OPINION — The media should be satisfied with President Trump’s telephoned “visit to the troops overseas” from his Mar-a-Lago resort on Thanksgiving Day, and not keep asking him when he plans to travel abroad to meet with them in a combat zone.
First of all, the November 22, conversations were televised in full, something that could not be done if Trump were moving from Bahrain, to Kuwait, to Afghanistan or even to Hong Kong.
Secondly, keeping Trump in this country and allowing him to stage such events not only saves probably millions of taxpayer dollars, but also allows the troops abroad to get on with their missions, without the days or weeks of planning and, finally, executing the protection operation that would be required should Trump go into an actual war zone.
Finally, staged as last Thursday’s event was, it gave a clearer view of Trump’s increasing use of the military as a prop for himself and his political views, made more obvious than it would be if he were seen standing in a chow line at Bagram, sharing a meal with soldiers in Kuwait, or shaking hands with Coast Guardsmen on a ship in Bahrain.
As it was, Trump found a way to use his first conversation, with Air Force Brig. Gen. David Lyons, commander of the 455th Air Wing at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, to defend his controversial, pre-election deployment of Army troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.
When Lyons described his airmen as “dedicated to keeping this fight [against Taliban terrorists] away from our shores,” Trump quickly compared that to “why we’re doing the strong border” in the U.S. Southwest. He went on to imply that Commander Lyons agreed with his actions by saying, “I know what you [meaning Lyons] want to do. You want to make sure that you know who we’re letting in…you’re doing it over there, we’re doing it over here.”
Coast Guard, Lt. Nicholas Hartmann, commander of the Coast Guard cutter USS Aquidneck, is stationed in Bahrain with the task of patrolling the Arabian Gulf and particularly, the Straits of Hormuz, through which tankers carry oil and gas from Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
As the second military man called, Lt. Hartmann told Trump that his work is primarily “partnering and building relationships with the Gulf Coast countries.” That led the President to respond, “How are they feeling about trade? Because, you know, trade for me is a very big subject all over. We've been taken advantage of for many, many years by bad trade deals. We don't have any good trade deals. How are you finding things in the region, Nick?”
To which Lt. Hartmann replied, “Mr. President, from our perspective out on the water, sir, we're seeing that there is an abundance of trade happening in the region. There are vessels moving through the Straits of Hormuz and across the Arabian Gulf on a daily basis carrying cargo to and fro. And we don't see any issues in terms of trade right now, sir.”
That didn’t satisfy Trump, who threw in his traditional, “Right now, every nation in the world does well with us; we don’t do well with them. So that’s changing…” With that, he quickly moved on to the great job “you guys” in the Coast Guard have been doing with hurricanes, particularly in Texas, which of course is roughly 8,000 miles from where Hartmann’s cutter is operating.
Next was a call to Col. Stephanie Barton, who handles U.S. Army logistics from a headquarters at Bagram in Afghanistan. After exchanges about how well things were going, Trump wound up the conversation by promoting his buildup of the military.
“We’re taking good care of you,” Trump said. “You know, the budget is now at $716 billion, Stephanie, right? So, we're getting rid of some of that old equipment that you — you see what's going in. The best in the world, right? So, you see a big difference. It's an awfully big difference from what we had before. And it's only getting better. We'll be stronger than ever before. And with people like you, we feel very confident.”
Trump didn’t mention his administration’s new plans to cut the already programmed, fiscal 2020 budget by five percent, which has caused the Defense Department to prepare a $700 billion budget for next fiscal year, along with the $733 billion already being put together.
U.S. Marine Corps Col. George Schreffler was on the schedule, but when the call went through it was Lt. Col. Sam Howie on the line from al-Jaber Air Base in Kuwait. It seems Col. Schreffler was touring a battlefield area.
Trump seemed put off by the switch. Other than finding out about the eight-hour time difference, Trump said the following, “You have one of the great bases. You have something that's incredible and special. And we'll get to see you very soon,” which may have been a hint of the expected overseas visit to the troops.
The last call went to U.S. Navy Capt. Patrick Hannifin, commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, docked at Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong.
When Trump tried to make small talk, comparing the Ronald Reagan to the newer carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, Hannifin mentioned the latter ship’s improvements and added that its “catapults and gear are slightly different.” That led Trump to open up his year-long obsession with the Navy replacing the steam-driven catapults on older carriers with what he’s claimed is the more costly and non-working “electronic and digital” catapults on the Gerald Ford.
Hannifin crisply responded, “The electromagnetic catapults they're running there offer some great benefits to — obviously, like any new piece, you got to work through the bugs. But they offer some benefits not only to stress and strain on the aircraft; to extend service life and other pieces. I have no doubt we'll work through that just as we work through all of our other advancements and continue to bring it to the enemy when called to do so.”
When Trump then asked which Hannifin would go with, the answer was “Mr. President, I would go electromagnetic cast. I think that’s the way to go.” To which Trump replied, “Good, OK. I like to hear that…at least you know they’re doing what they’re doing.”
If Trump travels abroad, you will never get the kind of exchanges that you got last Thursday, in what looked like a ‘presidential’ version of ‘The Apprentice’ television reality show.
One other important point emerged from last week’s pre-Thanksgiving interviews that relates to Trump statements. It came during Defense Secretary James Mattis’s Pentagon press conference last Wednesday.
Trump has gone out of his way to threaten that Army troops assigned to the Southwest border would use arms if needed. Last Thursday, after his phone call to the troops, Trump told reporters he had given the “OK” to use lethal force against migrants “if they have to.” On Nov. 1, he had said that if any rocks or stones were thrown by migrants at U.S. Army troops on the Southwest border, “we will consider that a firearm,” and have an appropriate response.
Mattis, however, went out of his way during his press conference to say that although he has the authority to use force, as of that time, the Army troops deployed were not carrying arms.
Asked what he would do if there were trouble and the Army was required to back up Customs and Border Patrol officers, Mattis responded that he would us Army M.P.s [Military Police], “unarmed M.P.s with shields, batons n – no firearms.”
“You've seen the picture of the guy down there,” Mattis said at one point, “they're not even carrying guns so, just relax.”
When a reporter asked if the Army troops would be armed if someone was using a rock to beat a Customs or Border Patrol officer, Mattis responded, “No…Not with a firearm.” Mattis insisted, “There is no armed element going in.” He also said that any change would depend on what the Department of Homeland Security asked the military to do. Even then, Mattis said, there would be a military “mission analysis.”
Mattis continued, “If we add missions, we will brief you [the media], and we will brief you as quickly as possible after that…I just want you to know, there's no operational reason for not sharing — like, most of the time, I wouldn't tell you that.”
He then said something important: “This is different. It's inside America. There's no operational reason to hide this.”
Perhaps that was another reason to be thankful on Thanksgiving.
