Trump Acted as Though the Military Swore an Oath to Him Personally
Trump Acted as Though the Military Swore an Oath to Him Personally
Plus, Kari Lake v. Ron DeSantis, and movie reviews.
Recently at The Bulwark:
CHARLIE SYKES: Trump was Breitbart. DeSantis is Infowars.
JVL: Kari Lake > Ron DeSantis 🔐
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SONNY BUNCH: ‘Beast’ Review.
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THEODORE R. JOHNSON: Trump Acted as Though the Military Swore an Oath to Him Personally.
Last week, two stunning things came to light regarding our military and the intelligence it produces. The first was General Mark Milley’s written-but-never-sent resignation letter from 2020, accusing then-President Donald Trump of politicizing the armed services, being insufficiently patriotic, ruining the international order, and “doing great and irreparable harm to my country.” The second was the FBI’s execution of a search warrant of Trump’s current residence to recover government property, including eleven sets of classified documents.
These historic occurrences speak to just how deeply Trump believed the military not to be an instrument of national power but an apparatus for personal use. Milley composed his resignation draft after being asked to participate in Trump’s ego-stroke theater—first by conducting a military show of force against Americans upset about George Floyd’s killing days earlier and then being unwittingly drafted into Trump’s infamous march across Lafayette Square after it was forcibly cleared of protesters. Regarding the classified material squirreled away in Mar-a-Lago, the underlying explanation from Trump and his supporters appears to amount to little more than that it was his to do with as he pleased without any regard to the potential damage to our national security interests.
McConnell sounds like a man who’s lost control of his party, rising MAGA star Kari Lake has taken a raving antisemite under her wing, DeSantis loses in court (again) — and Dan Crenshaw knows Liz is right. Your weekend pod with Tim Miller and Charlie Sykes.
Former CIA officer David Priess joins the group to consider Trump’s secrets squirreled away in Mar-a-Lago, the “woke” FBI, the Democrats’ prospects in the midterms, and much more. And Cathy Young sits in for Linda Chavez.
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SONNY BUNCH: ‘Orphan: First Kill’ Review.
I remember the electricity in the audience the first time I saw the biggest surprise of 2009, Orphan. One of those late-summer, early-fall horror films that slots nicely into the August doldrums, Orphan was pitched to audiences a bit like a gender-swapped version of the Macaulay Culkin/Elijah Wood vehicle, The Good Son: a girl is adopted by a loving family and then starts tormenting said family because, as the tagline put it, “There’s something wrong with Esther.”
Simple enough, and stylishly shot by Jaume Collet-Serra (who would go on to become the muse of late-stage Liam Neeson, directing Non-Stop, Run All Night, and The Commuter and helms this October’s Black Adam). We were all having a pretty good time watching Esther run roughshod over Kate (Vera Farmiga), adoption minder Sister Abigail (CCH Pounder), and everyone else onscreen—and then, all of a sudden, we were having a great time. Sudden gusts of shocked and stifled guffaws as we all in unison realized things were about to get weird.
🚨OVERTIME 🚨
Happy Friday! I know you saw this yesterday in JVL’s Triad. But if we can help this Afghan family, we should. If you can help, please do.
What constitutes ‘the South’? As a Yankee, I think this is a good argument.
Political Violence, Autocracy, & Other Threats in the U.S…. Our friends at Conors Forum take a deep dive, with names and voices you may know.
Would you vote for a Democrat if this guy won? A question for my anti-anti-Trump friends.
The fall of Gina Carano. Hoo boy, it’s low.
Please, sir, can I LARP some more? A January 6er gets to go to a RenFaire. Spoiler alert: She’s been LARPing the whole time.
“70% of the world's internet traffic runs through a single county in VA on any given day” An interesting tidbit in the growth of the D.C. exurbs.
I am not alone… Other Browns fans are in my camp. Until Watson’s gone, #GoBills.
That’s it for me. Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message.
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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.