After the Commander in Chief — The US President — who is largely a figurehead when it comes to actually commanding American troops and has been since essentially right after George Washington, the head honcho of our armed forces is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a position currently held by one General Joseph Dunford. The Marine General has been serving atop the Pentagon since Barack Obama held office and is widely regarded as a brilliant military leader.
And he just called Donald Trump a liar.
Not in so many words, of course — he would be stripped of his command and I’m pretty sure punished with actual jail time for criticizing the President (some reader can weigh in and let me know, I’m sure). But Trump has been promising his racist base for weeks now that he was going to send the United States military down to our southern border to “repel” a caravan of asylum-seeking refugees that he calls an “invasion.”
General Dunford told a crowd at Duke University on Monday, however, that no soldiers would be involved in denying entry to anyone attempting to cross the border.
There is no plan for US military forces to be involved in the actual mission of denying people entry to the United States. There is no plan for soldiers to come in contact with immigrants or to reinforce Department of Homeland Security as they’re conducting their mission.”
That means two things, actually: Number one, it’s not an invasion. If it were an invasion, the General would have no problem involving our military, since that’s what they, you know, exist for. And number two, these troops are not being sent to the border to do anything that could not be done without them. Dunford himself admits that their duties will include loaning the Department of Homeland Security their trucks, providing medical support, and helping put up barbed wire.
But how does he feel about it?
It’s not my job to assess the appropriateness of the mission. It’s my job to accept the legality of the mission and, again, the capability of our forces to perform that mission.”
Sounds just like a soldier whose boss is spending $300 million to send in troops to make southern Texas look like the set of M*A*S*H.
Featured image via Department of Defense
