I suspect Trump’s sudden dismissal of the US Secretary of Defense was a retaliation
November 11 media said that President Trump dismissed Secretary of Defense Mark Esper on the 9th and overturned the military when Trump refused to admit that the election results made the handover process difficult and potentially dangerous.
Party leadership. Many lawmakers expressed concern about this, believing that the timing of this dismissal makes people seriously question the actions Trump plans to take at the end of his term.
According to a report on the New York Times website on November 9th, Trump announced this decision on Twitter and suddenly posted that Esper had been “fired.” Trump wrote that he would appoint Christopher Miller as acting secretary of defense. He called Miller the “respected” director of the National Counterterrorism Center. Miller will become the fourth official in the Trump administration to lead the Pentagon.
Two White House officials said late Monday that FBI Director Christopher Ray and CIA Director Gina Haspel may be the ones to be fired next. For an outgoing president who has just lost his re-election, the removal of these high-ranking officials—actually the beheading of the national security bureaucracy—will be an unprecedented move.
Democrats and senior figures in the U.S. national security field say this is a capricious move during the uncertain period between the change of government, especially for a president who has made it clear that he does not want to give up power.
Democratic Rep. Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said: “President Trump’s decision to fire Secretary of Defense Esper out of malice was not only naive, but also reckless.” He said, “Obviously, President Trump. The most important concern is loyalty, usually at the cost of ability, and the ability of the government is the most important during the presidential transition.”
Two senior government officials pointed out on Monday that Trump likes to fire people and only has two months to do so. Esper’s dismissal also gave the president a chance to become some of the headlines after the election. The headlines after the election have been dominated by the victory of President-elect Biden.
According to reports, Democratic Rep. Elisa Slotkin from Michigan said in a statement: “In my experience, there are only a few reasons to fire the Secretary of Defense 72 days before the government leaves office. “
She said: “One reason is incompetence or misconduct. This does not seem to be the issue of Minister Esper. The second reason is retaliation, which will be an irresponsible way of treating our national security. The third reason is that the President Hope to take action that he thinks his defense secretary will refuse to take, which would be worrying. Regardless of the reason, replacing a defense secretary during the turbulent transition period seems to have overlooked the president’s most important duty: protecting ours National Security.”
The report pointed out that Esper took a rare move in June this year and publicly stated that he should not send active military personnel to control the wave of protests in American cities. In the months that followed, his resignation was always expected.
According to the report, the White House notified Esper of his dismissal only a few minutes in advance.
According to a report from Deutsche News Agency in Washington on November 9, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said that President Trump’s dismissal of Secretary of Defense Esper proved that Trump’s attempt to “sow chaos at the end of his term.” Seed”.
Pelosi said: “What is worrying is that reports indicate that this dismissal was an act of revenge by the president, reportedly because Esper refused to send active troops to suppress peaceful demonstrations against police brutality.”
“However, the most disturbing thing is that the timing of this dismissal raises serious doubts about the actions Trump plans to take at the end of his term.”
