Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Victor Davis Hanson: Who Really Politicized the Pentagon?
American Greatness ^ | 3 Mar, 2025 | Victor Davis Hanson

Posted on 03/03/2025 4:23:46 AM PST by MtnClimber

The Pentagon has long been political—Trump’s firings aren’t new, but their results will reveal if the military is truly depoliticized or just under new management.

Is the era of rounding up government or academic “experts” to declare their support or opposition to ongoing controversies over?

Public declarations by Anthony Fauci and his associates to follow their “expertise” or “science” did not work out well and persuaded few.

Recall the 1,200 partisan healthcare “professionals” of June 2020 who flipped to assure us that it was mysteriously now medically OK to break quarantines—but only if to publicly protest during the post-George Floyd unrest.

Do we remember the “70 arms control and nuclear experts?” In 2015, they were collected by Obama subordinates to convince America to embrace the flawed administration’s so-called Iran Deal.

In 2021, “Seventeen recipients of the Nobel Memorial Prize in economic sciences” assured there would follow no inflation from the Biden administration’s massive borrowing and spending.

Hyperinflation followed.

Most recently, five former Secretaries of Defense—William Perry, Leon Panetta, Chuck Hagel, James Mattis, and Lloyd Austin—co-authored a public letter to Congress. They blasted the Trump administration’s dismissals from command of several generals—including the current chairman of the joint chiefs, General C. Q. Brown Jr.

They argued that such firings were political and thus would weaken the military and depress recruitment. As a result, they demanded congressional investigations.

Oversight of anything in government is always welcomed. But there are a number of inconsistencies in the letter that unfortunately diminish the force of its argument.

First, firing generals is hardly new. Many presidents have relieved commanding officers—even wartime combat theater commanders—without much, if any, explanation.

Consider just one recent pre-Trump presidency—the tenure of Barack Obama. He fired Gen. David McKiernan as commander of all American troops in Afghanistan. And he did so without

(Excerpt) Read more at amgreatness.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: vdh; victordavishanson

1 posted on 03/03/2025 4:23:46 AM PST by MtnClimber
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: texas booster

VDH ping


2 posted on 03/03/2025 4:24:32 AM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Thank you.


3 posted on 03/03/2025 4:29:09 AM PST by Robert A Cook PE (Method, motive, and opportunity: No morals, shear madness and hatred by those who cheat.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber
Obama's lingering anti-American effects. He's too lazy to have ‘transformed’ our government as widely as it was all by himself. This was all planned, with many co-conspirators.
4 posted on 03/03/2025 4:36:25 AM PST by neverevergiveup
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber
..depress recruitment..

Only a dope addled libertarian/commie fool could possible think Potus Trump's decisions re our military would hinder recruitments. I read on FR that recruitment was dramatically improved since Trump took office.

5 posted on 03/03/2025 4:46:49 AM PST by LouAvul (1 John 2:22: He that denies that Jesus is the Christ is a liar and antichrist. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Easy...Hillary, VJ and Obama.


6 posted on 03/03/2025 5:04:39 AM PST by Zathras
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sauropod

bkmk


7 posted on 03/03/2025 5:05:23 AM PST by sauropod (Make sure Satan has to climb over a lot of Scripture to get to you. John MacArthur Ne supra crepidam)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

I have been around long enough to remember, and watch live, the humiliating run out of Saigon. I watched it in tears and thinking that the deaths of 58k dead Americans had been rendered meaningless. 1975 marked the beginning of my intense and undying loathing of the democrats.
I watched them do it in the desert of Iran, The streets of Benghazi, in Afghanistan.
I have been around long enough to remember what the left has ALWAYS done to our military and to have experienced some of it, and under the command of some of the worst “generals”. I was there when a descendant of the hated General McClellen allowed an out-of-control, left wing media turned our base into a media sideshow over the death of a “gay” soldier without ever telling what ACTUALLY happened, there when the Army’s biggest joke was “have duct tape, will travel”, our soldiers deployed to hostile areas without bullets in their weapons, and piecing land and AIR vehicles together from spare parts. I have seen how the command staff lives compared to the enlisted,
AND ALL UNDER DEMOCRATS.

I am just glad that a good many Americans are waking up to what this country and our military NEEDS.


8 posted on 03/03/2025 5:16:39 AM PST by 13Sisters76 ("It is amazing how many people mistake a certain hip snideness for sophistication. " Thos. Sowell)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Love VDH. Been reading his articles, etc. since 1990s.


9 posted on 03/03/2025 5:17:45 AM PST by RetiredArmy (The Bible speaks truth! Don't believe it, you do so at your own peril. You'd better be right!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LouAvul

Since Trump was elected. The effect was immediate, did not wait for inauguration.


10 posted on 03/03/2025 5:24:49 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: 5th MEB; 6ppc; agondonter; Alberta's Child; AndyJackson; Aria; artichokegrower; ...
Ping! Out to the Victor Davis Hanson list

And lastly and most importantly, will the generals who replaced those fired prove more adroit in defending U.S. interests and less political—or less so?
The realities that follow from these firings, not necessarily the firings themselves, or the anger at them, will answer those questions.

FR Index of his articles: Victor Davis Hanson on FR

Town Hall: Victor Davis Hanson on Town Hall

American Greatness: Victor Davis Hanson on American Greatness

His website: Victor Davis Hanson

Please let me know if you want on or off this new VDH ping list.

As a reminder, Professor Hanson has asked that we do not post the full article of his writings. Thank you for following the link to finish his article.

Content created by the Center for American Greatness, Inc. is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a significant audience.

https://freerepublic.com/tag/victordavishanson/index

11 posted on 03/03/2025 5:35:32 AM PST by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120) Cure Alzheimer's!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber; texas booster
VDH: Will the Pentagon for the first time in recent years soon pass an outside audit?

Wow! What a salient point! I still have a mindset of peace through strength, but that's based on the assumption that our money is being used to build strength instead of grift.

Plus, an argument could be made that, unlike the auditing of USAID finding grift, if an audit of the Pentagon shows that someone undermined our military, it's TREASON.

12 posted on 03/03/2025 6:25:58 AM PST by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Bookmark


13 posted on 03/03/2025 8:21:24 AM PST by Ranger LOL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson