Trump thinks he has the final say on a lot of things. Executive orders, tweets, etc. His recent pardoning of three convicted war criminals is just another instance of abuse of power. Not surprising for a fascist.
Trump claims to be the best friend the military could have. What could he possibly know about serving? I served for 8 years, both under Bush and Obama. I entered combat zones under both regimes, which drove us into “forever wars” that destroyed the Middle East and gave trillions of our tax dollars to war profiteering corporations.
While I was in, I was required to abide by the UCMJ, or Uniform Code of Military Justice, which regulates the conduct of service members at home and while deployed. Violations of several of these articles can lead to Court Martial, which is where committing war crimes will land you. You’ll either be sentenced to death or get time in the brig. During times of war, which we are always in, you can be summarily executed for simply refusing to obey an order. This has happened as recently as 2013.
The military is largely a fraternity, for lack of a better word, run by corrupt generals. There are the UCMJ’s rules and then there are the “real” rules. Crimes are routinely covered up, obfuscated, or flat out lied about. That’s how it works, and it will not change until workers (including rank and file soldiers) rise up to dismantle this thing.
For someone to get convicted of these types of crimes, they would have to have been particularly heinous.
Trump claims he wants to “take care” of veterans. If he were serious about supporting active duty troops, he would bring Washington’s wars and occupations to an end. He would champion more funding for the VA. But he has as much concern for the troops as do the oil company executives who ought to be tried for war crimes themselves, along with the politicians and generals who orchestrate these wars.
Think about what fascists want and see if this fits in with their agenda. Trump is signaling that he has the final say in terms of justice. The criminals he pardoned are now emboldened, as are other service members who have done or aspire to commit similar acts. At the same time, the military refuses to address the problem of white supremacy among the ranks and will no longer screen for white nationalist views as a condition of enlistment.
Murdering civilians, posing with corpses, white nationalism, what else is Trump ok with?