Sorry, Donald Trump, nothing works that way

| 12:01 pm EST November 28, 2019
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

“Presidents are not kings.” So says federal judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. No, Trump isn’t a king, but you certainly can’t tell him that. Clearly, he thinks he can do whatever he wants, run over whomever he wants, and rule from his imaginary throne in the Oval Office. The courts, however, advise differently. Judge Jackson felt the need to remind Trump that current and former White House employees alike are not his personal employees: “It is undisputable that current and former employees of the White House work for the People of the United States, and that they take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Trump, of course, has never read the Constitution, so perhaps that’s why he doesn’t understand. That, however, is irrelevant in Trump’s White House. He thinks that, as president of the United States, he is free to do whatever he likes, chaos be damned, and chaos is exactly what Trump has created both in the confines of the White House and elsewhere.

Trump is not only defying Congress – which the Constitution has empowered to do many things, including overseeing the president – he is now wreaking havoc on the military. Last week he showed just how poorly he is handling issues involving the military when his Defense Secretary Mike Esper fired Navy Secretary Richard Spencer. Doing what he does best, Trump interfered in the code of military justice by reversing Eddie Gallagher’s demotion and demanding that his Trident pin be given back to him. The military exists based on rules. Trump is the antithesis of rules. He didn’t play by them before winning the presidency, and he certainly hasn’t played by them since. He is attempting to run over the military just as he does with everyone and everything else. Politico believes that because of Trump’s actions, Spencer won’t be the only casualty.

Trump, according to CNN, believes that “what I’m doing is sticking up for our armed forces. And there’s never been a President that’s going to stick up for them and has, like I have.” Let’s review what Trump has done “for” the military. According to Politico, he has been “steamrolling” the military with his Mideast troop movements and has diverted military funding for his border wall. Now, Trump is inserting himself into military discipline. As with his “presidency,” Donald Trump is way out of his league. Politico spoke with some Pentagon officials who, of course, wish to remain anonymous about morale at the Pentagon, and they believe other high-ranking officials will similarly walk away.

As Spencer stated publicly following his dismissal, “I don’t think he really understands the full definition of a warfighter.” Why would or should he? He’s never served and in fact got out of serving by getting a doctor to lie about fake bone spurs. Trump doesn’t care about our military or anyone else for that matter. Everything he does points squarely to that fact. This man has created so much chaos in three years in everything from politics to the military. When and where will it end? Hopefully, it ends on November 3, 2020.

Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.