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During the presentation by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump for the gathered military brass in Quantico, VA, both men called on those before them to get with the Trump agenda — which featured reorienting the US military for deployment against “the enemy within,” in cities like Portland or Chicago — or resign. 

Trump said darkly, “If you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room. Of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future, but you just feel nice and loose, ok?”

Hegseth cajoled, “But if the words I’m speaking today are making your heart sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign.”

I was hoping to see at least a few brave leaders resign in disgust, but so far, only one officer has resigned since the meeting: Air Force Gen. Thomas Bussiere, announced his retirement Tuesday for “personal and family reasons.” That doesn’t make it clear if this was a response to the Red Wedding at Quantico. 

The collected general and flag officers now have to decide how best to uphold their oath to the Constitution. They really have three choices: go along to get along, retire, or resist. 

There is nothing easy about such a decision. Apart from families and lives that stand to be disrupted, it’s not entirely clear from a strategic perspective whether resignation or resistance would be better. 

On the one hand, it would create a political moment if there were mass resignations, and that might help staunch the bleeding of our democracy. On the other hand, officers who keep their positions but refuse to execute unlawful orders would help the public recognize the criminality going on around them. 

If all of the decent officers resign, that will leave only the MAGA dregs who owe everything to the commander in chief. Perhaps a few more can retire to make the point and others can join the resistance. 

Retired Army Lieutenant Gen. Mark Phillip Hertling reacted to the Quantico fiasco: 

While you’re here enjoying DonkeyHotey’s latest cartoon, please take a moment to read these articles on related topics: 

• Federal Employees Should Spend Their Shutdown Fighting Back
• The Quantico Enigma: A Pep Talk, a Coup, or Just Another Epstein Distraction?
• Other DonkeyHotey cartoons

The cartoon above was created by DonkeyHotey for WhoWhatWhy from these images: Pete Hegseth caricature (DonkeyHotey / Flickr – CC BY 2.0), torso (US Secretary of War / Wikimedia – PD), legs (DOD  / Wikimedia – PD), and background (US Secretary of War / Flickr – PD).