A Marine, A Boomer, A Turk, And James January 3, 2025January 2, 2025 Did you see this yesterday? By a former marine? Trump, Hegseth and the Honor of the American Military In part: There’s a swirl of controversies and concerns around Mr. Hegseth that make it difficult to focus on what’s important. But most notable to me, because it strikes at the core of the honor of the American military, is his signature achievement as a political advocate: helping persuade Mr. Trump to intervene in the cases of three men accused or convicted of war crimes. Afterward, Mr. Trump publicly heralded the men as “great warriors” and later invited two of them, including Clint Lorance, onstage at a private fund-raiser. Here’s how Mr. Lorance earned that invitation. In 2012 he was sent as a new commander without combat experience to lead a platoon of young soldiers deployed to Afghanistan with the largely hopeless mission of defeating the local Taliban and winning over the area’s population. One day he threatened to kill a farmer and his son, a 3- or 4-year-old boy, and a day later ordered his men to shoot within inches of unarmed villagers, including near children. “It’s funny watching” the villagers “dance,” he said. Mr. Lorance’s men, combat veterans, eventually balked at his orders and refused his instructions to make a false report about taking fire from the village. The next day he ordered fire on unarmed Afghans over a hundred yards from the platoon, killing them, and radioed a false report claiming the bodies couldn’t be searched. And here the difference between an idealistic and an amoral vision of America becomes concrete. Because those soldiers, who’d seen combat and watched their friends suffer terrible wounds, turned in Mr. Lorance that evening, 14 of them eventually offering testimony against him in the court-martial that found him guilty of second-degree murder. That testimony meant nothing to the elite media personalities like Sean Hannity and Mr. Hegseth who took up Mr. Lorance’s cause, though. Mr. Trump’s pardon of their former leader was a final betrayal for the troops who served in that platoon. One of them said that he attempted to kill himself when Mr. Lorance became a cause célèbre in right-wing media. Even beforehand, the killings haunted them. “It tainted our entire service,” another explained. Soldiers from other units called them the “murder platoon.” “I thought of the Army as this altruistic thing,” yet another veteran of the unit reflected. “The Lorance stuff just broke my faith.” Worth reading in full. From a Boomer: My wife, who is a very astute observer of history and trends, likes to remind me that most of us at our advanced age grew up during America’s golden age which was not the norm for America but somewhat of an aberration. Before the world wars, America was basically an isolationist country. America came out of WWII as the winner in so many respects and a global leader. We became the manufacturing center of the world, we controlled the international currency, we saw the greatest increase in national health, we created programs like Social Security to help our seniors, we had the Civil Rights movement and we led the world in art, music, movies, plays and even fashion trends. We grew the largest middle class ever known and finally added Medicare to the mix which helped lift seniors out of poverty. However, this was not the norm. If you look back in history, you will find that anti-immigration has been a constant theme throughout our history, with several deportations of foreigners going back to deporting the Irish in the 1800s or the Chinese Exclusion Act, along with deep racism, sexism and several gilded ages with large gaps between the rich and poor. Violence has always been a large part of the American story, one in which we exterminated almost an entire race of people and fought a civil war. Don’t forget our history of slavery followed by Jim Crow, lynchings and violence against blacks. Then there is the fact that women only received the right to an abortion in the 50s. What we are returning to, what Richard Wolff sees as a decline, is really that we are reverting back to our true character. We are becoming the country we were before our victories in WWI and WWII. It’s hard for us who lived in the golden age to watch this happen but nations have personalities and Trump and his merry band of oligarchs, xenophobes, racists, and religious bigots is taking us back to what we once were. I lament the fall of this golden age in America. It was a great ride while it lasted. I’m saddened that my children will not live in such an age, that my granddaughter will have to fight for her health and reproductive rights all over again but our time in the sun may be up as we become who we historically have always been. → Too bleak! We won’t let it happen! 6 LESSONS TO KEEP FROM LOSING OUR DEMOCRACY “I lived through the rise of authoritarianism in Turkey. Here’s what I learned.” Hopeful — and helpful! As is Carville’s prescription: It’s about finding ways to talk to Americans about the economy that are persuasive. Repetitive. Memorable. And entirely focused on the issues that affect Americans’ everyday lives. We live or die by winning public perception of the economy. Both worth reading in full. Pass any of this along that you think might help keep people engaged (#2 of the 6 LESSONS). Have a great weekend.