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TexasTowelie

(126,521 posts) Fri Feb 13, 2026, 04:35 PM Feb 13

Emergency: Trump makes dangerous military speech - Pondering Politics

Donald Trump delivered a politically charged speech to U.S. troops at Fort Bragg (formerly Fort Liberty) in North Carolina, which Jessiah criticizes as a dangerous violation of military norms. The speech included false claims about winning the popular vote, a call to rename the Department of Defense to the Department of War, and praise for increased military spending—despite the fact that the name change is not within presidential authority. Trump also promoted a new class of battleships named after himself and made partisan attacks on political opponents, including North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper.

Jessiah notes that while some troops may have agreed with Trump’s rhetoric, they largely remained silent, avoiding violations of military rules against political activity. Retired military officials have warned that such politicization of the armed forces is dangerous and undermines civilian control. Jessiah argues that both parties should enforce a norm against political speeches to troops, suggesting that Democrats may need to respond in kind if Republicans continue to cross this line.

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Emergency: Trump makes dangerous military speech - Pondering Politics (Original Post) TexasTowelie Feb 13 OP

battleships " look at em." the arizona is still in pearl harbor rampartd Feb 13 #1

Again? Bayard Feb 13 #2

MaddowBlog-Trump's efforts to politicize the U.S. military become even more brazen and radical LetMyPeopleVote Monday #3

rampartd

(4,401 posts)

1. battleships " look at em." the arizona is still in pearl harbor

Reply to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Fri Feb 13, 2026, 05:14 PM

Feb 13

they are big expensive targets.

Bayard

(29,138 posts)

2. Again?

Reply to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Fri Feb 13, 2026, 05:56 PM

Feb 13

He is addicted to the sound of his own voice.

LetMyPeopleVote

(177,624 posts)

3. MaddowBlog-Trump's efforts to politicize the U.S. military become even more brazen and radical

Reply to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Mon Feb 16, 2026, 07:13 PM

Monday

The more the president delivers highly partisan messages to active-duty troops, the more he targets a bedrock principle of the United States.

The more Trump hosts overtly partisan campaign-style events with active-duty troops on military bases, the more it might start to seem normal.

But nothing about this dangerous trend should be seen as routine.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-02-16T14:16:45.102Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trumps-efforts-to-politicize-the-u-s-military-become-even-more-brazen-and-radical

But the audiences aren’t always the same. When the Republican meanders his way through partisan red meat when speaking at a political rally, it’s tiresome but predictable. When he delivers the same message to active-duty military personnel, it’s a qualitatively different kind of story. The Washington Post reported:

President Donald Trump’s rally on Friday followed a familiar plan: He entered to Lee Greenwood’s ‘God Bless the USA,’ promoted GOP candidates, bashed his predecessor and implored the audience to vote Republican in the midterm elections. The speech ended to the thump of the Village People’s ‘Y.M.C.A.’

The setting, however, was an Army base, and the audience was in uniform.

.....“You have to vote for us,” Trump told the troops, referring to his party and the 2026 midterm elections.

There is no modern precedent for any American president engaging in such radical politicking with active-duty servicemembers, though over the last several months, it’s become a more common sight. In June, for example, Trump also spoke at Fort Bragg and treated U.S. troops like they were just another MAGA audience, even goading troops to boo Joe Biden, the free press and American elected officials whom the president doesn’t like. (A report in The Bulwark described the display as “grotesque.”)

Three months later, he did it again, summoning the nation’s generals and admirals to listen to him ramble about tariffs, the Nobel Peace Prize, his hatred for Democrats, his contempt for independent news organizations and his belief that his 2020 election defeat was “rigged.”.....

Just as notably, acknowledging the frequency with which the incumbent president takes these steps, Politico added that this is becoming “the new normal” when it comes to Trump and civil-military affairs.

The problem, however, is that this can’t become our “new normal.” An apolitical military is a foundational, bedrock principle of the United States. Partisan, ideological and electoral considerations must be utterly irrelevant to what the military is and how it functions.

It is nevertheless a principle for which Trump appears to have no use, creating an untenable dynamic. The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols recently highlighted what he described as an ongoing “civil-military crisis,” arguing, “Trump and his valet at the Defense Department, Secretary of Physical Training Pete Hegseth, are now making a dedicated run at turning the men and women of the armed forces into Trump’s personal and partisan army.”

On Friday, the president offered fresh evidence to bolster that point.

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