Listen To This Story

To the Generals and Flag Officers of Quantico:

It has been 10 days now since, having been abruptly summoned, you sat and listened to, first, the head of the Department of Defense, and then your commander in chief, at Quantico. Ten days and 10 tumultuous news cycles, so most Americans have likely moved on.

I doubt very much that any of you have moved on. You heard things at Quantico that must have left you wondering: Where is this headed? What will I be called upon to do? What will I do if ordered to do the unconscionable?

You have risen to the top of your profession and hold a trove of institutional knowledge and understanding. You know history, both military and political — it has been an integral component of your training. 

You do not, of course, think with one mind. You come from diverse backgrounds and likely run the full gamut of personal partisanship and political perspectives.

But I believe you are bound, to a person, by a devotion that we loosely call patriotism, beginning with an oath to preserve, protect, and defend our country and its Constitution against those who would do them harm. 

And I imagine that many, if not all, of you were alarmed by what you heard last Tuesday at Quantico — and remain alarmed as you continue to process its implications.

I am not talking here about the “pep talk” part of the festivities — the call for more fitness, less facial hair, less diversity, harsher discipline. Whether or not those points of emphasis fit your own views of military standards and excellence, they are pretty much standard-issue Trump-era exhortations. 

You were not summoned to leave your commands, fly several million collective miles with your staffs, and assemble in one room on short notice to hear such things. That could have been handled with a circular, an email.

No, you were brought together to be told something monumental, something that should have shaken the ground under your feet. It wasn’t even coded — just a straight one-two punch.

First, Hegseth: The military is about lethality; the commands come from the top and must be obeyed, whether that means doing 50 pushups or killing anyone we order you to kill, no questions asked; your job, as our subordinate commanders, is to make sure that happens, that the military is ready to jump, and jumps when we say “jump.” 

“America’s warriors … kill people and break things for a living.”

Then, Trump: “America is under invasion from within. We’re under invasion from within, no different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms. At least when they’re wearing a uniform, you can take them out.” 

And “We should use some of these dangerous [Democrat-run] cities as training grounds for our military.”

That was it. That’s what you were brought to Quantico to hear. 

The rest — the lie-packed stream-of-consciousness “weave,” as Trump would call it — was nothing more than a repackaged MAGA rally romp, as if he forgot to whom it was he was speaking. More than 70 minutes of rolling boasts, and insults, and threats, and… 

Well, I don’t have to tell you because you were there. You endured it. You listened, in silence. 

You did not laugh when prompted to laugh; you did not applaud on cue. Your discipline came in very handy, as I’m quite sure many among you felt a near-irresistible impulse to roll your eyes, boo, or walk out. You sat stone-faced. 

Some observers characterized it as a respectful silence, but I doubt that reflected your collective state of mind. Because, unlike the average MAGA rally crowd, you are keen students of history, perceivers of nuance, more than capable of critical thought. 

You haven’t risen to the top of your profession, with several million men and women under your joint command, by being easily deceived. You are discerning and, by necessity, judgmental. 

You sat there because you had to, but I suspect that very few among you did not go away shaken.

So first I want to thank you for managing to show the deference expected of you without in any way seeming to embrace the antics or endorse the vision of a would-be dictator. 

He tested you, he taunted you, he dared you to raise a hand in disagreement or to leave the room, at the cost of your careers. Very funny, a big joke — thank you for not laughing. Thank you for being the tough crowd that you were.

I think you understand where you stand. Cadet Bone Spurs had the nerve to try to bully you because he has succeeded in bullying just about all the other institutions and centers of power in his path: his party, Congress, the Supreme Court, federal agencies, state governments, law firms, universities, media outlets, and tens of millions of individuals now living in fear of his vengeful powers. And it has gone to his head.

He has stated publicly that he “hates” his opponents. He has called the opposition party “a little gnat on our shoulder” that “we have to take care of.” 

He has called for the jailing of Chicago’s mayor and Illinois’s governor. 

He now says he will invoke the Insurrection Act if it is “necessary” — it’s “under serious discussion,” even as he goes about inflaming and even creating the flashpoints he will then use to justify it. 

Related: “A Deep Dive Into Why Everything Is Bonkers in Trump’s America”

Swarming masked ICE agents, cross-border National Guard missions, the 82nd Airborne… This is, it is becoming all too obvious, a war plan.

But, when push comes to shove, he needs you. And that was what Quantico was about. 

Very soon, it appears, individually and collectively you will face a very hard choice — the hardest choice a commander of armed forces at any level can ever face. Your commander in chief, who has already shifted your focus to “the enemy within,” may well order you to “defend the homeland” against that enemy by ordering those under your command to — kill your fellow Americans.

They might be “criminals” deemed unworthy of due process. They might be immigrants — whether undocumented, awaiting hearings, or full US citizens — trying to make a living. 

They might be protesters, violent or peaceful. 

They might be anyone Trump doesn’t “like” and so designates a “terrorist” or an “enemy.” 

It’s a very slippery slope. I’ve given it a name — the dictator’s doom loop — and described it in detail.

Your orders might come under cover of the Insurrection Act; they may be couched in the declaration of some “emergency” — a “war zone,” like Portland — ginned up to suit Trump’s, or Stephen “Plenary Authority” Miller’s, dictatorial aspirations. There might be a cloak of legality, arguments over constitutionality. 

A compliant Supreme Court may even confer its blessing, bend the knee yet again, as it has made it a habit of doing, as have so many others.

But I pray that you will know better. That you will make that hardest of choices: to honor your oaths to our Constitution over traditional duty to your commander in chief, because this one is a chest-thumping scourge, a power-drunk liar who will, if his orders are obeyed without question, do us all incalculable harm.

I won’t pretend to know the “military mind.” My acquaintance with your ranks consists of childhood visits to Fort Dix and West Point and, earlier this year, refereeing intramural soccer at the Monterey Presidio, where I was impressed by the sportsmanship and the mutual respect shown by all players to their fellow servicemen and -women (and yes, by their fitness level). 

So feel free to question my credentials. But please believe me when I say that, though I have sworn no oath, I am willing, no less than you — if our choices are dictatorship or a war against it — to lay down my life to defend our democracy.

Having heard what you’ve heard, seen what you’ve seen, and knowing what you know, you will, it is my fervent hope, recognize the true enemy within and, with great courage and clear conscience, act accordingly.