Can Military Excellence Save Us From Trump’s Incompetence?
#military excellence #Trump administration #civil-military relations #political incompetence #democratic safeguards #leadership crisis #institutional stability
📌 Key Takeaways
- The article questions whether military competence can offset perceived political incompetence.
- It examines the role of military leadership in a politically turbulent administration.
- The piece explores tensions between institutional military values and political directives.
- It raises concerns about democratic safeguards when civilian leadership is contested.
It should never have come to this.
🏷️ Themes
Civil-Military Relations, Political Leadership
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Original Source
Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Newsletter David French Opinion Trump Has Only Himself to Blame March 19, 2026 Share full article 224 By David French Opinion Columnist President Trump has created the conditions for another quagmire in the Middle East, and the question is whether American military excellence can rescue him from his own impulsiveness and incompetence. Here is the present situation, in a nutshell: The United States and Israel have established absolute air dominance over the nation of Iran. In a few short days, our combined forces have destroyed Iran’s ability to protect its own airspace, have killed much of Iran’s senior military and civilian leadership, and have sunk much of Iran’s navy. At the same time, the United States and Israel are damaging Iran’s nuclear program from the air, and they are destroying Iran’s ability to manufacture and deploy ballistic missiles. They are also attacking the internal security forces that maintain the Iranian regime’s hold on the population. The intention of the air campaign is clear: to destroy the regime’s capacity to harm its neighbors while also creating the conditions for a revolution on the ground. If that’s the extent of the military mission, the military is accomplishing it with remarkable efficiency. Iran is being badly battered. Even if the war ended today, it would take years for the Iranian military to fully recover from the losses it has suffered so far. While Iran’s drones and missiles have inflicted damage on American forces and our allies, that damage is far less than what the U.S. and Israel have inflicted on Iran. There are no confirmed reports of Iran shooting down any American or Israeli aircraft (it has destroyed a number of drones), and it hasn’t yet sunk a single American or Israeli warship. So why, then, is Trump lashing out at American allies ? Why was he “ shocked ” that Iran struck Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait in response to American attacks? Perhaps the answer ...
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