One former senior Air Force official is speaking out with a stark warning for the American people, as President Donald Trump attempts to turn the US military on its head.
Frank Kendall, who once served as the secretary of the U.S. Air Force under the Biden administration, delivered a fiery opinion coupled with a blunt and terrifying warning to the people of this nation in a blistering new op-ed for the New York Times, in which the former military official argued that Trump and his administration are promoting “naked self interest” with their upheaval of the United States military.
Kendall believes that Donald Trump is unceremoniously firing countless senior military officials for no other purpose than to replace them with individuals who are loyal to no one and nothing but him.
Citing Trump’s recent firing of Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy’s top admiral, Kendall writes, “President Trump’s decision to fire senior military leaders without cause is foolish and a disgrace. It politicizes our professional military in a dangerous and debilitating way.”
ABC News reported on those recent terminations, noting that it was “the first time that two members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had been dismissed from their senior military roles.” Their report goes on to add that Brown “was the second Black American to serve in the role and Franchetti was the first woman to serve as the Navy’s top admiral.”
Kendall’s opinion piece continued, “It pains me to see these fine people being treated so unfairly and, for the first time in my career, to see dedicated, apolitical military professionals being removed without cause. I am worried about political loyalty becoming a criterion to hold high military positions.”
“One of the most admirable characteristics of the American military is that all serving members are trained to understand that America stands for more than naked self-interest,” by always remaining loyal to the US Constitution and rule of law, above all else. The former Air Force official goes on to state that Donald Trump’s indiscriminate firings stand in direct contradiction to those “core principles.”
Kendall ended his piece with this warning to the American people: “We are in danger when the legal constraints on how the president uses the military, including within the United States, are ignored or brushed aside.”
Read Kendall’s full opinion piece with the New York Times here.
Featured image via U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Monica Roybal