https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/retired-adm-mike-mullen-and-former-defense-secretary-william-cohen-warn-of-politicization-of-military-and-autocratic-whims-of-trump
The day now-former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen was to graduate from the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated. Two months prior, Martin Luther King Jr. had been killed.
Tanks lined the streets of Maryland's capital, and Washington was barricaded and burning on June 5, 1968, he recalled on Tuesday.
“The military had to work hard over 50 years to restore the faith the American people had in it and trust tied to what was lost in the Vietnam War,” Mullen said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion on the role of the military during times of civil discord.
Mullen said he saw flashes of the Vietnam era when he decided to speak out about the June 1 incident at Lafayette Square near the White House when peaceful protesters were cleared out so that President Trump could walk to St. John’s Episcopal Church for a photo opportunity.
“Principally, it was to speak against what I saw as a significant possibility of rapid politicization of our military by turning them loose in the streets against the American people,” he said.
Mullen said he was also motivated by the rights of peaceful protesters to speak out after the death of George Floyd in police custody and to call for racial justice.
Mullen joined Clinton Defense Secretary William Cohen and former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson in accusing President Trump of taking autocratic steps that are harming democracy.
“My concern is that the American people will see this not as a democracy where people rule through their votes,” said Cohen, a Republican senator for 18 years and a House member for six years before joining President Bill Clinton's second-term cabinet. “They will not see this as a lawful society but rather as a dictatorial society where it’s one-man rule.”
Cohen compared law enforcement's removal of badges at Lafayette Park to the Russian military’s removal of identification when it invaded Crimea in 2014.
“It’s not the rule of law, but it’s become the law of rule. It's sheer exercise of power without regard to the law,” he added.
Mullen said preparations to deploy the 82nd Airborne Division were uncalled for and harms democracy.
“We’re watching the democracy that we cherish. It’s our democracy, essentially starting to be dismantled through the autocratic, if you will, whims of an individual who currently resides in the presidency,” he said. “It scares me to death, quite frankly.”
Mullen said he was encouraged by the young protesters, especially white people, who were supporting calls to address racial injustice in the country.
Johnson extended blame to law enforcement responsible for clearing Lafayette Square of peaceful protesters.
“They lost the moral high ground,” he said. “What happened last week was a real setback for federal law enforcement day-to-day in terms of their credibility and ability to function.”
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