MILITARY/RACISM/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The nation’s top military officers issued public statements condemning racial bigotry and extremism, a rare foray into domestic politics that indicated deep unease Wednesday [8-16-17] in the Pentagon with President Trump’s views on race and underscored his growing isolation.
The social media posts from the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff — the commanders of the Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Air Force — came amid a torrent of criticism of Trump as business executives abandoned his advisory councils, Republican elected officials distanced themselves from him and previously friendly foreign leaders criticized his comments suggesting an equivalence between neo-Nazi groups and their opponents.
In a further sign of an administration in crisis, Vice President Mike Pence announced he was cutting short a visit to South America to return to Washington a day early for meetings with Trump.
But it was the statements from the country’s top uniformed military leaders that broke most dramatically with precedent.
Each used his official Twitter account to denounce the far-right protesters behind Saturday’s deadly violence in Charlottesville, Va. — and not those who had confronted them…
Similar implied denunciations of Trump’s stand poured in from former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, Republican leaders in Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), as well as several major allies in Europe.”
-W. J. Hennigan and Noah Bierman, “Joint Chiefs denounce racism in stark terms as Trump’s isolation grows,” The Los Angeles Times online, Aug. 16, 2017 02:50pm