Here’s everything you need to know about the 88 “military leaders” who endorsed Trump:
According to The Atlantic, not one of them was ever “a service chief or led a major combatant command.”
And to put the number 88 into perspective, there are roughly 900 active-duty, and several thousand retired, general and admiral rank officers. Romney got 500 of them. By comparison, Trump got a measly 88 of them.
Read the story here.
Part of what’s going on here is these military folks are upset about Pentagon budget cuts under sequester, which came about because Republicans don’t like deficits and insisted on spending cuts but wanted all the cuts to fall on entitlements. You know, food stamps for the unemployed and Grandma’s Medicare, and such. Well, different folks have different priorities, and we live in a democracy, so what they got was a fairly even-handed split between military and entitlement cuts.
It’s natural for military folks to support military spending and guard their budgets. It would be unnatural if they didn’t. People in charge of government programs support their programs! Duh! So it’s not shocking that people who spent their careers in the military and are devoted to the military didn’t like lower military spending.
I’m against lower military spending, too. China is preparing for a war against the United States, and we need to be ready for it. We need to maintain our technological superiority, and build weapons today that we may need in the future. It takes years, not months or weeks, to slide an aircraft carrier or submarine down the ways. Sophisticated modern ordnance — “smart” artillery shells, bombs, and missiles — can’t be stockpiled overnight. Logistically, you need to order and pay for this stuff ahead of need. And if it turns out you don’t need it, instead of complaining about what it cost, you should kick back and enjoy the peace.
So I’m not criticizing these retired generals’ and admirals’ call for more military spending. I’m with them on that. But that doesn’t make me a Trump voter. In fact, I’m mystified by how anyone with these folks’ military experience can imagine a commander-in-chief like Trump. That’s akin to promoting a toddler playing with Playskool blocks to Admiral and expecting to win a war by sailing under a child’s flag.
Cross-posted from Horsesass.org.