This is indeed a low ebb for this country when an outstanding military officer like Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman chooses to resign his military career due to the petty viciousness of Donald Trump and cadre. Vindman has been up for promotion to Colonel and speculation is that he would not be granted the promotion. Tammy Duckworth went so far as to say that she would block the promotion of over 1,000 officers unless the Pentagon saw to it that Vindman would not be subjected to retaliation for his testimony during the impeachment proceedings. Duckworth, for her own part, is now in a culture war shitstorm of her own, with Tucker Carlson going on the air yet again last night, this time escalating his attack and calling Duckworth a “moron,” “coward,” “callous hack,” and “fraud.” Vindman has evidently had his fill of all of this, because he’s retiring. Washington Post:
“Through a campaign of bullying, intimidation, and retaliation, the president of the United States attempted to force LTC Vindman to choose: Between adhering to the law or pleasing a President. Between honoring his oath or protecting his career. Between protecting his promotion or the promotion of his fellow soldiers,” Pressman said. “LTC Vindman’s patriotism has cost him his career.”
This is beyond sobering. This is tragic that we, as a nation, are losing the service of a man, a patriot, of this caliber. This is what happens when a dumbed down electorate, coupled with interference from malignant foreign actors and a 20-year smear campaign against a legitimate politician devolves into the installation of a carnival act in the nation’s highest office. Life becomes farce and tragedy becomes routine.
It is so sad.
The fact this is a typical reaction to this maladministration’s bullying makes it no less sad.
So sorry this is happening in our country.. Not sure why all the bullying by the P(piece of shit)OS is acceptable.. So i guess all his supporters can get away with it also.. SMH
I am the daughter of an Army office who served in World War II and the ex-wife of an Army officer who served for twenty years and retired as a Colonel. I also have worked for the Army. I know the ins and outs of it all. No one should have received this kind of treatment. He should be given the promotion even though he is retiring. Let him retire as a full Colonel.
I agree!!! Who do we tell??? Duckworth?
BTW, I suspect Tucker is attacking Tammy because she’s up for VP slot and he fears her. That makes her my first choice….
Call her office.
No, Tuckie is attacking her because he’s a miserable, childish clown who fears women. He’d attack her whether she were up for VP or not. Didn’t he also just attack Ilhan Omar?
Miranda….absolutely!!!! My blood is boiling right now
Okay, where’s the brass? Is no one in the higher commands of the Armed Forces going to stand up against this travesty against a serving officer? Even worse than the vindictive pettiness & cruelty of Trump is the blatant cowardice of all those who refuse to confront him.
Of course…voting up
This makes me sick!!! I still stand with col. Vindman! Always will! I continue to despise TRUMP!!! What a sick, sick president!!! A shame to our country…my God…makes me sick to my stomach!
It’s my understanding that Lt. Col. Vindeman wasn’t merely up for promotion, but rather that the Army board had actually recommended his promotion to full Col. As a matter of course their promotion list was forwarded up the Chain of Command so that the Army’s promotion list could be combined with that of the other services and sent to the WH for endorsement.
This is the point where things got ugly. It seems word was passed that the WH would be unhappy if Vindeman was on the list, which of course is pretty good evidence they’d been keeping track of the process and someone over in the Pentagon, and the Army in particular was keeping them informed along the way. The promotion board did its job objectively and recommended the promotion. Then pressure was brought to bear to rescind that recommendation and or have higher ups override it.
This is a real live shitshow and the Army Chief of Staff, and all the Joint Chiefs are fucking LAMBS that should resign in disgrace. They could have saved the disgrace part by flat out resigning en masse and publicly stating why they were doing so. Having served I understand how Chain of Command works and the need for good order and discipline depends on the military following the appropriate orders of the civilian leadership. I also recognize that it can be a slippery slope for the top brass to openly question the President and other civilian leadership. “Appropriate” can after all mean different things to different people.
However I believe it’s the duty of an officer or an NCO (what I was) to look after those under their command. The first duty is to the Constitution. Right after that is the duty to take care of one’s troops. The uniformed leadership has failed on both counts and this isn’t the first time.
Shame on them. And shame on our country if we don’t purge it of elected officials who will politicize things the way that’s been going on.
I am beyond sad to hear this. Lt. Col Vindman is a man of honor. tRump is a piece of work. This promotion would have meant a lot to Vindman after he did what was right for his country. He does not deserve this.
It shows that there are no patriots left in the GOP and that in fact the entire party has become un-American.
I read something interesting in an editorial on Roll Call this morning titled “Six Things that will Never Be the Same After the 2020 Elections.”
One of them was “The Republican Party. The writer said, “This is not a moral judgement on the GOP, it’s reality. Republicans have become primarily a following of a person more than an ideology or a set of issue stances. That will make for a messy transition when Donald Trump is no longer the president. He’ll still be active on social media (and potentially his own traditional media brand) and some grassroots Republicans will still want to follow him. A pack of other GOP politicians will attempt to fill the void, many by trying to be Trump, and they will fail, and likely look silly in the process.”
Exactly. And why they adore this one individual speaks poorly for them: he feeds their anger, their vindictiveness, their bigotry, their hate, their selfishness, their callousness.
Do you have a link to the article, Anastasia? Sounds like they’ve other valid points to share.
https://www.rollcall.com/2020/07/08/six-things-that-will-never-be-the-same-after-the-2020-elections/
I wish he would hang on for just 4 more months. It’s sickening to see how he was treated by an idiot that is not fit to shine Vindman’s shoes !
As Bill Palmer pointed out, it does put him on the growing list of people who are highly qualified to serve in a Biden administration.
One suggestion was as deputy secretary of state. He’s qualified for that job.
Excellent advice. We will see if they heed it, or if any of this occurs to them, since I don’t know if they read your blog………..livejumps.com
Lt. Alexander Vindman needs his own statue of honor in Washington.
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