Pentagon officials are reportedly plotting to subdue the incoming Trump administration. So it seems the most brilliant military minds of our age need a basic refresher on what it is they do.
In America, it’s the civilian government that controls the military, not the other way around. Yet with all this talk of Pentagon officials “gaming out” the “worst case scenario” where they would have to “disobey unlawful orders” under a Trump administration, it seems they’ve forgotten this cornerstone of “Our Democracy.”
The concept of civilian control is laid out in Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution: “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States.” Article I, Section 8 gives Congress the power to declare war, and raise and support armies. Even the Second Amendment comes with the context of ensuring state militias can serve as a check against a large, standing army. It’s civilian through and through. (Click here to stream ‘Rigged’)
“The unelected bureaucracy of this government answers to the civilian and duly elected leadership.”@ScottJenningsKY excoriates Pentagon officials over reports of secret meetings about how to “thwart or countermand the Commander-In-Chief.”
The plotting against Trump has… pic.twitter.com/Glptqqvw5q
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) November 9, 2024
These principles ensure that military actions are aligned with the broader interests of the nation as determined by elected officials — not by a rogue cohort of military leaders themselves. It stems from the Founders’ well-founded fear of the military becoming a dominant force in the nation, which, with a monopoly on violent force, could easily undermine or overthrow the democratic process. The various checks and balances passing through civilian hands ensure military leaders never get too big for their britches: They are meant to serve the state, not govern it. They’re certainly not meant to use it to gatekeep their own petty, parochial interests — which is really what all of this is about.
Pentagon leaders are not worried Trump is going to hurt the country, per se; they’re worried he’s going to hurt the status quo of policy aims the broader Deep State has come to identify with its own interests. It’s what keeps their own power and status safe — and they’re right to be worried those days are coming to an end. So this talk of “unlawful orders” is more a PR campaign than anything else. They want to position themselves as the Good Guys standing against a dictator before they’re backed into a corner, but sorry, that’s not the way democracy works. Just because they don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s illegal, and it certainly doesn’t mean they don’t have to follow it.
In reality, these jokers have two choices if Trump issues an order they don’t want to follow: Suck it up or resign. There’s no third option where the military supplants the will of the people as it flows through their elected leader.
