A commander in chief leads toward disarray

A serious Attorney General — like, say, Elliot Richardson, a hero of the Watergate affair — might have told Trump, as Richardson told Richard Nixon’s errand boy Alexander Haig, that a president “may be commander in chief of the armed forces, but he isn’t commander in chief of the country.”

Haig, a former general, should have known his military protocol but had said in bullying tones to Richardson, who was pledged to protect the special prosecutor he had appointed, “Your commander in chief has given you an order (to fire the special prosecutor).”

But Richardson was right: “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United Stares, and of the Militia of the several states when called into the actual Service of the United States” (Art. 2,Section 2 of the US Constitution). Emphasis supplied.

The precise words of that provision notwithstanding, pompous political bullies in every era of presidential misbehavior seem to prefer the Mussolini executive style to the constitutional one.

Richardson’s refusal to fire Archibald Cox and ensuing resignation was a turning point in the Watergate sandal 46 years ago, well worth recalling now that Trump has commissioned himself to overrule the U.S. Navy and exempt a Navy seal from scheduled discipline. He has also fired the secretary of the Navy, who resisted this reckless presidential intrusion into the course of military justice.

Trump seems to care little for constitutional niceties, and is probably unaware that the Framers placed the armed forces in a special category of law, confiding exclusive jurisdiction to Congress — for the good reason that they are of paramount importance to national security. But then Trump’s personal experience of military courtesies is otherwise limited. At risk of being drafted during the Vietnam years, he suffered from a severe case of bone spurs; and that affliction, certified by a family doctor, won him safe exemption from service.

The example he is setting of special presidential favor is dangerous and could at some future time be disastrous. Chief Petty Officer Gallagher, the Navy seal whose rank and status are at issue, had been acquitted of more serious offenses, but was photographed with the corpse of a foe. His precise pose was not reported and may seem minor as such offenses go. But no one has forgotten the atrocious scenes of US servicemen being dragged about the streets of Mogadishu not so long ago.

The relative gravity of the offense is anyway beside the point — which is that presidential interference sets a potentially deadly precedent. Trump is given to frivolous meddling in every field of presidential attention and responsibility and also to self-indulgent grandstanding. His favor to a Navy petty officer is sure to affect morale, order and discipline in every quarter of the armed forces wherever someone feels mistreated.

Long ago, an eminent political theorist, commenting on an episode of the Napoleonic era, observed that history repeats itself, “the first time as tragedy and the second as farce.” The involvement of Donald Trump in farce is nothing new. But the after-effect could be tragic.

This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 1:58 PM.