Does Santos Have New Gig As Speaker Johnson’s Military Guru?

House Speaker Johnson had some things to say after the President of Ukraine met with him (and others) on Capitol Hill. Let’s just say when I saw the news clip of his remarks what I shouted at my TV was “colorful.”  If not for an inability for much of the day to use my computer (a freakish accident that takes too long to explain) I’d have been bashing away at my keyboard back then. It’s probably better than my anger dialed down to only boiling. Johnson knows little about foreign policy and our military. No, having been a member of the House Armed Services Committee since all the way back in… 2021 doesn’t provide him any real level of expertise. Johnson who has according to Military.com a checkered past on defense and veterans issues. Especially supplemental aid packages such as aid to someplace like Ukraine. He’s way the hell out of his element on all manner of things including this. Not being entirely stupid he’s got to be soliciting advice. Given what he said today a little while ago it hit me. He’s turned to George Santos for help!

As we know former Congress Critter George Santos is a many of many talents and accomplishments. Going all the way back to  crossing the Delaware before George Washington. Georgie bravely led the defense of Ft. McHenry and raised that huge, beautiful flag he’d sewn with his own two hands. All while Star Trek style transporting him out to help Francis Scott Key write the poem that would become our national anthem. (since he’d of course written the old English drinking song that became the music we owe him that too). It wasn’t Sgt. Dan Daly who turned to shout to fellow Marines “Come on you sonsabitches, do you want to live forever” and inspired the charge that led to routing the Germans at Belleau Wood in WWI and turned the tide of the war. (Naturally George again used the Star Trek technology he’d invented to transport inside German lines and spread the nickname “Teufelhunden” – Devil Dogs – both me and fellow Marines have borne with pride). It was of course five star General/Admiral Field Marshall Santos who led us to victory in both the Atlantic/Europe and Pacific Theaters in WWII. And who was the genius at NASA who got us to the moon landings. Being a modest guy he’s downplayed his role as actually setting foot on the moon before Neil Armstrong.

Given all that, if the money was good ole Santos would be glad to help Johnson out and again, given what Johnson’s saying. It makes as much sense as anything and MAGA world is one weird place where the insane is considered great policy.

Ok, enough with the snark. In all seriousness while it’s of course not Santos he’s getting his advice from someone just as stupid with phony military credentials/knowledge has had Johnson’s ear. Sadly, and worse dangerously Johnson is demanding details (as are other GOPers) that he’s not capable of understanding. What’s he specifically asking for? From the CNN article:

Johnson insisted the White House has not been able to articulate a clear strategy that helps Ukraine win, and slammed the Senate for being “MIA.”

Here’s a quick primer Mikey. Ukraine was invaded by a country with vast stockpiles of equipment and available troops. Despite the odds and not having anywhere near the equipment and organized armed forces in numbers needed small batches of Ukrainians fought off the initial assault. The bought time. Time to start calling up reserves and organizing them into effective fighting units. Time for equipment and supplies to come in from NATO (and other) nations. From the start they said don’t send troops. WE will do the fighting (and bleeding and dying) if you provide us the means to do so.

Already partially organized more along a western model with help from us and other NATO nations Ukraine completed that transition. Their formal armed forces grew and became better equipped. Russian troops and much of their equipment turned out to be “not as advertised.” Ukraine slowly and steadily began degrading Russia’s military capability. And taking back territory. FYI to date as President Biden reminded us today Ukraine has taken back half of what Russia had captured. Not for nothing but they are in a position to regain control of the Crimean peninsula which Russia illegally annexed long ago.

What Russia had and has continued until recently had was an enormous stockpile of working artillery pieces and rounds to fire from them. And missiles which they’ve intentionally rained down on civilian areas instead of military targets. War crimes. Getting Ukraine equipped with and trained on western military stuff was a time consuming process. One that is still ongoing. For all that Ukraine continued to make gains, if not as quickly as we (or they) would have liked. Russia used the time it took to remake and upgrade Ukraine’s capability to build formidable trench defenses hundreds of miles long. The engineering for such defenses was worked out in prior wars and perfected in WII and no one was better at it than Russia. Better still for them since the engineering of how to make a multi-line trench defense successful was well known building them didn’t require a lot of heavy equipment. Makes it easier and faster of course but good old-fashioned muscle and sweat using shovels gets the job done. It doesn’t take training to dig where told, just strong guys who don’t have a choice but to dig.

That’s what the much anticipated counter-offensive hasn’t produced the desired results nearly as quickly as everyone (but Russia and its handful of allies) had hoped. So, you want “strategy” Johnson? Unless a country is willing to use tactical nukes to blast a wide hole in such defenses to allow a breakthrough and both getting loose behind enemy lines in large numbers while simultaneously attacking flanks it’s slow, painstaking clearing of minefields and infiltrating small sections of trenches all along the front. Pushing across a wide front and clearing mines which is a slow, deadly process. But it’s the only way. While that’s being done care has to be taken to secretly move and conceal forces that, when a breakthrough on a big enough scale is created rush into and through the breach.

It’s not cool. It’s not flashy. And it’s definitely not quick. But that’s how it’s done. Frankly, I wouldn’t trust Johnson with detailed information on where possible breakthrough spots or forces held back to move through them are!  He’ll share it and before you know it Vlad Putin will have it and rain down artillery. And if you’ve been paying attention, Ukraine has pushed Russia out of the Black Sea and has started attacking Russian Air bases harming both their helicopter and jet squadrons. No doubt more of that is to come. Again, I wouldn’t trust Johnson with those kind of details any further than I can throw my apartment building.

What you need to keep in mind is the unspoken part: Johnson doesn’t want strategy, he wants operational details!

What he says however provides him cover with MAGA goobers, GOP deficit hawks and frankly some Democrats in the country. His real goal is satisfying the GOP lust for militarizing our southern border and shooting the hell out of anything on the other side that approaches it. That’s why aid to Ukraine, and Israel too is being held up by him and his GOP caucus.

What’s both tragic and dangerous is that if we don’t get help to Ukraine and NOW the progress they’ve made might well be for naught. Russia and Putin won’t stay cut down to size and again become a threat. Eventually they’d take over enough of Ukraine that they’d be in a position to do what Putin has dreamed of. Go in and take over (or try to) a NATO country and then good old Article V will be invoked. And it won’t just be Ukrainians fighting and dying over there. Americans will too. Not JOHNSON’s kids of course. But too many other American’s kids.

Johnson doesn’t know dick about the military, national security, NATO or foreign policy. But he thinks he does now that out of the blue he’s Speaker. Or knows he doesn’t but is pretending to in order to get stuff he does want like draconian border policy that would make Trump’s look gentle in comparison. That would motivate the base and allow him to move forward with forcing his warped, f**ked up version of Christianity down all our throats and turn us into a combination autocracy/theocracy.

End of rant. (For now)