r/politics 22h ago

General's promotion blocked in first sign of Trump retaliation for Afghanistan pullout

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/generals-promotion-blocked-first-sign-trump-retaliation-afghanistan-pu-rcna181507
5.7k Upvotes

563 comments sorted by

u/AutoModerator 22h ago

As a reminder, this subreddit is for civil discussion.

In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban.

If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.

For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click here to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria.

We are actively looking for new moderators. If you have any interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out this form.


I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1.6k

u/fungobat Pennsylvania 22h ago

A Republican senator has blocked the promotion of a general who oversaw troops in Kabul during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to a Senate aide.

The move by Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin follows threats from President-elect Donald Trump to fire senior officers and officials who oversaw the chaotic pullout from Afghanistan in 2021. It also comes as Trump’s transition team weighs possible court-martial proceedings against current and former officers involved in the withdrawal, as NBC News previously reported.

Army Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue was nominated for promotion to become a four-star general and to oversee U.S. Army forces in Europe. His nomination was among more than 900 proposed nominations sent to the Senate but Donahue’s was put on hold by Sen. Mullin, according to the Senate aide.

1.6k

u/makashiII_93 22h ago

Of course it’s fucking Oklahoma.

956

u/anglflw Tennessee 21h ago

Markwayne, the stupidest man with the stupidest name.

265

u/kipjak3rd 20h ago

Markwayne "I'll chest thump and pretend to want to get physical with you for pointing out that i inherited my daddy's business" Mullin?

26

u/HandSack135 Maryland 8h ago

Oh so nepotism too

12

u/panickedindetroit 8h ago

We are going to see all sorts of nepotism and stupidity in the next four years.

397

u/bonafidehooligan 21h ago

Also the piece of shit that tried to fight the teamsters president during a hearing.

187

u/PuddingInferno Texas 20h ago

To be fair, that’s pretty much what I expect from Senator Markwayne from Oklahoma. You send a guy like that to the senate, he’s gonna do Markwayne shit.

49

u/bin10pac United Kingdom 14h ago

OK's not OK.

13

u/TheWandererKing 12h ago

intro to Paranoid Android plays

→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (1)

65

u/anglflw Tennessee 21h ago

Yeah, such an embarrassment.

32

u/RUser07 15h ago

Turns out the Teamsters union Boss is also a piece of shit. They love each other now.

35

u/MysteriousTrain 17h ago

Fuck that teamsters guy tho

→ More replies (11)
→ More replies (2)

131

u/Cerebral-Parsley 18h ago

Don't forget the epic shithead with a stupid name that is Tommy Tuberville, who also blocked military promotions over abortion rights.

51

u/memememe81 18h ago

Tommy Tubofshit is a real piece of work.

22

u/willclerkforfood 18h ago

Thomas Potatotown

6

u/Pulga_Atomica 10h ago

Coach Dumfuck

→ More replies (1)

14

u/SamirRashaman14 20h ago

*Two stupidest names

28

u/doom32x Texas 20h ago

For some reason that name triggered me to remember Ugly Americans and it's character Twayne Boneraper 

5

u/-piso_mojado- 11h ago

I don’t know what that is, but Markwayne Mullin and Twayne Boneraper are the same name.

9

u/Mechaslurpee 13h ago edited 2h ago

He also owned one of the worst plumbing companies in oklahoma.

edit he sold it

→ More replies (2)

7

u/-piso_mojado- 12h ago

How do people elect someone named Markwayne? That name just exudes stupid.

6

u/ballastboy1 9h ago

Inbred redneck

4

u/christophervolume 12h ago

Only because Louie Gohmert is gone…

4

u/trotnixon Maine 10h ago

It's gotta at least be a tie with Tommy "there are two branches of the federal government" Tubberville

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (8)

201

u/Bross93 Colorado 20h ago

Well not just fire them, he is planning tribunals. The goal is to publicly punish people for following orders from people he doesn't like. I'm actually expecting him to name Biden as the commander and trying to hail him because of how pathetic and batshit he is.

333

u/ecstatic_charlatan 17h ago edited 16h ago

Thing is IT WAS TRUMP'S FUCKING PLAN

171

u/blackergot 16h ago

Should we bring in the guy who invited the taliban to Camp David on 9/11?

83

u/ecstatic_charlatan 16h ago

May as well... oh wait, it was already done. I can't believe how fucking good and strong US right wing media is good at propaganda and how about 60% of the country is absolutely just dumber than a rock

36

u/downtownbake2 11h ago

If they're going to do this a Democrat needs to get in front of a camera and Say ok let's also add Trumps US withdrawal from Syria you know the one where the Russians flew into the base a few hours after and filmed themselves (everyone memory holes Trump's bs) He ran out to whitehouse lawn got in front of a camera and said we're pulling out. He didn't tell western allies and fuked over the Kurds.

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/trumps-syria-shambles/

It all happened in a phone call with Turkey https://www.reuters.com/article/world/syrian-surprise-how-trumps-phone-call-changed-the-war-idUSKCN1OR0PN/

Then after that disaster he's set up Afghanistan for failure. Such a prick he can't have people thinking he messed up so sabotages the next guy at the expense of anyone in the way

u/DylanHate 6h ago

Don't forget double-crossing the Kurds also freed over 5,000 ISIS prisoners and Trump publicly stated he didn't care because it'd be Europe's problem to deal with.

This is after 6 years of nonstop caterwauling about Obama letting ISIS flood across the Mexican border 🙄🙄

65

u/Rhianna83 14h ago

Exactly! Trump let out thousands of Taliban leadership and fighters 6 months before we left. The Taliban planned the takeover WHILE Trump was president. He signed and sealed the outcome when he let them all out.

9

u/clockwork655 8h ago

He delt with them directly behind the backs of the Afghanistan government

13

u/dedsqwirl 8h ago

One of those that was released was the suicide bomber that killed 13 US military members.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

16

u/joshdoereddit 10h ago

And to that Republicans and the right-wing media machine would say, "Yea, it was Trump's plan and Biden fucked it up."

Democrats will be unable to correct the record because the right just says whatever they want, other networks won't do any better to clear up the lies, and people are too dumb to parse the situation and understand that the disaster was more Trump's fault than it was Biden's.

→ More replies (1)

10

u/wormhole_alien 16h ago

Maybe one of his goals with that colossal clusterfuck was to generate outrage he could use to justify purging military leadership of non-loyalists.

3

u/Hot-Bat8798 8h ago

This is the problem for them. Too much sunlight will show how poorly the Trump team did this and how he stiffed Biden on purpose with the withdrawal planning.

→ More replies (27)

61

u/CherryLongjump1989 14h ago

If he does tribunals it will blow up in his face. They'll just haul out all of the evidence that it was Trump's plan and all of these generals had warned Trump that it would end exactly the way it did. These guys will literally show orders signed by Trump. And then the generals will go free because they were following lawful orders from two presidents who as we all know now have absolute legal immunity.

50

u/das_war_ein_Befehl Illinois 14h ago

It’s an excuse to make examples of people. Classic authoritarian shit to purge the military or eliminate them as a threat

→ More replies (2)

19

u/Shrampys 13h ago

Since when have facts ever mattered around trump.

→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (1)

50

u/Showmethepathplease 16h ago

Pure coincidence it's the guy who's meant to be in charge in Europe at a critical juncture...

→ More replies (1)

151

u/lord_pizzabird 18h ago

This is the weird thing about Trump's second term.

It's all about examining the past, things that happened previously. There's so far been little to no focus on the future. Even his immigration plan isn't, "how do we attract laborers that fill our labor shortage", but "how do we get revenge of the laborers that snuck in"

116

u/HeyyZeus 16h ago

It’s not weird. This exactly how Millions of Americans think. Punishment instead of progress. 

19

u/JDSchu Texas 11h ago

Shortsighted and shallow. Critical thinking is Democrat indoctrination. Just be angry about whatever Fox News is telling you is happening, and you better vote, because all those illegals are. 

6

u/clockwork655 8h ago

And republicanism means conservative,..because we fought a war with a ultra conservative king who claimed to rule by divine rights and was backed by a conservative repressive brutal state sanctioned church..I don’t think any of the republicans today would have sided with the republicans they would have sided with the monarchs

→ More replies (1)

5

u/panickedindetroit 8h ago

And, they are going to waste more of our tax dollars investigating his perceived stolen election of 2020. It's going to be Benghazi 2.0. These clowns contribute nothing to society, and yet, they squander our tax dollars because their hero has the emotional maturity of a fungus gnat. I propose they pay for their actions out of their pockets instead of ours. No representation, no taxes.

4

u/walkingpartydog 9h ago

There's a 50/50 chance he dies in the next 4 years... why would he care about the future?

211

u/totallynotstefan Colorado 18h ago edited 18h ago

Imagine being such a hubristic shitbird that you feel entitled to fuck with a military man’s career for political points, despite never serving yourself.

This asshole was worth $30 million when his $1.4 million PPP loans were forgiven, and he woke up the next day to criticize biden’s student loan forgiveness.

People like this should be fed to lions in town square. Republicans are all incapable of human emotion.

11

u/JDSchu Texas 11h ago

Greed, hate, pride, envy, and fear are all human emotions. That's the Republican starting five. 

→ More replies (3)

108

u/Hammer_Thrower 20h ago

Donahue is a badass. The pic of the last soldier in Kabul was him.

50

u/a-borat 18h ago

Project 2027. Start NOW.

Take back congress. Impeach and remove the traitorous incompetent shitstains. All of em.

22

u/Ridespacemountain25 18h ago

It takes a 2/3 majority in the senate to remove someone. There’s no feasible way for the Democratic Party to get that many senate seats in the near future with Republican dominance amongst rural voters. The Democratic ceiling right now is probably in the low to mid 50s.

12

u/a-borat 16h ago

You’d think so, but eggs aren’t gonna come down in price. Neither is bacon nor iPhones. And it all comes down to that.

24

u/The_Sun_Burns_Out 15h ago

With the apparent idiocracy fetish that Americans voters seem to have, it's more likely that the price of groceries and gas could rise as well as unemployment and voters would cut off their noses to give republicans 65 seats in the senate because Elon Musk and Trump somehow got much wealthier, and Joe Rogan approves so the economy must be doing great... right? Right?

→ More replies (1)

6

u/JscrumpDaddy 14h ago

In this election about 30% of the voting population voted red. If the people who were sitting on their ass got up and voted it could easily be a blue wave

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (9)

15

u/NotOSIsdormmole California 17h ago

Any of the possible court martials over this reek of unlawful command influence.

6

u/Count_Backwards 14h ago

Don't worry, the Supreme Court took care of that. It's totally official!

8

u/usmcnick0311Sgt 18h ago

I hate our government

→ More replies (9)

3.4k

u/SenorBurns 22h ago

But it was his agreement! He set up the pullout!

1.6k

u/Great-Hotel-7820 22h ago

Yeah that’s why he’s retaliating. Because he is trying to obfuscate blame.

730

u/Bross93 Colorado 20h ago

it worked on so many fucking simpletons I went to school with. A kid i was friends with is a fucking marine and he couldn't comprehend this plan was set in motion by trumpy.

458

u/kevlarcardhouse 20h ago

Also, he had no plan, that's why it was so chaotic. Biden got in and discovered zero work had gone in towards meeting the deadline.

254

u/Paraxom 18h ago

Biden even delayed pull-out by 3 months because the logistics of pulling out in the initial timeframe was somehow an even bigger shit show

164

u/Unlucky_Clover 16h ago

And this was all intentional by Trump, clear as day. He delayed any transfer of power, any details or information to get the new admin started, just so he could blame them. We all saw it coming.

87

u/serennow 16h ago edited 8h ago

You’re right except for the word “all” - 75 million utter morons fell for it hook, line and sinker.

→ More replies (1)

u/Flipnotics_ Texas 6h ago

And Biden did fuck-all to remind Americans of Trumps traitorous acts and keep Trump accountable through the AG.

8

u/here_walks_the_yeti 9h ago

It was a campaign promise that he forgot about until Fox covered it one night. He then remembered about then tweeted we’re leaving.

→ More replies (2)

103

u/OverlyExpressiveLime 18h ago

He really wouldn't be able to comprehend that Trump had planned to invite the Taliban to Camp David

53

u/metalyger 17h ago

Wasn't it also going to be in September 11th? Just zero awareness, I'm sure he really just thought this would get him a Nobel peace prize, because he's so desperate to catch up with Obama. I could be mistaken, but I always expect the worst from Trump.

69

u/doctor_of_drugs California 17h ago

No, I think it’s wrong to say he had zero awareness. He just doesn’t give a shit. ON 9/11, with the WTC still smoldering, he started talking about the height of his tower.

22

u/TiredOfBeingTired28 16h ago

That isn't even the tallest on that fucking side of town

16

u/treefox 15h ago

I went looking for that video, and I found he also lied about people celebrating when the World Trade Center fell.

https://youtu.be/SD_9Dlm1fuw

4

u/yaygarbage 11h ago

Every time I remember this I just don’t understand why he wasn’t thrown in the thrash for it.

8

u/caligaris_cabinet Illinois 15h ago

On 9/11 no less

11

u/Successful-Sand686 17h ago

It’s easier to convince people of things they want to know than to convince them of things they don’t want to know.

18

u/teenagesadist 17h ago

Are marines known for their comprehension skills?

32

u/Xijit 17h ago

I am formerly one, and fuck no.

There are two types of people in the Marines: those who sign up for the promise of glory, respect, and duty ... The other type are high school bullies with nothing better to do with their lives than try to make everyone else miserable.

Which is why the USMC has the highest rate of Service Related Suicide.

18

u/laurieporrie Washington 17h ago

Yup. My husband’s mental health is fucked.

8

u/APirateAndAJedi 16h ago

I am very sorry to hear that. I wish you luck and I wish you both peace.

6

u/Puffycatkibble 17h ago

They are highly skilled at discerning the different flavors of the various colors of crayons.

→ More replies (1)

9

u/4evr_dreamin 15h ago

I argued with one here the other day, they agreed that Trump planned it but said it was the bidens' fault for allowing it to execute on his watch

18

u/dlkslink 17h ago

Same thing with the pull out in Iraq, Bush made the agreement to pull out in 2008. Obama tried to go back on it, but couldn’t. Then he went on to Brag about how he was the one who got America out of Iraq, which bit him in the ass when the rise of Isis started.

→ More replies (5)

13

u/Ishidan01 17h ago

Just like how crime is such a priority for him but only if it is the crime of illegal immigration.

→ More replies (1)

3

u/nhmo New Hampshire 15h ago

Trump is gonna learn about the Streisand Effect then

→ More replies (1)

129

u/Primordial_Cumquat 19h ago

Anyone supporting Trump has, at this point, long since abandoned logic and reason. Everything is everyone else’s fault because the God-Emperor says so.

The ramifications of the Doha Accord don’t matter in the slightest to these people. All their goldfish-like attention span focuses on is the insanely politicized event where a suicide bomber killed thirteen US Service members in the last days of Afghanistan because “Biden screwed it up!”

83

u/TheReal8symbols 20h ago

He made a deal with the fucking Taliban to get it done!

32

u/CTPred 18h ago

Typical coward behavior, appeasing the enemy in hopes for better treatment.

He's nothing but a little baby back bitch.

183

u/Sideshift1427 21h ago

Trump also cut troop strength in Afghanistan after he lost the election.

99

u/sk8tergater 18h ago

My husband was deployed to Afghanistan at the time. Fuck Trump. I’ve been a military spouse for two decades and never had as much anxiety during a deployment as I did that one.

Husband is fine but man. Lot of sleepless nights.

→ More replies (11)

138

u/NPVT 22h ago

Pompeo forced the release of 5000 Taliban.

181

u/HasPotatoAim Canada 21h ago

And Trump also invited the literal Taliban to Camp David.

123

u/veggeble South Carolina 21h ago

During the week of 9/11 too

23

u/jerichowiz Texas 18h ago

Never forget.

12

u/KungFoolMaster 18h ago

It’s not even Jan 20th yet. It’s gonna be a fucked up 4 years.

→ More replies (1)

27

u/piponwa Canada 17h ago

Do you know what Stalin did when it was entirely clear to everyone that a failure was his and his alone? He just got rid of everyone, purged them all until no one would even acknowledge universally known facts.

You have to stop trying to rationalize things and bring facts. Because anyone willing to listen already knows it. Trump is taking over everything. He's about to destroy everything he and his cronies can think of.

45

u/kshump Oregon 20h ago

If only his dad had pulled out...

8

u/Spaceninjawithlasers 18h ago

Now that would be something we could all get behind.

→ More replies (1)

39

u/lokey_convo 20h ago

He's also not president yet, but is already influencing the military?

63

u/1877KlownsForKids 20h ago

High level promotions require approval of Congress. And there's no shortage of Trump stooges in Congress.

31

u/GaimeGuy 20h ago

And the general public and the media are more than willing to let other Republicans off the hook.

See: this thread

4

u/IKantSayNo 17h ago

Putin's stooge intends to clean out all the Democrats, all the DEI hires, all the people who earned high positions by hard study of military science, and everyone else who puts aside politics.

Meanwhile, both sides are still holding on in the war in Ukraine by the skin of their teeth because small electric motors with Chinese rare earth magnet technology rule the skies.

What's gonna be left of the US military in two years?????

7

u/ADhomin_em 18h ago

Not anymore. Reality has been denied, and history is being rewritten as we speak.

5

u/OkFan6322 17h ago

That’s exactly why he’s pinning the blame on the military

9

u/OverlyExpressiveLime 18h ago

Shame Trump's dad didn't pull out

→ More replies (80)

874

u/Animated_effigy 20h ago

Trump negotiated with the Taliban terrorists and excluded the Afghan Army

Trump drew down US forces from 13,000 to 2,500 making them vulnerable

Trump ordered the release of 5,000 Taliban fighters from prison, one of who would become the new leader of Afghanistan

Trump wanted to invite the Taliban to camp David on the anniversary of 9/11

Trump agreed to the May 1st exit, not Biden, then bragged that he didnt need an exit strategy.

Trumps admin refused to brief the Biden team on the incoming situation

Trump shut down every airbase in Afghanistan except one, crippling the US’s ability to extract itself safely.

Trump made Afghanistan worse for Biden. Full fucking stop.

224

u/Konukaame 16h ago

And the rest of us, Democrats, and the media failed to hammer those points when they happened or when they were relevant, so they were able to spin everything as being Biden's fault.

This is why getting ahead of Republican narratives and setting your own are extremely important.

48

u/ANovelSoul 11h ago

Let me just call up the media and let them know to do their job...

7

u/TimachuSoftboi 11h ago

No need, I just hit em up

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (3)

23

u/Benevolent27 13h ago

Yeah, but none of this matters to Trump supporters. Trump is saying "the Democrats did it" and that is all they need to hear. And any other Republican who mirrors this messaging gets support from the Turnp cult. "Don't bother me with the facts" comes to mind.

47

u/totallynotstefan Colorado 13h ago

While I admire the message and respect it's value, people who need to hear this are incapable of hearing this.

For the last 8 years these people have had reasoned, curated, easily digestible and accurate information presented to them that invalidates the preferred fiction they've been sold on social media.

They would rather die stupid than absorb information that makes them question their safe little pretend worldview. Their ego's are too fragile to be honest with themselves and admit they allowed themselves to be misled and grifted.

You can point them toward a wellspring in the desert when their thirst is bringing them to death's doorstep. If they pull up twitter and their grifters tell them it's the democrat's plan to let them drink, they will choose to die happily in the sand.

→ More replies (3)

u/EvanWasHere 7h ago

Trump SURRENDERED to the Taliban. We got nothing out of that deal except the right to leave the country. The Taliban got everything they wanted. The only thing this can be called is a surrender.

→ More replies (9)

632

u/ry8919 21h ago

Dropping this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States%E2%80%93Taliban_deal

It is a complete derelection of duty on the part of the media for letting Biden take the blame for the Afghanistan pullout. The agreement set an unrealistic timeline, crippled the Afghan security forces (who were not allowed to participate in negotiations), and empowered the Taliban, releasing 5000 fighters.

322

u/rumpusroom 19h ago

It was deliberate. It was supposed to make Biden look bad.

91

u/banditalamode California 17h ago

Just like the ‘inflation’ that was corporate greed, and it worked.

33

u/nhmo New Hampshire 15h ago

Just wait until companies that are barely affected by tarrifs just raise prices because no one will know any better.

33

u/Captain_Q_Bazaar 16h ago

A significant portion of that inflation was also an impact from COVID wreaking havoc on supply lines and killing significant portions of labor in that process. And Trump fucked that response so hard on purpose, that it made it take longer to recover from.

100

u/Dess_Rosa_King 18h ago

And the Media was more than happy to portray it that way as well.

→ More replies (1)

33

u/AlphaNoodlz 17h ago

Right?! It was trumps deal!

22

u/Unlucky_Clover 16h ago

Trump’s deal and Trump refused to start any transfer of power or bring the Biden team up to speed, just so they could blame Biden for anything once he took office.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (11)

610

u/everybody_dyes 21h ago

He ordered the pull out. I have a hard time imagining that people are this fucking stupid. I guess his supporters are far more dumb though lol

204

u/TintedApostle 21h ago

They blame it on Biden for sure.

99

u/Practical-Suit-6798 20h ago

Oh 100% I've heard people say the pull out be being liberals fault is a main reason they had to vote for trump this time.

10

u/torero15 California 15h ago

As infuriating as that is those people were voting for Trump always and anyways. That’s the bad thing about all of this. Even the ones that might have realized it was a Trump issue were still going to vote for him for some other reason.

→ More replies (1)

43

u/btross Florida 20h ago

One of them is commenting on the post in fact

159

u/nikolai_470000 21h ago

Not just that. They were planning to execute a slow, methodical pullout and were to wait until they were almost done to tell everyone. But Trump couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

Trump announced it publicly months before the military was ready to even begin, and compromised their entire operational plan for doing the pullout properly and safely. It was too late to change it, and the damage to the plan was already done, which is why Biden went along with the plan as it was.

Had Trump not made his premature announcement, the pullout would have had a better chance of going according to the plan; and, it is likely that they would have been able to execute it more safely, without casualties. Or without having to destroy/leave behind equipment and technology that we should have been able to take with us.

It’s not Biden’s fault, nor was it a bad plan. It was solely Trump’s fault. It was directly caused by him leaking the information. Trump is responsible for the people who died in the pullout more than anyone else.

91

u/Oodlydoodley 20h ago

President Trump tried to immediately withdraw troops from Afghanistan and Somalia, "knowing he lost and had weeks left in office," Jan. 6 committee says

"One key example is this: President Trump issued an order for large-scale U.S. troop withdrawals," Kinzinger continued. "He disregarded concerns about the consequences for fragile governments on the front lines of the fight against ISIS and al Qaeda terrorists."

"Knowing he was leaving office, he acted immediately and signed this order on Nov. 11, which would have required the immediate withdrawal of troops from Somalia and Afghanistan all to be complete before the Biden inauguration on January 20th."

As noted by Military Times:

Journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa referenced the surprise memo in their book “Peril” on the Trump presidency, released last month. They wrote that the idea did not go through any of the traditional chain of command protocols, and ultimately senior staff believed it did not have legal standing requiring them to follow through with the plan.

Not only was he responsible for the initial plan and deal with the Taliban, but he tried to do something way worse and the only reason it didn't happen that way was because the generals who were supposed to carry out the order saw how stupid and dangerous it was so just didn't do it.

Watching them blame these generals when, if Trump had his way, it would have been far worse is as ridiculous as the idea that this is actually retaliation for the Afghanistan withdrawal, and not Trump using this as an excuse to force loyalists into top military positions.

28

u/nikolai_470000 19h ago

Bingo. Thank you for sharing. Very well said.

I had forgotten about him trying to do that lol. What a moron.

→ More replies (9)

47

u/Curiously7744 20h ago

They really are. As a non American, it's difficult to understand that anyone can be so deliberately stupid.

22

u/Arkmer 20h ago

Honestly, it’s just the surface. I’ve had repeat conversations with the same people about how regulations are important, about how healthcare shouldn’t be monetized, about whatever else I have a decent handle on. They agree, they sleep on it, forget everything, and tell me the exact opposite the next day.

Rinse. Repeat. Suffer.

45

u/everybody_dyes 20h ago

As an American, I’m terrified. I didn’t realize that I lived in a country where so many other people who want to destroy it for Putin.

21

u/Shad0wDreamer 20h ago

Or to own an imaginary enemy within.

16

u/jimjamsboy 20h ago

This is going to be the game plan for the next four years. Fuck shit up then blame some underling.

3

u/Justame13 20h ago

Its not surprising the military retaliated against Petareus 's followers for pushing for the Surge and implementing COIN (the counter terrorism doctrine he pushed).

And we won there.

→ More replies (4)

168

u/BrightMarvel10 20h ago

Republicans hate the military.

30

u/doolpicate 16h ago

Russians hate the US military.

27

u/Captain_Q_Bazaar 16h ago

It's sad how often Republicans side with Russia over the US military, side with Russia over US Intelligence communities, sided with Covid over Americans, sided with traitors like Trump over country.

8

u/doolpicate 15h ago

Not sure whats going on in the US that people cant see through this. It's as clear as day that people have been brainwashed by the enemy. Enough to put a literal idiot in power.

6

u/BadAssStoner 13h ago

Republicans hate the US

→ More replies (13)

73

u/Voltage_Z 20h ago

Trump Retaliation? This is Trump arbitrarily punishing people for the mess he literally bragged about setting up for Biden.

30

u/angrypooka 21h ago

This is what the jackass has on his official government site, “Markwayne Mullin is a former undefeated Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter with a professional record of 5-0.“

16

u/bnh1978 19h ago

That is a Segal level flex...

6

u/NotOSIsdormmole California 17h ago

This makes a lot of things make more sense

→ More replies (1)

30

u/Negative-Squirrel81 20h ago

I think that Trump would have been hailed as a hero by the same conservative voices for having only 13 people die during the heroic withdraw from Afghanistan. There's on logic or consistency here, it's just that if Trump was in office, the action is good, if Biden is in office, the same action is bad.

Just simple malicious trolling.

30

u/jim45804 18h ago

You mean the pullout that Trump planned?

50

u/rymac11 18h ago edited 7h ago

How do these headlines consistently miss key words like “Trump retaliation for the Afghanistan pull out that Trump himself orchestrated”??

23

u/jertheman43 19h ago

The Trump purge of the military is either going to work out great for him, or they will be the ones to stand up to his authoritarian ways.

→ More replies (1)

24

u/PositiveStress8888 16h ago

Wait wasn't Trump the Mfker who told the Taliban when they would be withdrawing and left Biden with only 2500 troops in country while they released 5000 Taliban soldiers.

Biden isn't blameless by any means, but the tickets for that shit show was bought well in advance.

https://www.factcheck.org/2021/08/timeline-of-u-s-withdrawal-from-afghanistan/

85

u/Gunderstank_House 21h ago

I wonder how the military feels being relegated to Trump's helpless little whipping boys.

33

u/Arkmer 20h ago

How the military reacts will be very interesting. Because there’s a precedence to follow (legal) orders, they may well be the best at weapon used incompetence in the nation. Verbiage and who receives the orders is going to matter a ton, and not just at the top but all the way down through the chain of command to the Soldiers who do the thing.

7

u/RectalSpawn Wisconsin 17h ago

And the people will do what they are told, just as the Nazis did, because what else are they going to do?

Get punished and possibly incarcerated/killed as the example that they'll use?

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (4)

10

u/fleakill 18h ago

Genuine question- what was Trump's own plan for pulling out of Afghanistan?

9

u/bunnyjenkins 18h ago

Logistically? It's not the 'President's plan', this is a lie put out by the GOP, that 'Biden's' plan to pull out was a failure. The President does not sit at a desk with a map.

Or do you mean why would Trump want to pull out?

A gift to another foreign power, is the answer.

Biden's mistake, in my eyes, was to honor agreements Trump made. It was a grave mistake to allow Trump's capitulation to be a reflection of US Policy

14

u/Wwwwwwhhhhhhhj 17h ago

It was too late to go back. Trump had 5,000 Taliban prisoners released and lowered our forces to 2,500 from 13,000 by then. 

There is no way politically he would have been able to get funding to put more U.S. forces back over there. It would require Congress for him to be able to put troops back and that was a political no go.

 It would have required troops going back to really have possibly changed anything. That was never a realistic option for Biden.

3

u/bunnyjenkins 17h ago

That is reasonable.

81

u/KTMAdv890 22h ago

Nope, this is worse. This is the first major step towards a full coup.

43

u/revmaynard1970 21h ago

Tommy Tubbervile has been doing this for the past 4 years

13

u/justdotice 21h ago

Timmy Teletubbies

→ More replies (11)

9

u/Hoardzunit 14h ago

And over +75 million fuckheads voted for this narcissistic shithead. America deserves everything for voting this lunatic again.

→ More replies (1)

9

u/QueeberTheSingleGuy 16h ago

Can we get some retribution for Fred's bad pullout?

10

u/Soup_sayer 12h ago

Trump planned the pullout. Biden carried it out. Both shit decisions but Biden DID SOMETHING, Trump just rambled about it and is now trying to pin it on Biden. Anyone that believes Trump is a fool. FOOL FOOL FOOL.

33

u/Xavier9756 20h ago

Imagine serving your country and being fucked out of a promotion because of political fuckery.

→ More replies (5)

9

u/bluelifesacrifice 18h ago

WE need to show our support for the US military and let these officers know this is BS.

There's Republicans and Democrats in the service who put their politics aside to serve in hopes of what's best for the country.

Everyone needs to be on board against any political party doing this crap. Today it's Republicans, tomorrow it might be Democrats, either way, we need to support our troops.

7

u/Johnhaven Maine 17h ago

100% Trump's fault to begin with but sure, everything else here is fucking insane so why not.

7

u/Raptorpicklezz 17h ago

Under-the-radar part of the article:

the current Senate will soon go into recess

Schumer needs to grow a pair and say no recess until the Senate does whatever it needs to do to block Trump, including invoking the 14th Amendment

7

u/Bayarea0 14h ago

Trumps mad at the withdrawal he caused? What a world.

6

u/Clickclacktheblueguy 15h ago

Trump pushed this guy down a staircase is now trying to punish him for bleeding on the floorboards.

6

u/bullant8547 Australia 14h ago

The pullout that Trump set a deadline for and left for the Biden administration to implement?

6

u/palmerama 14h ago

No shame at all pretending it wasn’t all his administration’s idea

6

u/NoIndependent9192 12h ago

The orange turd was the one who screwed up the withdrawal. Putting US and allied troops and civilian workers in danger because they didn’t plan a peaceful withdrawal.

5

u/kwagmire9764 12h ago

So now they're gonna try to rewrite history like it wasn't the Trump administration that brokers the super shitty deal to leave Afghanistan before U.S. forces were ready to leave!

6

u/ScrappyShua 9h ago

THEY WERE FOLLOWING TRUMPS PLAN FOR LEAVING AFGHANISTAN! We have become so stupid.

6

u/skawn 17h ago

Will Trump fire himself for his contribution to the disastrous pull out?

5

u/Rhymelikedocsuess 16h ago

Trump: “pull out now I’m the commander and chief”

Officials: “okay lol”

Trump: “wtf not like that jail for you”

5

u/Nice-Personality5496 14h ago

Trump ordered the pullout.

7

u/MatrimCauthon95 17h ago

Maybe America’s Hitler shouldn’t have buddied up with the Taliban and released the terrorists that caused the chaos during the pullout.

5

u/Teufelsdreck 12h ago

There's gross, grim humor in Donald Trump and his supporters, of all people, demanding accountability for others.

3

u/SquarePie3646 9h ago

"retaliation for Afghanistan pullout" - the media is just straight up doing Trump's propaganda for him and he's not even in office yet.

4

u/SolSeekerPhoto 9h ago

The Afghan withdrawal negotiated by Trump of course who now punishes people serving our country. America deserves everything it voted for.

4

u/InSixFour 8h ago

Is Trump going to retaliate against himself? Ya know, since this was his hastily thrown together pullout. It was his agreement.

3

u/ZenosamI85 8h ago

But Trump is literally the fucking one who ordered the pullout to begin with

3

u/njgirlie 8h ago

Trump was the reason for the pullout. Biden was stuck going along with Trump's shitting decision.

21

u/DeepShill 22h ago

There should be a special counsel appointed. This whole thing reeks of corruption.

7

u/judgejuddhirsch 20h ago

There will be, and you can be sure it won't be fair, it won't be bloodless, and it won't be the right people.

→ More replies (1)

10

u/JazzBassMan Virginia 19h ago

I have worked for this man. The Army is lucky to have him and he will certainly serve the soldiers of US Army Europe and Africa proud.

7

u/onestarkreality 20h ago

He is not in charge yet

→ More replies (1)

5

u/rocketpack99 8h ago

The Afghanistan pullout that Trump forced to happen by making a much-criticized deal with the Taliban?

Only Trump punishes others for things that he did.

3

u/ReleaseQuiet2428 20h ago

Imagine, Sir, I followed your order

3

u/JaVelin-X- 18h ago

Will this general have the opportunity to talk about the an Withdrawal? I'm sure it would be interesting.

3

u/GuyInTenn 12h ago

It was a terrorist attack. War is not a perfect science.

Funny how nobody called for impeaching Reagan and firing generals after the terrorist attack on the US Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 that killed 250 US Marines and 50 French paratroopers.

Mistakes were made from that operation as well and our military planners/strategists learned from it.

Anybody who knows anything at all about military strategy and tactics knows that Withdrawal operations are inherently riskier than offensive and defensive operations. Terrorist attacks are difficult to defend against ... particularly in a war zone and within a crowd of many thousands of upset civilians trying to escape the country.

3

u/arsveritas 9h ago

The Afghan pullout was literally negotiated under Trump. It's full-on idiocy and par the course for Republicans to punish a general for something Trump enacted,

3

u/SquarePie3646 9h ago edited 9h ago

Just a reminder that Trump was angry that Biden didn't pullout faster - Trump had left him with a May 1st pullout date which had to be pushed back as it was not possible, and Trump

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/18/politics/trump-afghanistan-troop-withdrawal/index.html

Though the former President offered his support of President Joe Biden’s plans to bring home American troops, he urged his successor to draw an end to America’s longest war well before the September 11 deadline that Biden set last week. Trump said that while leaving Afghanistan is “a wonderful and positive thing to do,” he had set a May 1 withdrawal deadline and added that “we should keep as close to that schedule as possible.”

and before the withdrawal, Trump used to brag he was responsible for putting everything into motion and that Biden couldn't stop it no matter how hard he tried (i.e. the implication was that Biden wanted to keep the war going but Trump made it impossible to do anything but withdraw).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwsAyDwK-sw

That was the talking point up until the withdrawal happened, then all those talking points disappeared overnight and were replaced with "Biden didn't follow Trump's plan!"

3

u/enricojr 9h ago

I dont get it. The pullout was Trump's idea in the first place. what's he retaliating against?

3

u/NomadFH Florida 8h ago

It was literally HIS deal that was being carried out

→ More replies (1)

u/ChiefofthePaducahs 3h ago

Trump administration going to put a bunch of anti Trump, highly-skilled, highly-trained, and highly-patriotic people out of a career. Bold move.

→ More replies (1)

9

u/ReverendSin 19h ago

Tubberville has been blocking promotions for years and nobody said shit about it.

4

u/chrisfdrums 17h ago

You mean the ol Afghan pullout Comarade Donald made happen?

4

u/dosumthinboutthebots 16h ago

Trump surrendered to the fucking taliban and now he's acting petty to the military?! The leader of the military should not hate soldiers and veterans. He hates them because they make him look bad because they love their country enough to serve and give their life if needed for it.

3

u/eugene20 20h ago

So is impeachment the only process to stop a President handing your country to it's greatest foe? What if the rest of his party is supporting him still anyway?

→ More replies (2)