The MAGA Military?

And the Generals?

I do not think that I have ever seen a more political partisan military in my life, nor seen on like this in American history. I spent nearly 40 years in the military and retired at the end of December, 2020, just days before the 6 January 2021 that President Trump led insurrection against Congress. My dad served through Korea and Vietnam, and I enlisted in the California Army National Guard in August 1981, and was commissioned in the active duty Army in June 1983. That was still relatively early in the evolution of the “All Volunteer” military and in the beginning of the Reagan era, and many of us were quite conservative regardless of political affiliation, in fact we never asked about it. We were there to serve our country.

That was the environment then. Politics did not enter into the equation until the 1990s and President Bill Clinton, who even if we agreed with his policies, many of us at that time hated that he had managed to avoid service in Vietnam. The fact that Donald Trump brags about dodging the draft doesn’t seem to bother many current military personnel, or, veterans, including many Vietnam veterans who are solidly MAGA and hated Clinton.

The climate was also set by conservative Talk Radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh whose show was carried on the Armed Forces Network overseas, then came Fox News, and by 2000 the change was becoming apparent, but it wasn’t overwhelming, at least yet.

But the real sea change came on September 11th, 2001 when in response to the terrorist attacks of that day many in the military to see anyone who opposed war, even past wars as suspect. George W. Bush, despite avoiding active service in the Texas Air Force National Guard, and being discharged for failing to attend mandatory drills, became the President, defeating Al Gore, Clinton’s Vice President who despite being a child of privilege, was drafted and served in Vietnam in an election decided by the Supreme Court which stopped a recount of Florida votes that would have won that election for Gore (I voted for Bush). Then in 2004, with the Iraq War costing thousands of lives and going down the toilet, Bush, with massive help from Political Action Committees, Fox News, and the conservative talk radio circuit defeated an actual Vietnam War veteran and hero, Senator John Kerry, who had earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star for valor, and four Purple Hearts as a Naval Officer commanding a SWIFT Boat engaging the Northern Vietnamese and Viet Cong. After he left service he protested the war and testified before Congress. That made him anathema to many veterans.

Between 2004 and 2016 the military and veterans became more politicized. Despite my many misgivings, I was still a Republican and voted for Bush, and it took seeing the devastation created by his lies regarding the invasion of Iraq in 2007-2008, and seeing the massive lies told throughout the media, especially that which I was slavishly devoted to, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and the rest of the conservative talk radio circuit exposed for what they were to break my delusion. The fact that I came out of the war broken by severe and chronic PTSD, from which I still suffer. Part of my post Iraq crash was also due to something referred to as “Moral Injury” which comprehends the damage of PTSD because it is from the betrayal of one’s trust in his leaders, government, and country.

While the senior most officers in our military were not originally influenced by MAGA, most are certainly, an like me in the 1980s and 1990s when they were junior officers were likely influenced by Limbaugh and the rest of Right Wing talk radio and later Fox News. That doesn’t mean that they became ideologues, but there is an amount of cultural and political enculturation that comes from the repeated exposure to propaganda. William Shirer, the steadfast American news reporting from Hitler’s Third Reich wrote:

“I myself was to experience how easily one is taken in by a lying and censored press and radio in a totalitarian state. Though unlike most Germans I had daily access to foreign newspapers, especially those of London, Paris and Zurich, which arrived the day after publication, and though I listened regularly to the BBC and other foreign broadcasts, my job necessitated the spending of many hours a day in combing the German press, checking the German radio, conferring with Nazi officials and going to party meetings. It was surprising and sometimes consternating to find that notwithstanding the opportunities I had to learn the facts and despite one’s inherent distrust of what one learned from Nazi sources, a steady diet over the years of falsifications and distortions made a certain impression on one’s mind and often misled it….”

The younger senior officers and now senior enlisted personnel who came in after the 9-11-2001 attacks also imbibed much of this. But the most junior officers and enlisted personnel grew up in a political, news, and media world shaped by Donald Trump. For example, a 22 year old Army, Air Force, or Marine Corps, Second Lieutenant, or Navy Ensign would have been just 12 years old when Trump announced his candidacy in 2015 and just 14 when he first took office. The most junior enlisted personnel were in early grade school when Trump first campaigned for President. Since a decent number of the new officers and enlisted personnel came from conservative families in Red States, the likelihood is that they were steeped in MAGA or Christian Nationalist ideology from an early age. This would make them as easy of a mark for Trump as German youth who grew up as the Hitler Youth were for Adolf Hitler.

The spectacle of troops selected for their support of Trump to stand behind him and cheer at Fort Bragg, and the sales of Trump merchandise on base in violation of law, and the refusal of senior Army Generals to say a word to condemn it, or stop what was happening has done nothing to inspire any confidence in them.

That is what I refer to the MAGA Military. I am not saying that every soldier, sailor, marine, or airmen is a MAGA zealot, but I know a fair amount are. In fact, before I left the military they were showing up in my office. Afterwards, I have talked with quite a few of them since leaving the military. They always assume that as a retired senior officer that I have to think like them. On the few occasions when I get the chance to respond they quickly move away. Things are so bad that in most cases I do not even try to reconnect with people who I knew throughout my career.

I am encouraged by the comments made by California National Guard personnel and Marines to reporters about their deployment to Los Angeles, and resistors in the senior ranks whose opposition is important, but the specifics of which cannot be revealed because they were said in complete confidence. All is not lost, but we are as close to as fully politically partisan military as we have ever been in our history. Trump’s handpicked Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff refused to back up the claims of insurrection, and foreign invasion the Regime has repeated without end.

The days and weeks ahead will be the most crucial we have seen. Trump is pushing ahead with plans to mobilize over 20,000 Guardsmen across the country to assist DHS and ICE in their immigration raids, he is threatening to use force against anyone who protests his birthday parade, and just today Kristi Noem’s DHS thugs manhandled, assaulted, and handcuffed Senator Alex Padilla when he dared to try to ask questions at a press conference. The multiple videos taken of the even fully backed up Padilla’s account while DHS continues to state a completely different story.

A Federal Judge ruled that Trump’s use of the Guard was illegal and ordered them returned to State control. Trump, DOD, and DHS will certainly appeal the ruling and continue to use them until every appeal is thwarted, which might not happen. An appeals court or the Supreme Court could easily rule in Trump’s favor, in which our national nightmare is only beginning.

The horrible thing is that a massive war requiring potential American involvement could happen. But wait, Israel just attacked Iran, something that could blow up the Middle East and trigger American involvement. Nah, even if we did get involved it would only cause Trump to escalate his repression here. In such a situation I fully expect that a military that has a significant number of MAGA followers in it to toe the line. All that is needed are a few potential allegations of Iranian terrorism on American soil to fully cement Trump’s dictatorship. It would be like 9-11 on steroids.

Anyway, I started this article last night but was too tired to finish it. I have to take my old 2013 in for service in the morning so I wish you all the best.