CINC Disqualifiers

By Bill Doughty

If a presidential candidate does any (or all) of the following, should they be disqualified from becoming Commander in Chief?

• Call political opponents “the enemy from within” and pledge to get the National Guard and military to fight against opponents, including an elected congressman.*
• Threaten to court-martial his former CJCS for treason and consider punishing him with death.
• Invoke wartime powers and order the United States military to round up residents who are undocumented immigrants, including some who are parents of U.S. citizens, set up internment camps, and conduct mass deportations, separating families –– again.
• Call for “termination of all rules, regulations and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
• Summon, incite, and send supporters to the Capitol in an insurrection attempt, fail to intervene for hours as his supporters attack law enforcement personnel, and then promise to pardon them, saying they are “hostages” and “patriots” –– calling J6 a “day of love” and “a love fest.”
• Attempt to interfere in states’ election processes and continually lie about election results.
• Ask the military to shoot American citizen protesters.
• Ask the military to consider shooting missiles into Mexico against drug cartels.
• Consider using nuclear weapons against hurricanes.
• Exploit natural disasters and lie for political gain despite harm to victims.
• Denigrate military service and sacrifice, castigate wounded warriors, and then exploit Arlington Cemetery for political gain.
• Befriend autocrats and enemies and alienate allies, including NATO; demonstrate a willingness to appease Putin’s Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, saying Zelensky is at fault for starting the war and calling Putin “genius” and “savvy.”
• Remove, hide, and refuse to return classified documents, including Top Secret and compartmented information of the highest sensitivity.
• Threaten to punish women who get abortions, proudly take credit for ending Roe vs. Wade, and then see women from some states suffer.
• Refuse to release tax records as every modern presidential candidate has done, and brag about evading taxes, paying virtually no taxes for several years, with purported negative income.
• Refuse to release medical records as every modern presidential candidate has done, despite being 82 years old in office if elected.
• Refuse to debate his opponent again (even on a network biased for him) after being soundly defeated in a first debate, then refusing to be interviewed by independent media.
• Threaten retribution and shutting down media organizations who do not agree with him.
• Use or allow to be used AI-generated mis- and disinformation in a presidential campaign.
• Lie, gaslight, and grift continuously.
• Foment fear and hate by dividing and “otherizing” instead of uniting people.
• Call the United States of America a destroyed hellscape.
• Castigate political opponents for not fixing a broken immigration policy, then intervening to stop Congress from passing a bipartisan immigration bill.

The above list does not include juvenile name-calling, promises of up-to 2,000 percent tariffs, multiple sexual misconduct allegations and hush-money scandals, other criminal indictments and convictions, two impeachments and multiple referrals, bribes to big-oil CEOs, denying the reality of climate change, requesting and accepting foreign assistance from Russia in his election, opposing gun safety regulations, and a bizarre 39-minute extended swaying to music at a purported town hall instead of discussing plans and policy.

A qualified and good CINC needs character, integrity, honesty, and judgment. In short: honor, courage and commitment.

* Some supporters of ex-President Trump attempt to downplay the promise to mobilize the military against American citizens, citing Posse Comitatus laws, guard rails, and core values of the military. Service members take an oath to support and defend the Constitution; leaders know they can refuse to follow unlawful orders even from their commander in chief. However, the Supreme Court, with a majority of Trump-supporting justices, have empowered the chief executive with immunity powers; Project 2025 calls for loyalty tests and a purge of top military officers who don’t support the president; and there would be no guard rails against a rogue president. No Pence, Mattis, Kelly, McMaster, Bolton, Tillerson, Esper and Milley; instead: Vance, Patel, Miller, Paxton, Bannon, Navarro, Greene, Ramaswamy, and Flynn.

The true "enemies from within" are fear, hate, arrogance, and dishonesty.

Who Could Be Against Trump?

By Bill Doughty

Hundreds of former national security leaders –– from both Republican and  Democratic administrations –– signed a stark warning letter to the nation last month, citing about ex-President Trump, “He has shown no remorse for trying to overturn the 2020 election on January 6th, promises to pardon the convicted perpetrators, and has made clear he will not respect the results of the 2024 election should he lose again. That alone proves Mr. Trump is unfit to be Commander-in-Chief.”

Project 2025 was the must-read of the summer, and now this letter is a must-read for autumn, just a few weeks before the election. The lead signature is from Rear Admiral Michael E. Smith, USN (Ret), President of National Security Leaders for America.

Signatories include former SECDEFs Chuck Hagel, William Cohen, Leon Panetta, and William Perry as well as seven Senate-confirmed military service secretaries. The officials and senior officers called former President Donald J. Trump "impulsive," "ill-informed" and “unfit” to serve again as commander in chief.

They condemn his promise to “terminate” parts of the Constitution, his constant lying, and his role in the January 6, 2021 attempt to overturn the previous election and his “promises to pardon the convicted perpetrators.”

The letter includes signatures from three former acting service secretaries, former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. Among the more than 740 Americans who signed the letter are service members, civilians, and military spouse representatives. There are at least 63 Navy and 18 Marine Corps retirees who endorse Harris over Trump

Many Republicans have denounced Trump, with most pledging support to Kamala Harris for President. Notably, former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Representative Liz Cheney announced their endorsement of Harris. Liz Cheney is former House GOP conference chair and was the #3 Republican in the House of Representatives until she turned against Trump and helped lead a congressional investigation into the January 6, 2001 (J6) insurrection, consequently becoming a victim of MAGA retaliation.

Now Liz Cheney joins former Trump White House aides Alyssa Farah Griffin, Cassidy Hutchinson and Sarah Matthews today in Pennsylvania to campaign against Trump, noting, according to reports, his threat to democracy, the rule of law, and the Constitution. Former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci has issued similar warnings about another Trump presidency, and is actively supporting Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

Recently, retired U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president, writing in a New York Times OpEd, “Ms. Harris has the strength, the temperament and, importantly, the values to serve as commander in chief.” He added, “I have cast my vote for character, and that vote is for Vice President Kamala Harris.”

In 2020, Admiral William McRaven, former commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, warned the nation about a second Trump administration and what it would mean for the future of the country: “When good men and women can't speak the truth, when facts are inconvenient, when integrity and character no longer matter, when presidential ego and self-preservation are more important than national security — then there is nothing left to stop the triumph of evil.”

In another editorial about Trump, McRaven addressed him directly and wrote, "Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation.” Both McRaven and Admiral James Stavridis, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, condemn Trump for his lack of character, his failure to uphold his oath to the Constitution, his affection for dictators and autocrats, and his antagonism of Allies and alliances.

Late Senator John McCain’s family have joined former members of Trump’s own administration –– including VP Pence, SECDEF Gen. Mattis, SECDEF Esper, CoS Gen. Kelly, NSA John Bolton, and CJCS Gen. Milley –– in condemning Trump for his role in the J6 insurrection coup attempt, threat to national security, and lack of stability. For his part, Trump threatens to retaliate against his critics both in government and in the media.

Next week, Bob Woodward’s new book, “War,” will hit book shelves, reporting on Trump’s “romance” with Russia’s Putin expanding on allegations of Russia’s help in Trump’s 2016 election when Trump, “Russia if you’re listening…” and publicly siding with Putin over his own Intelligence officers. Woodward reports that Trump secretly sent Covid-19 testing equipment directly to Putin in the early weeks of the 2020 pandemic, even though there was a shortage and need for testing in the United States. Trump denied the report, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday that the tests had been sent to Putin. It seems Woodward has written another must-read for this year.

Best Friend, Worst Enemy: WWJD?

Review by Bill Doughty––

A Marine with a warrior heart must also have a trained mind, according to General James Mattis –– one of the key U.S. military leaders of this century. Among his many assignments, Mattis commanded the U.S. Joint Forces Command and U.S. Central Command. He led Marines in combat in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom in the Middle East. And he served as the first Secretary of Defense in the Trump administration.

In his combat operations, Mattis faced jihadist enemies who ignored the rules and laws of war and put innocent civilians at risk, hiding behind women and children.

So, WWJD? What would Jim Mattis do –– if able –– about the situation now in Israel and Gaza? In “No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy: The Life of General James Mattis” (HarperCollins, 2018) author Jim Proser gives us a clue.

Mattis learned valuable lifelong lessons in Vietnam and its aftermath, as Marines and Sailors rescued refugees fleeing on small boats from Laos, Cambodia, and South Vietnam.

“The human aftermath of US political defeat in Vietnam and the ensuing political instability crowds every available inch of deck space around Mattis. They fill the seats hold of the ship, clutching their children and meager possessions, often shaking with fear and trauma. This is Mattis’s first real-world experience of war as a Marine. As soldiers of the navy, the first in and often the last out of smaller, third-world conflicts, Marines frequently end up with the responsibility for evacuation of war victims.”

Proser traces the arc of Mattis’s life, one dedicated to service, philosophy, and his fellow Marines and other service members. “No Better Friend” was published just months before Mattis resigned as SECDEF over differences with Trump (who later falsely claimed he fired Mattis).

The book concentrates on Mattis’s role in military operations, where we see his ethical leadership and humanism. The “Warrior Monk” –– callsign Chaos –– is against wholesale and indiscriminate warfare that ignores the effect on noncombatants. For example, after the Islamist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, Mattis recognized the danger of the Bush Administration’s race to invade Iraq under the pretense that Saddam Hussein was producing weapons of mass destruction.

“This rushed strategy by the Pentagon planners lacked deep thinking about the needs of the Iraqi people beyond their basic survival and provided few details on what Iraq’s tribes, communities, and cities would need after their country was invaded and their government overtaken. Mattis’s lifelong devotion to the study of philosophy and experience in occupied territories gave him a much keener sense of human needs, particularly in times of war. He could no more overlook the humanity of the Iraqis he would become responsible for under the rules of war than he could that of his own troops. In Mattis’s educated view, Iraqis and his occupying troops would have to form a community with specific physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.”

For Mattis, innocent families caught in the middle of war must have access to water, food, medicine, trash removal, and –– importantly –– education.

To some, "Peace through strength" means more violence and lethality; to Mattis and other thinking leaders, true strength rests in restraint, diplomacy, and ethical behavior and a clear warning to enemies against escalation.

Outside a medical clinic at Joint Security Station Douro, Iraq, Aug. 28, 2008. (PO2 Joan Kretschmer)

In the face of distrust and mistrust by local citizens in Iraq, Mattis instructed his Marines to show compassion and a helping hand, “first do no harm.” Proser says the general gave his Marines an extensive reading assignment leading up to engagement with the enemy. Mattis insisted “his Marines engage their minds before they engage their weapons.”

In a PBS interview in 2003, then-Major General Mattis said, “In other words, if the enemy tried to provoke us into a fight and that fight would cause innocent people to die, then we would forgo the fight. We would try to find a way to get them another day.”

In his “commander’s intent” instruction to troops on the eve of battle in Afghanistan, Mattis echoed lessons learned in Beirut and Baghdad: “We will be compassionate to all the innocent and deadly only to those who insist on violence, taking no ‘sides’ other than to destroy the enemy.”

“Show the people respect,” Mattis told his Marines.

At a school in Kandahar, Afghanistan, April 16, 2014 (Spc. Sara Wakai)

The least desirable outcome of war against an enemy is causing more animosity, hatred, and radicalization of the populace –– what Proser calls “a full-blown blood vendetta.”

The common enemy in the war on terrorism is Islamist extremism, which goes by many names: ISIS, ISIL, al-Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah (literally, “the party of God”). A common denominator in the support of violent extremism is Iran. In an interview with MIHS Islander in 2017, Mattis said:

“Until the Iranian people can get rid of this theocracy, these guys who think they can tell the people even which candidates they get a choice of, it’s going to be very, very difficult. This is a regime that employs surrogates, like Lebanese Hezbollah to threaten Israel…

“The Iranian people are not the problem. The Iranian people are definitely not the problem; it’s the regime that sends agents around to murder ambassadors in Pakistan or in Washington DC. It’s the regime that provides missiles to Lebanese Hezbollah or the Houthi in Yemen…

“So, somehow, you don’t want to unite the Iranian people with that unpopular regime because if you pressure them both then they will grow together. We’ve got to make certain that the Iranian people know that we don’t have any conflict with them.”

Mattis says that if the people have economic and political alternatives and “a stake in the future” they will be less likely to pick up a gun and lash out.

Staff Sgt. James Altman hands out book bags filled with school supplies to Iraqi children in Sahl, Al Assad, Iraq (Cpl. George Papastrat)

I finished this book in the midst of a pause in Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas and heightened calls by President Biden for more restraint by Israel in its bombing campaign, which has been killing hundreds of civilians in Gaza. Unfortunately, as I write this, Israel has apparently ended the truce and ceasefire, and is bombing military and civilian targets again. Hostage negotiators in Qatar are suspending talks for now. Hamas seems to be succeeding in its efforts to create more violence and division in the region and beyond.

This week, the New York Times published a devastating report that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government knew details about Hamas’s plan for an attack more than a year ago. Israel named the 40-page plan “Jericho Wall.” [It's a fraught name. Leading up to the attempted coup of at the U.S. Capitol of January 6, 2001, white Christian nationalists participated in Jericho Marches.]

Pre-MAGA conspiracist Proser is a gifted writer. His descriptions of the heat, stink, and noise of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan are gripping and powerful. Intentionally or not, readers get a nuanced view of what General Jim Mattis would do to achieve actual "peace through strength."

Proser, by the way, avidly promotes the Big Lie about elections, vaccination misinformation, and gender indoctrination conspiracies. His writings and repostings downplay the January 6, 2001, insurrection of the Capitol by white Christian nationalists and Trump supporters.

Trump, Mattis, and then-CJCS Joseph Dunford host a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, for Memorial Day, May 28, 2018. (Sgt. Amber I. Smith)

In contrast, Mattis and retired General Joseph Dunford, former CJCS, each spoke out against the Big Lie and the J6 coup attempt on the same day of the insurrection.

Here's how CNN reported Mattis's and Dunford's position on J6:

"Trump's first secretary of defense, James Mattis, charged that Wednesday's 'violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by Mr. Trump,' while Retired Gen. Joseph Dunford, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN that he believes 'our leaders who have continued to undermine a peaceful transition in accordance with our Constitution have set the conditions for today's violence.'"

Overall, Proser’s biography of Mattis is a rewarding read, although it unsurprisingly lacks the political analysis of the Mattis versus Trump relationship and Mattis’s unambiguous warning that Trump and Trumpism are a real and growing threat to the U.S. Constitution and the nation.

Top photo: Afghan civilians and Cpl. William C. Kaylor, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, watch an MV-22 Osprey land at Forward Operating Base Geronimo, Helmand province, Afghanistan, July 14, 2010. (Sgt. Mark Fayloga)

You CAN Handle the Truth

Review by Bill Doughty––

You can taste the tension in the courtroom. Before the Navy lieutenant (j.g.) JAG prosecutor, played by Tom Cruise, uses verbal jiu jitsu and gets his witness (Jack Nicholson) to blurt out a confession, the Marine captain defense attorney (Kevin Bacon) attempts to psychologically inoculate the jury.

The scene is from the gripping Rob Reiner movie A Few Good Men, which also stars Demi Moore and Kiefer Sutherland as well as  numerous other actors portraying Marines and Sailors. The scene, written by Aaron Sorkin, is presented in the final chapter of “Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity” by Sander van der Linden (W.W. Norton, 2023).

And it’s perfect.

Kevin Bacon as Capt Jack Ross primes the jury with what they will hear from the prosecution. He spins the narrative and attempts to trump the argument with “alternative facts.”

The scene illustrates some of the science-based conclusions presented in this important book about critical thinking and the dangers of misinformation, disinformation, and manipulation. Van der Linden shows how thinking people anywhere can identify conspiracies and manipulation and inoculate themselves.

While reading this book I thought of outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Milley, who took seriously his oath to defend the Constitution and who also swore to tell the truth [the whole truth and nothing but the truth] many times in testimony to Congress (top photo).

When confronted by Republicans about Marxist “wokeness” in the military and his wanting to learn more about the risk of extremism in the ranks and the effects of conspiracy-mongers such as QAnon, Milley explained his position with rational clarity.

Milley, in effect, wanted to be inoculated by reading and understanding the issues. “I’ve read Mao Zedong. I’ve read Karl Marx. I’ve read Lenin. That doesn’t make me a communist,” he said. “So what is wrong with understanding, having some situational understanding, about the country for which we are here to defend?”

Challenged by a Republican representative about preventing white nationalists from joining the military, Milley said it was important to be well-read and open-minded and to try to understand why people attacked the Capitol in the January 6, 2021 insurrection. “I want to understand white rage – and I’m white,” Milley told the committee.

Milley famously communicated with his military counterpart in China after the J6 attack to allay fears and reassure a near-peer competitor that the United States had no desire for war. Milley is set to retire this Friday after 43 years of service in uniform. Milley’s dad, by the way, was a Navy Corpsman in World War II, and his mom served as a nurse with the Navy’s WAVES.

Trump

Last Friday, former President Donald Trump wrote about Milley’s retirement on his social media platform, suggesting Milley perhaps should be executed.

Regarding Milley's coming retirement, Trump wrote: “This will be a time for all citizens of the USA to celebrate! This guy turned out to be a Woke train wreck who, if the Fake News reporting is correct, was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States. This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” Trump wrote. At least one Republican representative, Paul Gosar of Arizona, agrees with Trump, calling Milley a "traitor," and also suggesting death by hanging.

Since pre-internet days, the misinformation stakes have become higher and the dangers of misinformation, manipulation, and outright threats have become greater. “The perverse incentives of social media” rely on promoting fear and profiting from extremism and division within society.

In “Foolproof,” van der Linden presents his findings in a convincing style. Throughout the book, he uses the metaphor of disease: viruses, contagions, and inoculation. And he presents actual experiments, examples, and incidents.

For example, “The lawyer defending the Capitol rioter Anthony Antonio was not wrong when he suggested the people can catch misinformation much like a disease,” van der Linden writes.

He describes his book this way in the prologue:

“In an era increasingly filled with half-truths, fake news and misinformation, I am not here to tell you what to believe. Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, perhaps you can think of this book as a humble servant in your own search for truth. Andy Norman, a philosopher at Carnegie Mellon University, refers to me as a ‘cognitive immunologist.’ I quite like this description of my field of research: I study mental defenses of the mind. I want to provide you with a guide to how your brain grapples with the onslaught of fact and fiction, a toolbox to help sniff out attempts to influence your opinion amidst the ‘dark arts of manipulation.’ A vaccine, if you will, against misinformation. Just as antigens produce an immune response in the body, psychological antigens can help build resistance to fake news. I offer eleven such antigens in this book to boost our immunity.”

van der Linden

But, he admits, “There is no psychological cure (that I know of) that unravels or counteracts the fully developed conspiratorial worldview. And it’s highly contagious.” Fully one-third of the population, he says, supports conspiracies.

People can easily fall into “rabbit holes” that have become deeper and darker thanks to Twitter (X), WhatsApp, Facebook, and YouTube, where “millions of people can be exposed to viral misinformation in a matter of days if not minutes.”

Examples of conspiracy theories cited in “Foolproof”: Covid-19 (various related to origins, spread, and cures), Princess Diana’s death, JFK’s assassination, flat-earthers, Holocaust-related, NASA’s moon landing, Osama bin Laden, Pizzagate, 5G phone masts, Sandy Hook as fake, Shakespeare’s sonnets as a code, Malaysian Airlines, reptilian conspiracy theory, governments hiding aliens, vaccinations linked to autism, Trump’s “stolen election claim,” and climate change as still debatable.

An interesting example of the use of misinformation comes in the climate change debate, ignited by GOP analyst Frank Luntz. Eight years before Luntz performed as guest speaker at the Navy’s 2010 public affairs conference in Baltimore he was a political consultant for Republican George W. Bush.

In 2002 Luntz wrote a confidential memorandum advising Bush on how to cast doubt on the findings on climate change. Despite the fact that 97 percent of scientists believed in the link between human-produced carbon and climate change, Luntz advised focusing on the 3 percent and highlighting the wedge. Luntz wrote: “Should the public come to believe that the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly Therefore, you need to continue to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue in the debate.”

Van der Linden compare’s Luntz’s success on behalf of the fossil fuel industry to some of the same misinformation and science-denial techniques used by the tobacco companies decades earlier: obfuscate, confuse, cast doubt on the scientific evidence because it matters more what people feel (or want to believe) than what they think.

“Foolproof” also delves into communist North Korea’s “brainwashing” attempts of Korean War POWs, nearly two dozen of whom chose to remain in North Korea.

Van der Linden explores the origins and continuation of anti vaccination conspiracy theory involving Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And he discusses how the weapons of mass destruction conspiracy led to a tragic war in Iraq under George W. Bush.

Van der Linden offers easily understood acronyms anyone can employ to inject skepticism and critical thinking when they are confronted with a conspiracy.

CONSPIRE translates to being aware of:

    Contradictory logic

    Overriding suspicion

    Nefarious intentions

    “Something must be wrong”

    Persecuted victims

    Immune to evidence

    RE-interpreting random events into a connected story

DEPICT shows the six degrees of manipulation:

    Discrediting (“fake news,” “fake election”)

    Emotion (get people agitated and promote fear)

    Polarization (false amplification to drive people apart)

    Impersonation (fake credentials or sources)

    Conspiracy (secret cabals or government groups)

    Trolling (such as by the Russian Internet Research agency, a full-time round-the-clock BS machine)

Van der Linden and his researchers developed a free online game — www.getbadnews.com ––to act as a “vaccine” to help people who wish to psychologically inoculate themselves. Reading “Foolproof” itself serves as a good vaccination.

With his diagrams and references to “A Few Good Men,” Mark Twain, and Harry Potter, van der Linden presents an entertaining but serious argument for getting inoculated against misinformation, disinformation, and manipulation in 2023 and moving forward.

This is an especially important book as we face more nefarious techniques ahead involving artificial intelligence, deep-fakes, conspiracies, and polarized media platforms –– designed and deployed to control our perception of what is happening now and what is yet to come in government, elections, and courtrooms.

Sander van der Linden, Ph.D., is Professor of Social Psychology in Society and Director of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge.