Robert E. Lee killed more Americans than Hitler. More than Khruschev. More than King George III, Ho Chi Mihn, or Kim Il Sung. He killed more Americans than we’ve lost in every war since the American Revolution, combined. He was the largest mass murderer of Americans in our nation’s history.
General Lee was not a good man: He was a morbidly rich oligarch who not only bought and sold enslaved human beings but delighted in whipping and torturing them.
Three of the 200-plus enslaved people he held at his plantation—Wesley Norris, his sister Mary, and their cousin George Parks—escaped and were captured in nearby Maryland. The report in the March 26, 1866 edition of The New York Daily Tribune, quoting Wesley Norris at length, tells us all about Lee’s proclivities:
He then ordered us to the barn, where, in his presence, we were tied firmly to posts by a Mr. Gwin, our overseer, who was ordered by Gen. Lee to strip us to the waist and give us 50 lashes each, excepting my sister, who received but 20; … Gen. Lee, in the meantime, stood by, and frequently enjoined Williams to “lay it on well,” an injunction which he did not fail to heed; not satisfied with simply lacerating our naked flesh, Gen. Lee then ordered the overseer to thoroughly wash our backs with [excruciatingly painful saltwater] brine, which was done.
Fearing President Abraham Lincoln might end slavery in America, Lee raised an army and tried to use it to end democracy in the United States; he thus committed treason in a way that exceeded even Benedict Arnold’s wildest fantasies. His war killed almost 750,000 men, women, and children, all Americans.
No American has ever betrayed or visited as much violence on this country as severely as did Robert E. Lee.
And so, when Lee lost the war that he’d started against us, the federal government seized his slave plantation and turned it into a cemetery for the Civil War dead. It’s today named Arlington National Cemetery.
So, perhaps it makes perfect sense that the current chief betrayer of the ideals of our nation, convicted felon and Putin toady Donald Trump, would brag to a group of American soldiers that he’s going to rename a military base after Robert E. Lee.
Even more shocking, in what’s an astonishing indictment of how our educational system has deemphasized civics in the years since Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush both took an axe to civics education, the assembled soldiers cheered the news that Lee’s name would again desecrate a military facility.
Trump then went on to repeatedly lie to our soldiers, falsely claiming that:
- He won the 2020 election, which he told them was “rigged and stolen;”
- He sent the National Guard into Minnesota “and I saved it” during the George Floyd protests, when in fact it was Gov. Tim Walz who did so;
- He defeated ISIS “in four weeks”; it took two years to liberate the ISIS caliphate;
- “Nobody wanted to join” the military under former President Joe Biden, a blatant lie;
- Countries like “Congo” dumped their prisoners and people from their mental hospitals here, saying, “Their countries would bus them or drive them right to our border and say, ‘Go in there. If you ever come back, we’re going to kill you;’”
- He’d brought water to LA during the fires when in fact he’d just ordered a field flooded in Northern California, screwing up water allocations for agriculture; and
- Echoed Hitler when he called Los Angeles protesters “animals” and “a foreign enemy.”
And even more disgusting than that, Trump was nakedly using those soldiers he was lying to as political props to massage his own ego and provide a made-for-Fox-“News” clip, as Military.com pointed out:
Internal 82nd Airborne Division communications reviewed by Military.com reveal a tightly orchestrated effort to curate the optics of Trump's recent visit, including handpicking soldiers for the audience based on political leanings and physical appearance. The troops ultimately selected to be behind Trump and visible to the cameras were almost exclusively male. One unit-level message bluntly said, “no fat soldiers.” [emphasis added]
This is the exact opposite of the instructions to keep the military nonpartisan that President George Washington gave future generations in his farewell address:
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty.
That the Secretary of Defense, “Kegger” Pete Hegseth, would not just allow but intentionally facilitate such an offensive display of partisanship is particularly troubling when compared to the military’s actual policies in Directive 1344.10, put into place years ago to respect Washington’s advice:
In keeping with the traditional concept that members on active duty should not engage in partisan political activity, and that members not on active duty should avoid inferences that their political activities imply or appear to imply official sponsorship, approval, or endorsement, the following policy shall apply:…A member of the Armed Forces on active duty shall not: …
Participate in partisan political fundraising activities, rallies, conventions, management of campaigns, or debates, either on one’s own behalf or on that of another, without respect to uniform or inference or appearance of official sponsorship, approval, or endorsement…
Attend partisan political events as an official representative of the Armed Forces…
This is a lawful general regulation. Violations of paragraphs 4.1. through 4.5. of this Directive by persons subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice are punishable under Article 92, “Failure to Obey Order or Regulation.”
When Trump blurs this line designed to keep our military nonpartisan, he’s imitating the behavior of dictators like Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán who cultivate personal loyalty within the military, rather than respect for constitutional processes.
Trump’s and “Kegger’s” move is apparently designed to test whether rank-and-file troops will go along with his political agenda and to build a foundation for future actions in which military force can be used domestically to defend his regime rather than the Constitution (e.g., suppressing protests, enforcing disputed election outcomes, defending the suspension of elections, etc.).
This is deeply dangerous to any democracy, which is why such behavior is not allowed by the military or executive of any other advanced democracy in the world. When military loyalty becomes politicized, the risk of coups, unlawful orders, or martial law rises dramatically.
Which—given the fact that Trump’s already tried once to stage a coup against the United States—makes this all the more alarming.
But Trump didn’t stop there. He next attacked the media filming the event, saying to more applause from the troops:
And for a little news, for the fake news back there, the fake news, ladies and gentlemen, look at them, look at them, aye yai yai, what I have to put up with. Fake news. What I have to put up with.
In fascist regimes, the press is always one of their first targets, typically labeled as “enemies of the people,” blamed for national problems, and ultimately silenced or co-opted. Trump using such rhetoric normalizes contempt for independent journalism among armed agents of the state while it suggests the possibility of state-aligned force being turned against critical media or dissenters.
Nazi Germany, Mussolini's Italy, Putin’s Russia, and more recently Orbán’s Hungary all followed this script. By repeating it, Trump is conditioning our soldiers to follow him rather than the Constitution and the law of the land.
He even brought along a vendor of Trump merchandise in violation of military policy, including MAGA hats, T-shirts, and cards that read, “White Privilege Card: Trumps Everything.”
Historically, when democracies have slid into dictatorship, there’s a moment when the military is required to choose sides, the press is cast as a threat, and loyalty to the regime is demanded and rewarded, rather than loyalty to the law.
We’re there now. Today.
Every American, particularly those who’ve served in the military, should be outraged by Trump’s fascist performance in front of our troops. That the only senior active duty military officer who spoke to the press did so anonymously (he said, “This has been a bad week for the Army for anyone who cares about us being a neutral institution; this was shameful.”) is a damning indictment of how far away from American values we’ve let Trump drag our country.
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