Mark Esper Did Everything He Could To Save Us From Trump, Except Vote For Biden
Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper continues his self-congratulatory book tour for this week’s release of his book A Sacred Oath. Sunday, during an interview on “60 Minutes,” he further confirmed what we already knew: Donald Trump is a deranged psychopath. This is the same Trump the GOP voting base adores and would willingly nominate for president again.
PREVIOUSLY: Trump Sec Def Says It Only *Looked* Like He Was Supporting Atrocities, Actually He Was Saving America!
Esper already told Maggie Haberman at the New York Times that he worried Trump might "misuse the military around Election Day” for coup-related purposes. He claimed Trump wanted to bomb Mexico and, who knows, maybe blame China, unless we're mixing up Trump's delusional ideas. Trump also wanted to shoot civilians exercising their First Amendment rights, but not in the face or anything, just the knees, which would’ve permanently disabled them.
That’s just some of the dish Esper saved up for a book instead of a 25th Amendment invocation. He had new horror stories to share last night on “60 Minutes."
In order to deal with what Mark Esper calls \u201ccrazy\u201d ideas from the Trump White House, Esper says he came up with the \u201cFour No\u2019s & discussed it with CJCS General Mark Milley\u2026the four things we had to prevent from happening between then and the election.\u201d https://cbsn.ws/3KWDra3\u00a0pic.twitter.com/Vc4ffzhlbT— 60 Minutes (@60 Minutes) 1652051242
Esper told CBS’s Norah O’Donnell he had to pressure Trump to hand over $250 million in aid to Ukraine: "It would be an argument after an argument. And I'd have to say, "Look, Mr. President, at the end of the day, Congress appropriated. It's the law. We have to do it.” In fairness, Trump hates paying bills.
He claimed he spent the last year of Trump’s administration “swatting down” increasingly deranged proposals, such as taking military action against Venezuela, striking Iran, and "at one point, somebody proposed we blockade Cuba.”
ESPER: It’s important to our country ... to the republic, to the American people that they understand what was going on in this very consequential period ... and tell the story about things we prevented, really bad things, really dangerous things that could’ve taken the country into a dark direction.
So, even though Trump’s first term ended with a violent attack on the US Capitol, it apparently could’ve gotten worse. That’s not encouraging. Esper said he came up with the "Four Nos,” which he discussed with General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. These were four things they had to prevent from happening before the election: “No strategic retreats, no unnecessary wars, no politicization of the military, and no misuse of the military.”
Esper and O’Donnell expressed collective horror that the military would ever attack protesters. That’s what “banana republics” and “authoritarian regimes” do! Democracies like ours just let the cops body-slam protesters and spray them with tear gas. That’s the sweet smell of freedom!
Trump, a known liar, told CBS that he’d never suggest shooting protesters, except for the many times he’s done so: “This is a complete lie, and 10 witnesses can back it up. Mark Esper was weak and totally ineffective, and because of it, I had to run the military.”
Say what now?
The delusional madman who was once president went on:
I took out ISIS, Qasem Soleimani, al Baghdadi, rebuilt the military with $2.5 trillion, created Space Force, and so much more. Mark Esper was a stiff who was desperate not to lose his job. He would do anything I wanted, that's why I called him "Yesper." He was a lightweight and figurehead, and I realized it very early on. He was recommended to me by some very weak RINOs and that is what he turned out to be.
This is a pretty typical borderline personality rant. Whenever someone “betrays” him, Trump will insist he knew they were no good from the start, yet kept them around anyway because his judgment is just that bad.
O’Donnell challenged Esper on why he didn’t come forward while Trump still had control of the nuclear codes, but Esper insisted that had he spoken out, he’d have been fired. He had "no confidence that anybody that came in behind [him] would not be a real Trump loyalist. And Lord knows what would've happened then."
Esper admitted to O’Donnell that he didn’t vote for Trump or Joe Biden, who’s not insane, but instead, he mailed in a ballot for another candidate, because Esper is like every entitled ass who thought both candidates were equally bad so he lodged a protest vote.
Threat assessment is apparently not one of his skills.
[CBS News]
Follow Stephen Robinson on Twitter.
Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons.
Yr Wonkette is 100 percent ad-free and entirely supported by reader donations. That's you! Please click the clickie, if you are able.
Stephen Robinson is a writer and social kibbitzer based in Portland, Oregon. He writes make believe for Cafe Nordo, an immersive theatre space in Seattle. Once, he wrote a novel called “Mahogany Slade,” which you should read or at least buy. He's also on the board of the Portland Playhouse theatre. His son describes him as a “play typer guy."
