That Coup-Curious Open Letter From Former Military Brass

 

 

An open letter signed by 124 seditious, right- wing former military brass, repeating election fraud lies and other alternative reality statements, was released Monday. Some chewy excerpts, with all the neo- fascist Republican buzz words:

Our Nation is in deep peril. We are in a fight for our survival as a Constitutional Republic like no other time since our founding in 1776. The conflict is between supporters of Socialism and Marxism vs. supporters of Constitutional freedom and liberty. [snip]

...The FBI and Supreme Court must act swiftly when election irregularities are surfaced and not ignore them as was done in 2020. Finally, H.R.1 & S.1, (if passed), would destroy election fairness and allow Democrats to forever remain in power violating our Constitution and ending our Representative Republic. [snip]

... Using the U.S. military as political pawns with thousands of troops deployed around the U.S. Capitol Building, patrolling fences guarding against a non-existent threat, along with forcing Politically Correct policies like the divisive critical race theory into the military at the expense of the War Fighting Mission, seriously degrades readiness to fight and win our Nation’s wars...

You get the idea.

(Here's the full text, and it's wild.)

This is an excerpt from Politico's reporting on the screed:

As news of the letter spread, it set off a round of recriminations among current and former military members. One serving Navy officer, who did not want to be identified publicly, called it "disturbing and reckless."

Jim Golby, an expert in civil-military relations, called it a "shameful effort to use their rank and the military's reputation for such a gross and blatant partisan attack," while a retired Air Force colonel who teaches cadets at the Air Force Academy, Marybeth Ulrich, labeled it "anti-democratic."

"I think it hurts the military and by extension it hurts the country," said retired Adm. Mike Mullen, a former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, describing it as replete with "right-wing Republican talking points."

The talking points in the letter fall generally in line with die-hard loyalists in Trump's orbit, who question the results of the election despite the fact that the courts and Trump's own Justice Department said there was no reason to declare him the winner.

The article points out that the vast majority of the brass who signed the letter were not very senior and have been retired for at least two decades, suggesting perhaps senility as well as "Foxitis" could be contributing factors. That would explain the Trumpian up- is- down, black- is- white nature of the statements being made in the letter. (Also, for context, over 200 retired generals and admirals endorsed Joe Biden during the campaign, so the retired flag officer class isn't entirely a hotbed of frothing Trumpy brass hats.)

One expert explained the letter in a more ominous historical context:

... Peter Feaver, a scholar in civil-military relations at Duke University who served on the National Security Council under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, called the letter "an appalling breach of military professionalism and the norms on which democratic civil-military relations depends.”

"For the first few decades after World War II, the French military had some of the worst civil-military relations of any of the advanced industrial democracies," added Feaver, a retired naval officer. "They had a genuine coup attempt in 1961. Every military that coups or threatens to coup constructs a narrative in which the military is acting to save the country from something worse than military rule. Clearly the authors are attempting to write that narrative.”

This is the face of white nationalist, neo- fascist America, unable or unwilling to come to grips with reality, undercutting the foundational norms of our country.  If that isn't as un-American as it gets, we don't know what is. 

BONUS:  Wonkette reflects on the letter and its signees.

(Photo:  Burt Lancaster as Gen. James Matoon Scott, leader of a military coup attempt in the 1964 movie, "Seven Days in May.")