Trump’s ‘Apprentice’ experience doesn’t work in the Navy
There are some dangerous byproducts of a presidency gone rogue. More than any other character trait for a president to have on display at all times, but especially in times of crisis, it’s a measured, deliberate and honest approach to managing the affairs of state.
To this day, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s example teaches how to galvanize a nation in time of crisis, as Erik Larson’s recent book “The Splendid and the Vile” reveals about Churchill’s leadership during the London Blitz. Unfortunately, what America is getting today in the leadership department is far removed from Churchill’s model of leadership or that of most American presidents. By contrast, Govs. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Andrew Cuomo of New York, Gavin Newsom of California and others make Trump look like nothing more than a second-rate boss who fires people.
Last week, Trump’s efforts in his White House briefings to paint his bumbling leadership on a flimsy canvas as “everything’s under control” headed in a different direction. This time it was off to the coast of Guam where the commander of the aircraft carrier, USS Theodore Roosevelt, Navy Capt. Brett Crozier, sent a four-page letter over an unclassified network calling for help from the Navy with his aircraft carrier, a ship dealing with an outbreak of COVID-19 cases.
Crozier got more than he bargained for when the Acting Secretary of the Navy, Thomas Modly, removed him from command and blamed him for poor judgment and violating the military chain of command. That was only the beginning of a strange twist of events that shows how Trump’s “revolving door” and keeping officials in “acting” status for those who don’t agree with him results in confusion at best and injustice at worst.
Modly wouldn’t even have been “acting” Secretary of the Navy if Trump had not fired Navy Secretary Richard Spencer for opposing the president’s intervention in the discipline of a SEAL accused of committing war crimes. According to Spencer, “this was a shocking and unprecedented intervention in a low-level review,” and “…a reminder that the president has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military….” No surprise there since Trump successfully avoided military service five times during the Vietnam War. Spencer, on the other hand, was a former Marine aviator.
The blowback from Crozier’s removal was swift and widespread and included highly respected former military officials. Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, called Crozier’s firing a “a really bad decision, because it undermines the authority of the military commanders who are trying to take care of their troops, and significantly negatively impacts the willingness of commanders to speak truth to power.” Retired Rear Adm. John Kirby thought that Crozier may have been guilty of a “process error” in failing to use a secure network for his letter, but then said such errors are not cause for dismissal from command.
To use Adm. Mullen’s words, Crozier spoke “truth to power” in the face of apparent Navy foot-dragging on coming to the rescue of the sailors on the Theodore Roosevelt. Everyone from Defense Secretary Mark Esper on down the chain of command can come up with the rationale on the Crozier firing, but the folks who are “naïve and stupid,” to use Modly’s own words, are those who would believe this did not come directly from Trump or the direct result of Trump’s interference with the Pentagon chain of command.
David Ignatius of the Washington Post used his familial ties to the Navy to learn that Acting Navy Secretary Modly told a colleague that Trump wanted Crozier fired. Trump’s initial public comments about Crozier seem to back that up. Modly showed his true colors when he addressed the Roosevelt’s crew and called Crozier “too naïve or too stupid” to be in command, reversing himself later, apologizing for his remarks, and finally “offering” his resignation, which was accepted.
In the case of the USS Roosevelt’s run-in with the coronavirus and Capt. Crozier’s effort to speed up Navy action, he fell victim not to the military justice system, but to the Trump justice system that looks more like his Apprentice TV show than it does a president acting responsibly as commander-in-chief.
As for my take on Capt. Crozier, Tweed Roosevelt said it best. The great-grandson of Teddy Roosevelt for whom the aircraft carrier was named, called Crozier a hero for putting the health of his crew above all else. It reminded Roosevelt of his great-grandfather’s similar action as a Rough Rider when the Spanish-American War ended and his troops were in danger of dying of malaria and yellow fever. Officials in Washington refused to bring his men home until Teddy sent a letter to newspapers across the nation calling attention to the crisis, and his troops were allowed home. Because he sounded the alarm by speaking truth to power, Teddy Roosevelt would be denied a Medal of Honor for his heroics in the war until it was finally awarded posthumously in 2001.
Capt. Crozier is now on Guam, quarantined after testing positive for the coronavirus. No telling what his future is, but many predict his Navy career is over. Let’s hope it doesn’t take as long for Crozier to get on the right side of history as it took for Teddy Roosevelt to be recognized for placing the welfare of his crew above the chain of command and his career.