Donald Trump has made conflicting statements in recent days regarding what he would have the military do when it comes to the torture of terrorist suspects, initially saying they would have to obey his orders and then backing away from that assertion to say he would not expect them to follow any illegal order he might give as Commander-in-Chief.
But on CNN earlier this morning, retired Lt. General Mark Hertling had very unambiguous message for the GOP front-runner: the armed forces are not his “palace guard.”
The conversation began with GOP New York state Rep. Al Baldasaro commenting that Trump’s remarks had been misunderstood:
“What he saying is, basically, they’re cutting off head. Was it American values when Ronald Reagan killed the family of Gaddafi and he was silenced for 25 years. How about on Obama, who killed the son and shot the wife there with SEAL Team Six when he killed [Osama bin Laden]?”
General Hertling had to straighten out Baldasaro on the facts, telling him:
“And the military has never done enhanced interrogation techniques.But the second thing that scared me… Mr. Trump said he was going to order the military to do this and they will — quote — ‘They will do what I tell them to do, they’re not going to refuse me, if I say do it they’re going to do it.’”
Those comments from the Donald did not sit well with Hertling, who had this response to Trump’s bluster:
“It’s toxic leadership. And someone needs to remind Mr. Trump that the military is not palace guards. They take an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.”
At this very moment in American history, is there a bigger threat to the Constitution than Donald J. Trump? ISIS may be a dangerous group of terrorists, but they reside outside the United States. Trump, on the other hand, is a domestic fomenter of hatred and division. In other words, Trump is a domestic terrorist par excellence.
Here’s the CNN Interview From Earlier This Morning:
This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org