“A group of more than 120 retired military officers have written President Joe Biden to tell him his election was less than legitimate – while questioning his mental acuity,” the U.K.-based tabloid Daily Mail reported on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Read their story here, and Huffington Post‘s story here.
The 124 signers of the “open letter” (read it here) are mostly lower-ranking (i.e., 1- and 2-star) non-entities, but their ranks include a few of prominent members of the usual gang of suspects, such as:
- Iran-Contra figure John Poindexter (read about him here);
- William Boykin, a notorious Islamophobe (read about him here);
- Don Bolduc, who’s running for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire (read about him here).
The letter cuts-and-pastes Trump’s election lies, raises the usual alarms (“We are in a fight for our survival),” and — as always — waves the far right’s “Socialism and Marxism” freak flag.
Having lost the election, some whining from them has to be expected, but here they elevate it to an art form:
“Aside from the election, the Current Administration has launched a full-blown assault on our Constitutional rights in a dictatorial manner, bypassing the Congress, with more than 50 Executive Orders quickly signed, many reversing the previous Administration’s effective policies and regulations.”
Of course they don’t mention that Trump, after losing the 2018 midterms, also bypassed Congress: With 894 executive actions, including 220 executive orders (read about them here), and also with numerous illegal appointments (see, e.g., here, here, and here). Given that Trump arguably was the most corrupt and lawless president of all time, this complaint rings hollow.
They, of course, endorse the GOP’s ongoing assault on American citizens’ voting rights … and deny it’s racist. (Does anyone believe that? Well, yes, other Republicans; but hardly anyone else. See what I previously wrote about that here and here.)
They call pandemic measures intended to save lives “population control” and “direct assaults on our fundamental Rights.” (Right there, for this alone, they don’t deserve to be listened to, and their letter belongs in the trash.)
They describe the troops deployed to guard the U.S. Capitol after the violent insurrection by Trump supporters as “political pawns … deployed around the U.S. Capitol
Building, patrolling fences guarding against a non-existent threat.” Here’s what that “non-existent threat” looked like.
A
nd here’s the topper:
“The mental and physical condition of the Commander in Chief cannot be ignored. He must be able to quickly make accurate national security decisions involving life and limb anywhere, day or night. Recent Democrat leadership’s inquiries about nuclear code procedures sends a dangerous national
security signal to nuclear armed adversaries, raising the question about who is in charge. We must always have an unquestionable chain of command.”
This comment would get any active-duty officer, of any rank, fired. Of course, our gang of suspects are all civilians now, so they can question the mental stability of the Commander in Chief if they want to — and I can, and do, question their mental stability. Remember, these people who didn’t question Trump’s mental or moral fitness to be president. Right there, that tells you something’s wrong with them.
And, like him, they’re dishonest; as Huffington Post pointed out,
“Those Democratic inquiries about nuclear code procedures, the letter omits, were actually made when Trump was still in office, two days after he incited an insurrection at the Capitol.”
As I said, this letter belongs in a trash can; and its promoters and signers should be seen for what they are: Partisan loudmouths pushing discredited election lies and engaging in childish name-calling. Debate public policies? Are you kidding? None of them are capable of it.
Of course, no one expects military brass to be smart. Experience has taught us otherwise. History books are replete with examples of military stupidity, orchestrated by generals and admirals, too numerous to mention. It’s bad enough when they screw up a battle or a war; it’s worse when they dabble in politics, as this letter so poignantly reminds us.
Photo below: The usual gang of suspects
