Day 1,043: U.S. military brass is turning on Trump

On the heels of pardoning war criminals and firing Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, it seems many higher-ups in the military have finally had it with Donald Trump.

A long-serving military officer put it bluntly, telling CNN “there is a morale problem,” and senior Pentagon officials have privately said they are disturbed by the President’s behavior.

Dismay in the Pentagon has been building over Trump’s sporadic, impulsive and contradictory decision-making on a range of issues, including his sudden pullback of troops in Syria. But now there are new and significant worries, as multiple military officials and retired officers say Trump’s intervention into high-profile war crimes cases cannot be ignored.

Notably, they worry that Trump is endangering national security.

Top military leaders say they are concerned about Trump’s divisive rhetoric and politicization of the military. They also tell CNN they worry the President’s mercurial management style — often expressed through tweets — may be undermining national security by making military planning increasingly difficult.

CNN has learned that at least two senior military officers were reluctant to appear alongside Trump at events in recent months, because of unease that he might make partisan political remarks while they were present. CNN has been asked by sources close to both officers not to identify them or the events involved.

While it concerning that top members of the armed forces have these fears but are hiding behind anonymity, Spencer didn’t mince words in his own op-ed. There, he lambasted Trump for getting involved in pardoning war criminals, among character flaws and ignorance.

This was a shocking and unprecedented intervention in a low-level review. It was also a reminder that the president has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices.

Trump has always used the military as a political prop unlike any U.S. president in recent history and more like a foreign dictator. Between trying to show off military equipment in parades, referencing names of officers at rallies and politicizing decisions at an unheard of rate, the Pentagon is finally seeing the danger of Trump and his actions.

1,043 days in, 419 to go

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