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Donald Trump tells court he had no duty to ‘support’ the US Constitution
(www.the-independent.com)
this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2023
1006 points (97.2% liked)
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Agreed, with literally everything you said. The 'shoulds' and expectations for our military as a whole don't really give way to what the oaths imply; but focusing specifically on the oaths, I stand by my earlier comment.
I was active duty enlisted when Trump took office, and his traitorous behavior became more glaring to me (and, y'know, the rest of the world) every time he opened his mouth. Found myself thinking about the oath a lot, in that for enlisted, Trump represented a paradox. Officially or not, he made himself a domestic threat to the constitution - the ONLY threat addressed specifically by the oath I had taken; but in the very next line, we swore to obey the orders of... the domestic threat to the constitution.
More of a thought experiment than anything else - I was a medic, that hypothetical was never going to be put to test for me lol.
But then I'd see footage of Trump hobbling past some Marine to descend a stair case or something, and I'd look at that Marine just standing there as he passed, and think "You fucking coward."
Not to say I'd have the balls to do any different - I wouldn't be too keen on getting shot by secret service, or spending the rest of my life in prison either; but still, failing to act in that situation is a violation of the oath.
For what it's worth, joining the military and serving contributes more to society than you probably think. The fact that you and your peers are able to have these discussions while performing your duties speaks volumes to how much the US military has improved over generations past. I have no doubts that any blatantly unlawful or unconstitutional orders coming down from the president wouldn't be met with pushback.
Yeah, people always talk about civil war 2.0 situations like "you think your six shooter is going to do shit against an air strike?!" like it would just unilaterally be the military + 'loyalists' vs the odd liberal that got lost one day and wandered into a gun store.
The military does lean red, but overall we're varied like any other slice of society. It's not going to be some "execute order 66!" situation with a bunch of stormtroopers just suddenly gunning down the people they work for/with.
Even in basic training they put a lot of emphasis on following LEGAL orders: had a class segment on the Nuremberg trials; showcased Hugh Thompson Jr. as a positive example of what to do when faced with illegal situations; shit like that. Contrary to popular media, the military does NOT want its troops to be a bunch of mindless drones.
It's also an appealing career field to violent sociopaths who struggle with things like obtaining a GED, so, y'know... grain of salt. Oh whoops, I already said it leans red - pardon the redundancy.