But wait, there's more!

[seawasp]

Apparently, unless his Secret Service can somehow argue him out of it, our Dear Leader is going to be attending the giant military meeting at Quantico and address all the officers. 

Jesus H. Particular Christ on a pogo stick. 

Now it really IS the ENTIRE chain of command, several layers deep, in ONE location. Less than a week's notice for a Presidential visit, and barely a week for the whole gathering. 

There are SO many ways this can go wrong, even ignoring the "why the hell are they even HAVING this meeting" speculation.  

Comments

[dewline]

Several of which we've been discussing elsewhere, yes...and it's unclear what would be the least-worst outcome to hope for.

[bolindbergh]

Best outcome? Trump chickens out when the universal response to the Hitler Oath demand is "Fuck no!" with the footnote "If you fire us all and replace us with loyal incompetents, people will continue laughing at your stupidity until the end of time."

I'm betting that the officers involved a) have unofficial communication channels and b) have already discussed several potential Trump idiocies.

[scott_sanford]

My guess, after the fact, is that Kegseth was fantasizing about a Hitler Oath - but after Orange Jesus showed up to make it All About Him and failed to get even lackluster applause, it was obvious that this was not the time to tell them they should be excited to be in his personality cult.

So the flag officers got drivel about "no fat generals" and "no beardos."

[dsrtao]

Can we make sure that Vance and Johnson show up, too? And maybe a few billionaires?

[seawasp]

If I'm assuming I'm painting targets in this situation, then I'd prefer to add Miller.

[ninjarat]

One BIG thing went right: the generals' and admirals' response.

Silence.

Which is exactly as it should be. They recognized it for what it was: a political rally, exactly as they are required by law (Uniform Code of Military Justice) NOT to attend in uniform. The ONLY correct, appropriate and lawful response was what they provided: stone-faced silence.

Perfect.

[seawasp]

Well, that was sorta the minimum. What I would have LIKED is if someone had stood up and said, "Sir, you are talking about illegal and unconstitutional military operations on US soil. We cannot comply with any such orders". Preferably followed by everyone in the room either walking out, or taking both the President and Secretary into custody.

But yeah, miles better than clapping.

[ninjarat]

I can see the appeal but anyone who did walk out almost certainly would be relieved of command and replaced with uniformed cronies who have no qualms about repeating the Kent State Massacre on a national scale.