John Whitehead's Commentary

Donald Trump and his administration have done a grave disservice to America’s military.

By politicizing the military, sending service members into wars of questionable legality, attempting to use military forces against American citizens, and seeking to punish veterans who exercise their constitutional rights, the Trump administration has attempted to turn the U.S. military into its own guns-for-hire battalion.

This is not how you honor America’s military.

Pete Hegseth has done an even graver disservice to the men and women who serve.

Having called for a “warrior ethos” that celebrates aggression, lethality and an unquestioning commitment to warfighting, the self-styled Secretary of War has repeatedly demonstrated a troubling disregard for the constitutional safeguards meant to govern the military’s use of force.

Now, faced with eight articles of impeachment introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky), Hegseth has dismissed the effort as an act of “sabotage,” suggesting that holding military leaders accountable amounts to punishing the troops who carry out their orders.

Questioning the war makers is not an attack on the troops. It is one way of defending them.

The charges at the heart of Massie’s impeachment effort speak to an identity crisis under Hegseth’s leadership—one that pits the Founders’ vision of a military that exists to defend the Constitution and a constitutional form of government against a version of the military as a ruthless killing machine whose purpose is to invade, intimidate, and destroy the president’s enemies.

Three of Massie’s eight articles of impeachment accuse Hegseth of violating separate provisions of the War Powers Resolution by waging war against Iran without congressional authorization, continuing hostilities despite Congress’s direction to withdraw U.S. forces, and refusing to terminate military operations after the expiration of the law’s 60-day limit and potential 30-day withdrawal period.

The remaining five accuse Hegseth of disregarding laws meant to protect civilians during military operations; authorizing extrajudicial killings of suspected drug traffickers at sea; retaliating against Senator Mark Kelly for exercising his First Amendment rights; directing the military operation to seize Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, without lawful authority; and waging an unauthorized military campaign in Yemen.

Hegseth wants to dismiss the impeachment effort as a disagreement over military policy, but this is about something far more fundamental than one man’s job or one administration’s military strategy.

It is about the constitutional balance of power.

Impeachment is not a criminal prosecution. It is one of the mechanisms the Founders provided for holding public officials accountable for serious abuses of power.

The Constitution divides war powers between Congress and the president, places the military under civilian authority, and binds those in power to the rule of law.

But those safeguards mean little when Congress refuses to challenge unauthorized wars, presidents treat military force as their private prerogative, and military leaders demand obedience without accountability.

Consider the human price of the war with Iran.

In a November interview with 60 Minutes, President Trump insisted that the conflict with Iran was “not a war” and asserted that the United States had not lost a soldier in the previous five or six months. He then acknowledged 18 deaths across the Iran and Venezuela operations, comparing that number with the much larger losses of earlier wars.

Yet as of October 29, the government had reported 23 American military deaths connected to the Iran conflict, including hostile and nonhostile deaths, and 865 service members wounded.

The American people are entitled to an honest accounting of the lives lost, the injuries suffered, and the financial burden of wars fought in their name.

Follow the money.

The Trump administration has requested another $67 billion for the Pentagon as part of an $87.6 billion supplemental spending package, with billions earmarked for the Iran war. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that replacing munitions expended through August 1 alone could cost more than $21 billion. Meanwhile, major defense contractors, including Northrop Grumman and RTX, have raised their profit forecasts as the Pentagon scrambles to replenish its depleted weapons stockpiles.

Meanwhile, reports from inside the Trump administration have raised troubling questions about whether the president—the nation’s commander-in-chief—even has a full understanding of the military operations being carried out under his command.

These reports raise troubling questions about whether Trump is being shielded from unwelcome information, misled about military capabilities, or simply unwilling to confront the realities of the war.

Whatever the reason for the disconnect, the constitutional responsibility remains his.

He is the commander-in-chief.

If Trump does not know what is being done in his name, that is a serious problem.

If Trump knows and permits it to continue, that is a serious problem, too.

And if the president refuses to provide meaningful accountability, Congress has a constitutional duty to demand it.

While the politicians and Pentagon officials maneuver for power, and military contractors reap the financial rewards, it is America’s service members and the American people who bear the consequences.

These men and women are being asked to carry out decisions they did not make, in wars they did not authorize, under commanders whose own commitment to constitutional restraint is increasingly being called into question.

Their oath is not a pledge of personal loyalty to the president, the defense secretary, or the military-industrial complex. It is an oath to support and defend the Constitution.

And therein lies the greater betrayal.

The government wants soldiers willing to die for the Constitution. It seems far less interested in veterans willing to challenge it when it violates that Constitution.

This is not a problem that began with Donald Trump, and it will not disappear when he leaves office.

The government’s tendency to put military power ahead of constitutional restraint has survived Republican and Democratic administrations alike. So has the military-industrial complex, the surveillance state, the militarization of domestic policing, and the bureaucratic machinery that too often abandons veterans once their service is no longer required.

That is why the Constitution matters.

The Founders understood the danger of concentrating military power in the hands of officials who answer to no one. That is why they gave Congress authority over war, protected free speech, and established impeachment as one means of checking abuses of public office.

The House has the power to impeach, while the Senate has the responsibility to determine whether removal is warranted. Congress also holds the power of the purse and the constitutional authority to decide when this country goes to war.

Yet as I make clear in Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, those powers mean little if lawmakers refuse to exercise them.

WC: 1099

ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD

Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.

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