Oh, pullllleeeese.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper dismissed Navy Secretary Richard Spencer for talking to the White House about a deal in which Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher retired with his full rank and without losing his cherished Trident pin.
Esper requested Spencer’s resignation on Sunday after learning that the Navy secretary had privately proposed to White House officials that he would ensure that Gallagher, who was accused of war crimes, was able to retire as a Navy SEAL with his Trident insignia if they did not interfere with proceedings against him.
Spencer was openly insubordinate. At the end of the day, that’s why he got fired. he forgot the first rule of military service… that being that the president is the CIC.
Remember, Obama came in and purged everyone who didn’t agree with his politics. It was politics above competence… As an example, does anybody recall McChrystal being fired by Obama for that Rolling Stone piece?
In defending that firing, Obama said he needed “unity of effort” among his leadership. in other words you do as you’re told or you’re gone.
It’s amusing to watch the Democrats claim that Trump is getting political with the military after all that. even more so when you realize who it was that Obama did pardon…
Thus endeth the lesson.
Addendum, by way of Don Morgan:
While I responded to the post regarding “Why no one here questions Trump’s judgement” regarding the firing of SECNAV, I think this is a good time to remind everyone to wait 3-5 days before making snap judgements about anything.
It is worth making a separate post regarding this because SECDEF Esper has released the following details regarding the reasons for recent personnel actions:
“In announcing Sunday that he had dismissed Spencer, Esper said he acted after learning of Spencer’s secret plan to guarantee the outcome of the Navy SEAL peer-review board that was scheduled to convene Dec. 2 with the goal of recommending whether Gallagher should be allowed to retain his Trident.”
“Esper said he had been “flabbergasted” when he learned at the White House on Friday that Spencer had gone behind his back to propose a secret deal.”
Based on this, Spencer’s blatant disrespect of POTUS in public, and disrespect of the chain of command, I don’t see how any reasonable person could question the removal of Spencer from command.
Original FB thread
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