Donald Trump is trying to use the military in ways that underscore just how not-normal of a presidency this is:
“When President Trump suggested that it was good to support him and said he was so thankful for the support of the military, it showed that he doesn’t understand what the military in a freely elected democracy is supposed to be doing,” said Mark Hertling, a retired Army lieutenant general.
Donald Trump, not understand something about how democratic government is supposed to work? Surely not! But the scary thing is, maybe he does understand—or maybe Steve Bannon understands—and he’s trying to undermine it.
With Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at this side, Mr. Trump signed an executive order last month restricting immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries. The signing was conducted in the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes, which is dedicated to the more than 3,460 recipients of the Medal of Honor, the military’s highest decoration. Mr. Mattis did not know that the order was to be signed until shortly before that event, and he had no input in its formulation.
“This is part of a pattern,” said Andrew Exum, a former Army Ranger officer who held a senior policy position in the Defense Department on Middle East issues during the Obama administration. “Whether it is the Memorial Wall at the C.I.A., or the Hall of Heroes at the Pentagon, he is using institutions that have previously been walled off from politics to generate political support for some of his more contentious policies.”
It could be as simple as that lacking legitimacy of his own, Trump is trying to claim it by associating himself with the military. But his efforts to politicize the military and to win over its members through promises of new equipment, combined with his authoritarian leanings, are a sign of ambition that shouldn’t be ignored. This is not normal.