Thursday, July 27, 2017

A Skinny Coup d'état



Before he was run out of town by a rat in a $20K suit and a pointy stick, the White House's official spokespinata, Sean Spicer, declared officially that (from CNN):
White House: Trump's tweets are 'official statements'

Washington (CNN)White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday President Donald Trump's tweets are indeed official statements.

"The President is the President of the United States, so they're considered official statements by the President of the United States," Spicer said, when asked during his daily briefing how they should be characterized. Spicer did not indicate whether that included both of the President's Twitter handles: @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS...
Official statement.  Period.  Full stop.

Jump to last might when, using this official channel, President Stupid officially order the armed services to do the following horrible thing:


Now of course President Stupid lied about consulting "with my Generals and military experts" because President Stupid lies all the time about everything, but so what?  The White House's own public standards make it quite clear that this was an "official statement" by President Stupid, and therefor a lawful order issued by the Commander-in-Chief to the military.  And while the Uniform Code of Military Justice does have shit to say about the specific medium of "tweets", it has lots to say about the legal consequences of disobeying a lawful order.

Which means, unless I am very much mistaken, that this announcement by the Joint Chiefs of Staff (via Politico) --
Joint Chiefs: 'No modifications' to transgender policy from Trump tweet

'We will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect,' Marine Gen. Joe Dunford writes.

There will be “no modifications” to the military’s transgender policy as a result of President Donald Trump’s declared ban on transgender men and women on Twitter, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs said in a message to top military officers on Thursday -- the latest sign of the disarray following the commander-in-chief's abrupt announcement.

Marine Gen. Joe Dunford also wrote in the message, which was sent to the chiefs of the military branches and senior enlisted leaders, that the military will continue to “treat all of our personnel with respect.”...
-- an act of mutiny.

A Skinny Coup d'état if you will.

And frankly, if this mutinous conspiracy by the Joint Chiefs to negate civilian control over the military is not covered wall-to-wall on Fox News for the next, say, seven days, well I for one will never watch Hanoi Hannity again!

7 comments:

RUKidding said...

Q: Who's gonna blink first?

Trump made this Fiat "Order" after consulting with no one (other than possibly Bannon, Ivanka and/or Kushner) in order to toss red meat to the intransigents in the GOP who weren't willing to fund Trump's idiotic Wall. Double plus good bc it's red meat that the Talibangelicals and other assorted droogies eagerly eat up and feel well satisfied.

While some want to posit that the Military is no sociological "experiment," in fact, it is, it has been and will ever so.

Ergo, who blinks first in this particular game? And if the Military refuses and/or manages to tamp down the worst of Trump's "commandment," what will the Tea Baggers do?

Popcorn, anyone (albeit, too bad it's messing with a whole lot of people's lives, of course)?

ervin said...

it seems some christopath asked donny why they are training future enemies to fight,are coloured people or latino,or jewish or next.the plot sickens

Paradoctor said...

Tweets are official, says Sean who? And where on the chain of command is Twitter?

bluicebank said...

I don't know, Drift. I interpreted the Pentagon's statement as informing POTUS that he did not fill out the proper forms in triplicate, and said tweet cannot be considered a direct order from the CinC.

Or to quote from "Brazil"

"Listen, this whole system of yours could be on fire and I couldn't even turn on the kitchen tap without filling out a twenty-seven B stroke six... bloody paperwork."

freshsideofhell said...

He said my generals, let that sink in. He owns the generals? Funny it didn't sound like it the next day. He is the distraction, and we need to watch his minions (I hate using that name cuz I like the minions) devos is killing public schools, civil rights. The environment is being challenged by these dogs.

Robt said...

From a dude that doesn't hold respect or any honors for soldiers who get captured and have to endure. Maybe cut any soldiers pay and benefits, VA care and give dishonorable discharge for being captured.

Because I am sure I served with honorable folks tht have personal differences with me and we did our duty. I would be remiss to not cite this recent quote;

"Let's meet face to face and you tell me I'm not worthy," Kristin Beck, a 20-year veteran of the Navy SEALs, told Business Insider on Wednesday. "Transgender doesn't matter. Do your service."

Alexis Filth said...

Heh,future enemies.
Sadly I read right wing sites, there's no future about it. These chumps are champing at the bit to have an excuse to go murder them some "shitlibs"