It’s not clear that Donald Trump understands the relationship between the president and the military

[ffr]

There was a very weird thread worth picking out of Donald Trump's comments during NBC's "Commander-in-Chief Forum" on Wednesday night. Over the course of a brief back-and-forth with moderator Matt Lauer, Trump shrugged at a past comment that he knew more about the Islamic State than America's generals, disparaged those generals by saying they'd been "reduced to rubble," suggested that his plan to defeat the Islamic State — long something he said was a secret — would instead be formulated with help from top generals and, ultimately, casually indicated that he might just fire most of the generals anyway.

Of the many ways in which Trump contradicted himself or betrayed a misunderstanding of how things work, this rapid evolution was hardly the most egregious example. There was, for example, his return to the idea that America should have purloined Iraq's oil after ousting Saddam Hussein. He once suggested this should have happened to provide revenue to wounded soldiers; he now argues it would have blocked the rise of the Islamic State (or ISIS, as he calls the group).

"If we would have taken the oil, you wouldn't have ISIS, because ISIS formed with the power and the wealth of that oil," Trump told Lauer. How would we take it? "Just we would leave a certain group behind and you would take various sections where they have the oil," he replied. One might wonder if we couldn't just, you know, guard the oil on behalf of the Iraqis to curtail the Islamic State, if we're putting people around the oil anyway? Well: "It used to be to the victor belong the spoils," Trump said. But lest you think that implies that we — meaning advocates of the conflict like Hillary Clinton — were somehow victorious in Iraq, we weren't. "Now, there was no victor there, believe me. There was no victor," Trump said. "But I always said: Take the oil." So it's not "to the victor belong the spoils," then, but "take the spoils of a sovereign nation for reasons that may vary over time."- WaPo

How is this American in any way? This is imperialism! Trump must be stopped!

GOTV for Hillary Clinton. Our only chance to save this great nation of ours from the alt-right!

[Siwsan]

1. I'd say it's clear he does NOT understand that relationship. He is astonishingly ignorant

[bettyellen]

3. He doesn't even know the military has a court system of its own! Idiot.

[Kablooie]

4. Everything he says indicates he thinks the position of president is the same as supreme dictator.

He talks about Obama not leading while Putin leads.
Meaning Putin does whatever he wants without answering to anyone and a president who doesn't do this isn't leading.

He's stated many things that he will do without any realization as to what he would have to go through to do them.

Some things require the consent of a majority in Congress.
Some require international consent.
Some would require rewriting the Constitution.
Some would require a major restructuring of the budget and elimination of many services.

He seems to think the president has total and complete control over the government.
If the president wants something, it's done. Period.

Boy, if by horrible chance he wins, and I still don't put it totally beyond reality, he'll be in for pretty big shock when he learns how little direct power the position has.
He would probably demand a series of unconstitutional, unlawful actions and be put down by impeachment pretty quickly.

Leaving us with president Pence which would be a whole new disaster to survive.

[Hortensis]

5. It's very clear that he does not understand most things.

And no matter how carefully explained, he will never understand practices based on moral principles. Such as our not destroying oil production, even if ISIS gets it for a while, because the people of those regions desperately need the income it produces and will help rebuild their countries.

As for the idea of national theft of oil from the Iraqis, sacking them of the one big resource they have, why on earth does anyone need to know more to realize this person is only a fraction of a human being?

[uppityperson]

6. I liked him not wanting to explain his plan because it would tip off the enemies.

wtf

[Blue Idaho]

7. He is clueless about all the levers of power

In our democracy. He thinks that writing "I Donald J Trump" on a piece of paper has the force of law in America. Someone needs to sit him down and make him watch "How a bill becomes a law." He is clueless.

Hearing him talk about "the Generals" it sounds like he thinks he can fire the lot of them and appoint his own. He is a clear and present danger to our nation.

[MineralMan]

8. He understands almost nothing, the dolt.