Berl Falbaum
Hypocrisy is not just a staple in our politics, it is part of the foundation and thus, most of the time, we accept it with a yawn.
Oh-hum, we say when faced with it, nothing new there.
But everyone once in a while a hypocritical political act or statement stands out, it reeks of chutzpah (Jewish for gall).
To have some fun, we’ll begin with a little pop quiz to see if you can identify the politicians involved in the latest gold-standard hypocrisy.
Who said that military personnel should not follow illegal orders?
Wrong. Yes, six Democratic members of Congress did say that on a special video message, but they were not guilty of ever having said the opposite.
Try again. Okay, this is a toughie so we’ll give you part one of the answer.
It is none other than Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Yep, the guy who called the Democrats the “Seditious Six,” and their video “despicable, reckless, and false.” In addition, the Pentagon said last month it would be investigating one of the six Democrats, Senator Mark Kelly, a retired U.S. Navy captain, for possible breaches of military law.
Well, it turns out that Hegseth has echoed the views of the seditious gang. During two taped interviews in 2016, Hegseth said there must be “consequences” for carrying out unlawful orders.”
“If you’re doing something that is just completely unlawful and ruthless, then there is a consequence for that. That’s why the military said it won’t follow unlawful orders from their commander-in-chief,” said Hegseth in one interview.
“There’s a standard, there’s an ethos, there’s a belief, that we are above […] so many things our enemies or others would do.”
In the second interview, Hegseth offered that then-candidate Donald Trump was wrong for suggesting that military lawyers and commanders would violate the laws of war if he ordered them to kill the families of terrorists or revive banned forms of torture.
“The military is not going to follow illegal orders, and so the Trump campaign was forced to change their position and say, we’re going to try to change the law so that the military can operate within the law.”
Hegseth said, “That’s a tall order also. The military’s not gonna follow illegal orders. You’re not just gonna follow that order if it’s unlawful.”.
Addressing Trump proposed policies, Hegseth said: “He [Trump] says, ‘Go ahead and kill the family. Go ahead and torture. Go ahead and go further than waterboarding.’
“What happens when people follow those orders, or don’t follow them? It’s not clear that Donald Trump will have their back. Donald Trump is often times about Donald Trump. And so, you can’t; if you’re not changing the law and you’re just saying it, you create even more ambiguity.”
He also said that refusing illegal orders was a part of a soldier’s obligation and ethical standards.
But now, in defending military strikes in international waters near Venezuela that many military and civilian experts have claimed are illegal, Hegseth said:
“If you are working for a designated terrorist organization and you bring drugs to this country in a boat, we will find you and we will sink you.”
In his flip-flop, Hegseth argues that President Trump has the power to take the questionable military action, proclaiming, “President Trump can and will take decisive military action as he sees fit to defend our nation’s interests. Let no country on Earth doubt that for a moment.”
We’ll take a breath here before we continue. If you noticed, I said I would help with part one to the answer. Here is part two:
Attorney General Pam Bondi has uttered an almost identical view of the military not following illegal orders that you would conclude she and Hegseth were dating.
In a brief filed last year with the Supreme Court when Bondi served as a lawyer for the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank, she wrote:
“Military officers are required not to carry out unlawful orders. The military would not carry out a patently unlawful order from the president to kill nonmilitary targets. Indeed, service members are required not to do so.”
During an exchange with justices, she said, “A president cannot order an elite military unit to kill a political rival, and the members of the military are required not to carry out such an unlawful order. It would be a crime to do so.”
After Trump learned about the remarks by Hegseth and Bondi, Trump told them he bought them tickets for a cruise because they were working so hard.
Both declined the kind offer when they learned part of the cruise was in the waters off the coast of Venezuela.
Oh-hum, we say when faced with it, nothing new there.
But everyone once in a while a hypocritical political act or statement stands out, it reeks of chutzpah (Jewish for gall).
To have some fun, we’ll begin with a little pop quiz to see if you can identify the politicians involved in the latest gold-standard hypocrisy.
Who said that military personnel should not follow illegal orders?
Wrong. Yes, six Democratic members of Congress did say that on a special video message, but they were not guilty of ever having said the opposite.
Try again. Okay, this is a toughie so we’ll give you part one of the answer.
It is none other than Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Yep, the guy who called the Democrats the “Seditious Six,” and their video “despicable, reckless, and false.” In addition, the Pentagon said last month it would be investigating one of the six Democrats, Senator Mark Kelly, a retired U.S. Navy captain, for possible breaches of military law.
Well, it turns out that Hegseth has echoed the views of the seditious gang. During two taped interviews in 2016, Hegseth said there must be “consequences” for carrying out unlawful orders.”
“If you’re doing something that is just completely unlawful and ruthless, then there is a consequence for that. That’s why the military said it won’t follow unlawful orders from their commander-in-chief,” said Hegseth in one interview.
“There’s a standard, there’s an ethos, there’s a belief, that we are above […] so many things our enemies or others would do.”
In the second interview, Hegseth offered that then-candidate Donald Trump was wrong for suggesting that military lawyers and commanders would violate the laws of war if he ordered them to kill the families of terrorists or revive banned forms of torture.
“The military is not going to follow illegal orders, and so the Trump campaign was forced to change their position and say, we’re going to try to change the law so that the military can operate within the law.”
Hegseth said, “That’s a tall order also. The military’s not gonna follow illegal orders. You’re not just gonna follow that order if it’s unlawful.”.
Addressing Trump proposed policies, Hegseth said: “He [Trump] says, ‘Go ahead and kill the family. Go ahead and torture. Go ahead and go further than waterboarding.’
“What happens when people follow those orders, or don’t follow them? It’s not clear that Donald Trump will have their back. Donald Trump is often times about Donald Trump. And so, you can’t; if you’re not changing the law and you’re just saying it, you create even more ambiguity.”
He also said that refusing illegal orders was a part of a soldier’s obligation and ethical standards.
But now, in defending military strikes in international waters near Venezuela that many military and civilian experts have claimed are illegal, Hegseth said:
“If you are working for a designated terrorist organization and you bring drugs to this country in a boat, we will find you and we will sink you.”
In his flip-flop, Hegseth argues that President Trump has the power to take the questionable military action, proclaiming, “President Trump can and will take decisive military action as he sees fit to defend our nation’s interests. Let no country on Earth doubt that for a moment.”
We’ll take a breath here before we continue. If you noticed, I said I would help with part one to the answer. Here is part two:
Attorney General Pam Bondi has uttered an almost identical view of the military not following illegal orders that you would conclude she and Hegseth were dating.
In a brief filed last year with the Supreme Court when Bondi served as a lawyer for the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank, she wrote:
“Military officers are required not to carry out unlawful orders. The military would not carry out a patently unlawful order from the president to kill nonmilitary targets. Indeed, service members are required not to do so.”
During an exchange with justices, she said, “A president cannot order an elite military unit to kill a political rival, and the members of the military are required not to carry out such an unlawful order. It would be a crime to do so.”
After Trump learned about the remarks by Hegseth and Bondi, Trump told them he bought them tickets for a cruise because they were working so hard.
Both declined the kind offer when they learned part of the cruise was in the waters off the coast of Venezuela.
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