Trump’s latest lame duck … After protesting the presidential election, even the defense minister was cut off.

President Donald Trump (left) and US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. EPA = Yonhap News

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, appointed Defense Minister Mark Esper on the 9th (local time) and appointed Christopher Miller, director of the Center for Counterterrorism, as acting Defense Minister. It is highly unusual for the incumbent president, who is about to retire two months after not being reelected, to replace the defense minister, who is key to national security.

The “dangerous lame duck” could have started if President Trump intended to freely move the organization after firing high-ranking officials who showed no loyalty to him, CNN reported.

President Trump said on Twitter that afternoon: “I am pleased to announce the highly respected Counter-Terrorism Center director Christopher C. Miller as Acting Defense Minister” and it will “take effect immediately.”

In another tweet, he said: “Miller will do it right!” And “Mark Esper was fired. I want to thank him for his position.”

Acting Secretary Miller became President Trump’s fourth defense minister. In a tweet, President Trump emphasized that Miller was “unanimously approved by the Senate” and was interpreted as an intention to block criticism of causing a national security breach by replacing the minister at the end of his term.

President Trump denounced Defense Minister Esper with a tweet.

In response to this, US media such as CNN and the New York Times (NYT) reported that President Trump may have started retaliation for firing officials who did not cooperate with him after the failure of the presidential election.

Shortly after taking office in July 2019, Minister Esper was evaluated as a ‘yes-man’ who was loyal enough to President Trump to earn the nickname ‘yes-for’. However, in June, he began to go against President Trump’s policy of mobilizing troops to protest racism.

On June 1, the White House launched a photoshoot after dissolving peaceful protesters with tear gas. Defense Secretary Mark Esper (left) followed President Donald Trump and later apologized after being criticized. [AP=연합뉴스]

Minister Esper actually apologized at a press conference, saying, “I didn’t know where he was,” at a press conference after being criticized for conducting President Trump at the event where peaceful protesters were fired with tear gas. and then they went to a church in front of the White House to take a promotional photo.

Despite the issue of the use of Confederate flags and the renaming of the military units, which remained in the army, the remnants of the slave era were out of sight, in conflict with President Trump.

When the New York Times (NYT) reported that Russia offered rewards to the Taliban in exchange for killing US troops in Afghanistan in July, Secretary Esper admitted that he had received a report from the relevant intelligence agency in Congress.

President Trump complained that Esper had not adequately defended himself, but it is known that the Republican leadership convinced him that it would be inappropriate to replace the defense minister in a delicate period before the presidential elections, and it was known that he had decided to replace him later of the presidential elections.

Esper was reportedly also preparing to resign after the presidential election, regardless of the outcome.

Two months before the president’s presidency, there are concerns whether the undertone of the defense minister change was simply retaliation against non-loyalists, or whether he had other intentions in mind, such as conducting arbitrary operations.

NYT said: “Dentagon officials are quietly expressing concerns that President Trump may openly or secretly launch operations against Iran and other adversaries,” the NYT said. “We have more than two months left as Miller’s new secretary, but this is an important moment. It could be,” he said.

CNN quoted an anonymous source at the White House as saying, “Who knows what President Trump will do for the rest of the year?”

Senator Chris Kunz, aide to President-elect Joe Biden, appeared on CNN and said: “The removal of high-ranking officials by President Trump to destabilize the organization could seriously harm the next administration.”

President Trump’s presidential minister, Gyeong-Jil, arrived about 48 hours after the defeat of the presidential election was confirmed. President Trump spent two unsuccessful days after the election of Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden was confirmed on the morning of the 7th.

For two days in a row, he showed no outside movement more than one round at Trump International Golf Club in Virginia, near Washington, but on Monday the 9th, he hit the defense minister with a tweet and replaced it with a blitz.

When President-elect Biden formed a takeover committee and regime change began in earnest, President Trump, faced with a failed situation, was ousting his dissatisfied ministers and exercising his final personal rights.

Washington = Correspondent Park Hyun-young [email protected]