Trump fires Defense Secretary Mark Esper, the first in an expected purge
LA TimesPresident Trump moved quickly to fire the defense secretary he derided as “Yesper” after Joe Biden declared victory in the 2020 election. I would like to thank him for his service.” Trump and the White House gave no reason for the firing, but Esper had struggled to navigate between his role leading the U.S. military and meeting the president’s demands for political loyalty, so much so that even Trump derided Esper as a yes-man, dubbing him “Yesper.” But Esper was one of several officials who months ago fell out of favor with the president over disagreements about the politicization of national security and intelligence. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Esper’s “abrupt” firing serves as “disturbing evidence” that Trump will use his last days in office “to sow chaos in our American democracy and around the world,” calling it “an act of retribution.” “It is disturbing and dangerous that, at this precarious moment, our military will now be led by an official who has not been confirmed for this position by the Senate,” Pelosi said. Amid outcry over Trump’s politicization of the military, Milley sent a message to military commanders reminding them of their oath to the Constitution, which he said “gives Americans the right to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly.” The relationship between Trump and Esper “certainly seemed to be a tense one,” said David Lapan, a former Pentagon and Homeland Security department official. “And, frankly, the president’s made it pretty clear he’s fine with changing people out at will.” Lapan noted how Esper kept a much lower profile than many Trump political appointees, trying to keep the military out of politics but also himself out of the media “as a way to avoid the ire of the president.” The tightrope act was “on the one hand, understandable because of what we’ve seen,” Lapan said, “but on the other hand, not helpful that a senior leader of the military is effectively silencing himself.” The damage Trump has done to public perception of the military as an “apolitical institution” will long outlast Mattis or Esper, Lapan said.
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