A common thread in the memoirs, or tell-alls, of Trump administration officials concerns how they wrestled with the question of whether to resign and finally, having ground their molars to the gum line and converted their wardrobe into a closet of rent garments, decided that as one of the few sane persons in sight they had a duty to persevere—only then could they prevent something calamitous from occurring. The latest contributor is Mark Esper, whose book was published last week. From The New York Times:
President Donald J. Trump in 2020 asked Mark T. Esper, his defense secretary, about the possibility of launching missiles into Mexico to "destroy the drug labs" and wipe out the cartels, maintaining that the United States' involvement in a strike against its southern neighbor could be kept secret, Mr. Esper recounts in his upcoming memoir. . . .
Mr. Esper, the last Senate-confirmed defense secretary under Mr. Trump, also had concerns about speculation that the president might misuse the military around Election Day by, for instance, having soldiers seize ballot boxes. He warned subordinates to be on the alert for unusual calls from the White House in the lead-up to the election. . . .
Pressed on his view of Mr. Trump, Mr. Esper—who strained throughout the book to be fair to the man who fired him while also calling out his increasingly erratic behavior after his first impeachment trial ended in February 2020—said carefully but bluntly, "He is an unprincipled person who, given his self-interest, should not be in a position of public service" . . . .
Mr. Esper describes an administration completely taken over by concerns about Mr. Trump's re-election campaign, with every decision tethered to that objective. He writes that he could have resigned, and weighed the idea several times, but that he believed the president was surrounded by so many yes-men and people whispering dangerous ideas to him that a loyalist would have been put in Mr. Esper's place. The real act of service, he decided, was staying in his post to ensure that such things did not come to pass.
These great statesmen all get chatty when they're trying to sell books! Maybe the real act of service would have been to raise an alarm before the election in which the president was trying to secure for himself four more years of dangerous whisperings from his team of assorted kooks and crackpots. The Times continues:
Mr. Esper singles out officials whom he considered erratic or dangerous influences on Mr. Trump, with the policy adviser Stephen Miller near the top of the list. He recounts that Mr. Miller proposed sending 250,000 troops to the southern border, claiming that a large caravan of migrants was en route. "The U.S. armed forces don't have 250,000 troops to send to the border for such nonsense," Mr. Esper writes that he responded.
In October 2019, after members of the national security team assembled in the Situation Room to watch a feed of the raid that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Mr. Miller proposed securing Mr. al-Baghdadi's head, dipping it in pig's blood and parading it around to warn other terrorists, Mr. Esper writes. That would be a "war crime," Mr. Esper shot back.
Mr. Miller flatly denied the episode and called Mr. Esper "a moron."
It seems that the context required Mr. Miller to call Mr. Esper "a liar," not "a moron," but perhaps when you are yourself a liar and a moron you reach reflexively for the one you're more sensitive about.
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