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FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump listens to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper address the White House daily coronavirus response briefing with members of the administration’s coronavirus task force at the House. Blanca in Washington, USA, March 18, 2020. REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst / File Photo
WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump said Monday that he had “fired” Defense Secretary Mark Esper, noting that he could use his final months in office after the defeat at the polls to settle scores within its administration.
Trump had parted ways with Esper on a variety of issues and was particularly angered by his public opposition to Trump’s threats to use active duty military forces this summer to suppress street protests over racial injustice after George was killed by police. Floyd in Minneapolis.
Democrats reacted with alarm, saying Trump’s move sent a dangerous message to America’s adversaries and clouded hopes for an orderly transition as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office.
“The abrupt firing of Secretary Esper is disturbing evidence that President Trump intends to use his last days in office to wreak havoc on our American democracy and around the world,” said the Speaker of the House of Representatives. , Nancy Pelosi.
Representative Adam Smith, the Democrat who heads the House Armed Services Committee, condemned Trump’s decision as “childish” and “reckless.”
Trump said on Twitter that Christopher Miller, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, will take over as acting secretary of defense.
I am pleased to announce that Christopher C. Miller, the highly respected Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (confirmed unanimously by the Senate), will be Acting Secretary of Defense, effective immediately.
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 9, 2020
“Mark Esper has been fired,” Trump tweeted, adding that Miller would be acting secretary “effective immediately.”
US defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows called Esper minutes in advance to alert him that Trump would fire him via Twitter.
When Trump launched a swift and unceremonious exit for Esper, Miller arrived at the Pentagon building just an hour after Trump’s announcement, before the Pentagon itself had issued a statement acknowledging Esper’s firing.
It was unclear if Esper was still in the building when Miller arrived.
Sources said Esper had long been preparing for his resignation or impeachment after last week’s election, particularly if Trump won a second term. However, the fact that he fired Esper even after losing the election was not a given.
In a letter to the Defense Department issued Monday night, Esper said he was stepping aside knowing that “we can accomplish much more.”
Esper praised the military for remaining “apolitical,” a refrain he used to use and which Trump’s opponents saw as an implicit criticism of the president’s attempts to portray the military as his constituency amid defense budget increases.
More layoffs?
Paul Frymer, a professor of politics at Princeton University, said Trump’s firing via Twitter was “typical of his entire presidency” and warned it could spell danger to Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. , who has also clashed with Trump.
“He cannot control his impulses or his temper and demands loyalty from him above politics, the constitution or anything else,” Frymer said.
Trump has had an uneasy relationship with the Pentagon, where Esper and top brass have repeatedly sought to avoid being seen as a political instrument of the Trump administration.
Esper’s predecessor Jim Mattis resigned in 2018 over political differences with Trump, including in Syria. Mattis criticized Trump in June as the “first president in my life who does not try to unite the American people, does not even intend to try. Instead, it tries to divide us. “
Like Mattis, Esper also disagreed with Trump’s dismissive attitude toward the NATO alliance and was suspicious of Trump’s penchant for viewing American military alliances through an explicitly transactional lens, even while endorsing Trump’s calls. to allies to increase defense spending, the sources said.
But he also parted ways with Trump over headline-grabbing issues, including Esper’s desire to protect Alexander Vindman, then a White House lieutenant colonel, from retaliation for his testimony in Trump’s impeachment inquiry.
Michael O’Hanlon of the think tank Brookings Institute said he did not think Trump was likely to embark on a harmful restructuring of US national security policy despite firing Esper.
“You’ll want to believe that you have some kind of reasonable legacy – in the economy, in strengthening the military, in not starting new wars,” O’Hanlon said, noting that Trump might want to try running for office again in 2024.
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