his second targeted, among others, judge advocates general.

A few weeks ago, The New York Times published an editorial that argued the Republican White House “is moving to eliminate the tools of accountability in government in quick order.”

Hegseth and trump want to convert the military into trump's praetorian guard. Hegseth wants a JAG corp that will not question any actions taken by trump or which will declare any orders given by trump to be illegal.