Esper Reverses Course Again, Orders Troops Out Of D.C.

[marble falls]

Source: huffpo

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/esper-orders-troops-home-again_n_5ed9597fc5b6dfb3fe4d7581


Esper Reverses Course Again, Orders Troops Out Of D.C.
This is the second time this week he’s made the call and broken from Trump on the need for a military response to the anti-racism protests.

By Lydia O’Connor

<snip>

“The Department made the decision to return members of some of the active-duty units in the capital region to their home base,” a senior Defense Department official told HuffPost. “Military leaders are continuously monitoring this dynamic situation. Return of the remainder of the active-duty service members will be conditions-based.”

<snip>

Esper’s decisions on the matter have been hard to keep up with. Earlier this week, he put Army units on the ground in the capital to assist local law enforcement with the protests. But he ordered them home on Wednesday morning after a night of peaceful protests. Then he reversed course by the afternoon.

That decision was announced after he met with President Donald Trump, who was reportedly irritated that he did not fully back him on his plans to deploy the military amid the protests, many of which were near the White House. After Trump threatened last week to deploy troops if state and local officials didn’t stop protests more aggressively, Esper appeared before cameras to say he opposed the idea.

“The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire of situations,” Esper said Wednesday. “We are not in one of those situations now.”

<snip>

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/esper-orders-troops-home-again_n_5ed9597fc5b6dfb3fe4d7581

[IllinoisBirdWatcher]

1. He sounds even more confused than his boss. n/t

[soothsayer]

11. In Monday he didn't even know where he was going

Thought the nice man was taking him to the bathroom.

Not helping his cred, I imagine.

[drray23]

2. Those troops are going to get whiplash with their trucks

turning around every few hours. Hopefully, this time they are back to barracks for good.

[msongs]

3. theyve got their LEO union bunch in place now, no need for troops cuz it looks bad nt

[TeamPooka]

4. Mattis must have sparked reaction at the Pentagon. Esper is digging for cover

[Dios Mio]

5. Hope his bags are packed.

[George II]

6. He's the Secretary of Defense. Attacking peaceful Americans is NOT "defending" the United States.

[marble falls]

7. I don't get the feeling the Pentegon is going to support Trump's coup.

[BamaRefugee]

8. CUT AND RUN.

[FailureToCommunicate]

9. Cartoonists are going to have a field day with this.

[sinkingfeeling]

10. Always good to have such a great decision maker in charge of the world's

most expensive military.

[LuckyLib]

12. Can you imagine the Sec of Defense asked to take a walk

with the POTUS and has no idea where or why but goes anyway? Good grief, we are so screwn.

[Nevilledog]

13. It's okay. AG Barr is now saying he didn't know where trump was headed either.

The lying has become more pathological than I thought possible.

[Eyeball_Kid]

14. It looks worse if they're telling the truth and they just follow along.

Can you imagine what they think of Trumpy now that they're not even covering for him? What does Trumpy do when he ends up getting TWO cabinet members to walk with him outside the White House with a dozen others and they don't insist on an answer to the obvious question, "Where are we going?" And Trumpy doesn't bother to volunteer that information, perhaps out of... respect? Are the AG and the DefSec both impressed by how Trumpy USES THEM like political pawns? Feel good, guys?

Trumpy, I'm convinced, is completely divorced from reality. He doesn't have a temporary or transitional or contextual or situational departure from reality. It's "general". He's divorced from reality ALL THE TIME. Every once in a while, his rhetoric or his behavior or his executive decisions run in a parallel line with the agendas of others in his party, but he's never doing what he does for the same reason that others would do. Trumpy has his own agenda all the time.

I'd guess that Congressional GOPers, most of them, know that Trumpy is off-the-charts bonkers, and know for certain that crossing him will cause a lot of damage to their continuing political struggles. They know that Trumpy is ruthless and crazy and evil. And they're frozen.

[Nevilledog]

15. Interesting. I had a different take on it. They're all fucking liars.

Every day, all day, about everything. Doesn't matter if something is on video, something they wrote and acknowledged, anything...... there's no concept of truth with these people.

[marble falls]

20. Says it all, "they're all fucking liars." according polls I heard on NPR today even a majority of ..

Republicans think Trump has made race relations in the US even worse.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

16. Trump playing musical chairs with the military and press....

to the delight of his brainwashed right-wing base.........

[Javaman]

17. I think Ella sang it best...

[marble falls]

19. What a talent. She could sing the phonebook into a classic hit.

[yellowcanine]

21. Maybe Billy Barr can be defense secretary as well as AG.

He is already acting that way, make it official.

[marble falls]

22. Maybe he can have the cell next to Trump so he can transcribe Trump's "Mein Kamph" next year.