Listening to Donald Trump’s Second Inaugural speech, it’s clear that he equates the greatness of America with his own greatness and that only he can fix it, that he will be our salvation. (Of course, those of you who came of age in the 70s and 80s know that’s the Greatest American Hero was actually William Katt,[1] but I digress.)
So, it seems that the Greatest American Hero, known to some in MAGA world as “Daddy,” has some big, exciting plans! Deport the illegals! Take over Greenland, by force if necessary! Rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America! Do away with citizenship birthright as guaranteed in the Constitution! Release all the January 6 prisoners, even the ones who confessed to doing armed violence against Capitol Police (i.e., were not exactly “peaceful tourists”). Take over Panama Canal! Fix the Middle East by playing nice with MBS and moving all the Palestinians out of Gaza. Make peace with Russia (and let them do “whatever the hell” they want in Europe!).
What an exciting agenda! Surely inflation, helping the ordinary American make ends meet, or the price of eggs seem like small issues now, right? In case you hadn’t noticed, the price of eggs has gone up since the Inauguration of Trump for a second term of office.
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/egg-prices-record-high-2025-trump-b2686787.html
Oh sorry, that HAS to be Biden’s fault. What was I thinking? Evidently, Presidential duties now include preventing bird epidemics and altering the laws of supply and demand.
With all those Big Plans, and all of his “God anointed me to save America” talk in his Inauguration Address, he should feel like a very confident person, and yet . . . .
How can He, the big MAGA Daddy and the “Hero Who Has Come to Save America” have such thin skin?
General Mark Milley served in the first Trump Administration and mostly carried out Trump’s agenda. Milley even crossed the street to St. John’s Episcopal Church when He held the Bible upside down to contrast His Godliness with the Black Lives Matter protestors near Lafayette Park.
But because Milley called the military leader of China during the January 6th insurrection and has been critical of Trump since his first term ended, Trump has ordered that the end to Milley’s government security; and with Pete Hegseth doing his bidding, Milley’s photo has been removed from the Pentagon, the first time that has ever happened.
Other than the pettiness of this particular POTUS move, there may well be damaging if not fatal consequences. While our hyper-masculine “Daddy” was getting out his belt to punish Milley, he also revoked security details for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton (so much more qualified than, say, the unbelievable Tulsi Gabbard.).
According to Military.Com, “The revoking of Milley’s security detail comes at a time when several former Trump officials face threats from Iran stemming from his first administration’s hardline stance against the country — and specifically the military’s killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Suleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, the overseas arm of the elite Revolutionary Guards. . . .Several Republican lawmakers told hosts of political shows on Sunday that they had real concerns for the safety of John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, two other officials stripped of their security detail by Trump as part of an apparent retaliation campaign.”
Bolton and Pompeo, it should be noted, had fairly long and faithful stints in the first Trump Administration; whatever the “disloyalty” there was –– i.e., something just short of absolute and unquestioning loyalty –– is no reason to expose them to Iranian hot-heads bent on revenge, or MAGA loyalists who might resort to political violence. (Spoiler alert: some of the newly pardoned and freed Jan. 6 defendants are actually dangerous criminals who follow Trump’s wishes, whether he states them clearly or not.)
Yes, this is just petty retaliation, not any real effort to secure a good future for all Americans. “I am your retribution!” said He. But do most Americans care that former officials be punished for not doing exactly what He wanted? I think not. (Retribution toward those in the Dept. of Justice that were bent on prosecuting Jan. 6 insurrectionists will save the Republic?)
Sadly, this effort to intimidate the military’s top leaders seems to be working. “Military.com reached out to nearly a dozen current and retired general officers for comment on the actions the Trump administration has taken against Milley. None would speak even under the condition their names be withheld from publication to protect them from retaliation, a common practice in the press to allow officials to speak candidly when their views could draw retribution.”
Harry Truman notably said “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” Trump cares less about what’s cooking and more about keeping the temperature in the kitchen nice and comfy, with no one offering any thoughts or opinions that vary from his own. We’ve seen this in corporate America, where a “leader” surrounds himself with “yes men” and misses what’s actually going on in the market and the world.
Surrounding yourself with loyalists and lackeys who will never dare to speak truth to power is a sure-fire recipe for disaster, corporately and nationally. Will the Pentagon’s generals now stand up to Trump when he wants to deploy the military against domestic protests protected by the Constitution?
Perhaps the final straw for Trump was when Milley, in his farewell address at the Pentagon, said this:
Milley never mentioned Trump by name but pointedly said that service members “don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. … We don’t take an oath to an individual.”
“We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.”
A strong man is willing to make sacrifices for others; a weak man wants to sacrifice others for his own ego.
Government becomes far less dynamic and open when a President acts like a mob boss trying to exert total control over those around him. Milley’s portrait has been taken down at the Pentagon, presumably as a cautionary note to the current Joint Chiefs that they had better toe whatever line He commands or suffer the Wrath of Don. Notably, the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, surrounded himself with opponents and voices that gave him a greater range of views, often frustrating Lincoln but ultimately serving the Republic.
From a 2006 article, in Prologue, titled, “An Extraordinary President and His Remarkable Cabinet.”
“In 1860, prairie lawyer and former one-term congressman Abraham Lincoln stunned the country by prevailing over three prominent rivals—William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Edward Bates—to win the Republican nomination for President. Perhaps equally surprising was what Lincoln did after being elected President: He appointed all three rivals to his cabinet—Seward as secretary of state, Chase as secretary of the treasury, and Bates as attorney general.
In Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Doris Kearns Goodwin explores the extraordinary array of personal qualities that allowed Lincoln first to appoint, then to win over, men who had previously opposed him, and reveals how Lincoln’s bold and brilliant actions helped him steer the country through its darkest days.”
Trump is the current incarnation of the Grand Old Party, the party of Abe Lincoln. He claims we are in a very dark time in this nation of ours. So, you need to go big, Mr. Trump, not small, okay?
There is a firehouse of illegal orders coming from Trump 2.0, so it may seem small or insignificant to point out how petulant and petty our POTUS really is. But it’s perfectly legal to be petty. There was (and still is, sadly) a lot of stupid talk about Trump’s hand size or his penis size, some of it from Trump, talking about himself, or the size of Arnold Palmer’s “manly parts.” And there’s even more stupid talk about how “Daddy is back!” from people who might be taken seriously if they didn’t open their mouths. (I’m thinking of you, Lauren Boebert, Tucker Carlson, Charlie Kirk, and Roseanne Barr.)
But a manly man does not need to humiliate other men, and the size of his mind and heart are much more relevant to being President, and Mr. Big Shot shows again that his skin is paper thin, and that his heart and mind are both small parts that are perfectly legal, but wrong for America.
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081871/