Why Trump Wants His Own Generals
According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, “The Trump transition team is considering a draft executive order that establishes a ‘warrior board’ of retired senior military personnel with the power to review three- and four-star officers and to recommend removals of any deemed unfit for leadership.” The article cites Trump’s vow to fire “woke generals” — that is, generals who are reputed to be promoting “diversity” in the military at the expense of readiness.
There is another possibility, however, one that is much more discomforting — that Trump is consolidating his power as president and knows that a loyal military establishment will solidify and reinforce that consolidation of power.
According to an October 22, 2024, article in The Atlantic, in a private conversation in the White House heard by two people, Trump stated, “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had. People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders.” The same article, however, points out that a Trump spokesman named Alex Pfeiffer denied that Trump ever said that. “This is absolutely false,” Pfeiffer declared.
However, regardless of whether Trump made the statement or not, the sentiment expressed in the statement is consistent with Trump’s mindset and modus. Trump is a man who demands absolute loyalty from his acolytes and will not brook opposition or dissent.
Trump learned the importance of having the national-security establishment on his side after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. Unwilling to acknowledge that he had been defeated fair and square, Trump insisted that the election had been “stolen” from him. It is a claim, of course, that he and his acolytes make to this very day. Given that conviction, it was clear that the last thing that Trump wan
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LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.
