AMAC Exclusive – By Tom Doniphon
![Constitution](https://static-asset.amac.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/28064237/biden-with-milley.jpg)
After numerous foreign policy debacles throughout the first two years of the Biden presidency, including the collapse of Afghanistan, a botched submarine deal, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Republicans will finally have a chance to force Biden officials to answer tough questions when they retake power in January. But as the GOP works to hold the administration accountable for their failures, members of Congress will also have an opportunity to expose the insubordination and dangerous abuses of power taking place within the foreign policy establishment – a problem not limited to just the Biden presidency.
Several times since he took office, Biden has made clear statements about U.S. foreign policy, only to have a spokesperson directly contradict him days or even hours later. In September, for example, Biden made waves in the foreign policy world when he guaranteed U.S. forces would defend the island of Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. “Yes,” the President told 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, the United States would militarily defend the island “if in fact there was an unprecedented attack.”
Initially, his statements came as a shock: since 1979, U.S. policy has been to recognize Taiwan as part of China. This statement from the U.S. President appeared to shrug off decades of long-standing policy on one of the world’s most contentious geopolitical issues.
Yet almost immediately, a clarification came forward. According to the White House, official policy had not changed, and the U.S. would continue to maintain strategic ambiguity on the question of coming to the defense of Taiwan.
Unfortunately, this was far from the first time a major presidential flub and rapid “correction” from the president’s staff has occurred during the Biden administration. Following the chaotic evacuation of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, Biden said that no one had advised him to keep a few thousand troops in the country – only to have top military officials say days later that they had indeed advised the president to pursue just such a policy. In March, Biden said very clearly in a speech that Russian President Vladimir Putin should “not be allowed to remain in office.” Hours later, White House communications staff contradicted Biden, saying that Biden was “not discussing regime change.” In this case, Biden doubled down by saying that he was “not walking anything back” with regard to the comment, making clear that top U.S. officials are willing to knowingly and directly contradict the President of the United States with absolutely no consequences.
Article II Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution vests the president with the powers of Commander in Chief of the Army and the Navy and makes him the nation’s Chief Diplomat, with the power to negotiate with foreign governments. When public officials immediately correct the President after he makes statements of policy, it begs the question: who exactly is in charge U.S. foreign policy?
During the Trump administration, the subversion and corruption within the foreign policy establishment was even more egregious. Take, for example, President Trump’s attempts to extricate the United States from military involvement in Syria. In response to this strategic objective, Secretary of Defense General Jim Mattis refused to carry out his boss’s orders and eventually resigned his position at the Pentagon with a public letter airing out his disagreements. His successors and a host of other hidden hands at the Pentagon likewise appear to have resisted Trump’s efforts to get the United States out of Syria.
Mattis wasn’t the only general to clash with President Trump. General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, resisted President Trump’s direction to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to restore order to America’s streets during the riots that gripped the nation during the summer of 2020—an action fully within Trump’s authority as president. Milley also reportedly considered resignation after marching through Lafayette Square with President Trump after it had been cleared of rioters. But Milley didn’t end up submitting his resignation letter. “F*** that s***, I’ll just fight him,” he reportedly told his staff, as he stayed in his position to deliberately sabotage the elected president’s objectives from within.
While the feuds with various generals serving in the Trump administration were public, shocking, and vindictive, the executive branch’s loss of control over the military didn’t begin under President Trump.
A major theme of Barack Obama’s political campaigns was a pledge to bring home U.S. soldiers from the conflicts in the Middle East. As we know, he was unable to do so.
The merits of the policies in these examples aside, it is fundamental to our republican system of self-government that elected officials have the ultimate say over America’s foreign policy decisions. The Constitution vests the president and Congress with diplomacy and decision making—not unelected generals and obscure “officials” in the Pentagon. When the foreign policy establishment operates outside of political control, they become in effect another branch of government that is not accountable to voters.
Indeed, a military “independent of and superior to Civil power” was one of the very grievances America’s Founders cited against the British in the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution went to great lengths to subject the military to political control—even going so far as to forbid a permanent standing army and requiring Congress to vote frequently on military expenditures, limiting appropriations to a maximum of two years ahead. In the Founders’ view, elections—or the people’s ability to remove officials from office through the ballot box—introduced both accountability and oversight to our political system. Representative government maintained by regular elections was therefore the mechanism for American citizens to express the “consent of the governed.”
The new Republican House of Representatives should make every effort to reassert political control over the Department of Defense through both their investigative powers and control over the purse strings. When the American people vote and nothing changes, it represents a breakdown of our constitutional system.
The House Republican majority should begin by investigating acts of insubordination conducted by various generals and Pentagon officials during the Trump administration, beginning with General Milley. As Senate Republicans also have the power to block confirmation of top officials to the Department of Defense, they must make certain that each nominee they confirm will commit to following the instructions of the president. Congress also must reclaim its sole power to declare war, as set forth in the Constitution—a power which has not been invoked since 1942, even as the United States remains engaged in military conflicts across the globe.
All of these are just small steps to reign in the independent bureaucracy at the Pentagon, which will ultimately be vital to restoring the American system of republican self-government.
Tom Doniphon is the pen name of a former official in the Trump Administration.
Good morning Bill,
I see we are going to be deluged with apparently endless articles about “What the GOP in the House should investigate next”. A continuation of the ineffective and largely pointless exercise that will accomplish nothing, as Congress does NOT have the power to prosecute those that they find have committed either insubordination or have just outright refused to hobor their oath to obey and protect the Constitution of the United States. All they can do is subpoena some folks to appear and testify, which we knows how that always plays out. Lots of carefully worded obfuscation or “I don’t recollect” being provided. Maybe one or two “gotcha” moments for the nightly news and the next re-election campaign, but that is about it.
The issue of insubordination and down right refusal to follow the oath of office or even the letter of the law goes far beyond the Pentagon. It exists in virtually every federal department and agency at the senior level of management. See DOJ, FBI, EPA, DOE, etc., right down the long list. The administrative state, which overwhelmingly supports Democrat policy, because it has been dominated by Democrats for several decades, is an issue that is NOT going to be addressed and corrected through a series of dog and pony show congressional hearings in the House. Those hearings might serve as entertainment for about half the country, much like the Roman circuses a few thousand years ago were put on to divert the public’s attention from much more serious matters of the time, but at the end of the day nothing will have changed.
We can already see both McConnell and McCarthy racing to get back to “business as usual” as fast as possible. They want the public to quickly forget that between the two men, they had over $500 million dollars to spend supporting all the congressional GOP candidates and instead only suported the candidates that would support their continued leadership roles in Congress. Their campaign messaging plan for the GOP consisted of saying nothing of substance and just hoping for the best. So we ended up with the outcome that level of self-centered idiocy was bound to produce. Now they want to put on a series of congressional hearings to divert the public’s attention onto things they have no power to correct.
All House Republicans can do, when they identify actual corruption or violations of the law, is refer the matter to the DOJ or FBI for action. That is IF the DOJ or FBI decides they want to act on the matter. The same DOJ and FBI that has essentially stone-walled or competely ignored congressional Republicans for years and years. So again, all these proposed hearings amount to simply theater for the masses to deflect their attention away from the waterfall of bad policies that the Team Biden administration will continue to roll-out via executive orders and regulatory changes as we go forward. Yes, we are going nowhere real, real fast with this proposed strategy. We do however know where we, as a country, will end up in the not too distant future though and that’s not in a happy place.
Plus them using All our missiles, granted Ukraine needs them, but we will! China is just going to come marching in. Heck, they have their police here already. They were trying to build a wind farm by our military base in Texas, but we Texans but an end to that! Not the federal government! Spying is what they were doing.
We are waking to a whole set of complex problems. From China and what looks like a real mess, to Russia and the Ukraine, to the Mexican border, to the fuel crisis, and to the rise in crime; its one serious problem after another. We need leadership that is not dependent on memos. We need leadership that is cognizant; and has the ability to weigh everything in the balance!
Most frightening of all: the med schools are accepting and passing along students who really do not qualify — all in the name of equity. How can you trust a doctor graduating from these schools anymore?
This article brings to mind the former Obama administration’s toothless decisions with respect to our military commanders insisting on needless wars, that narrative has not changed with this current toothless administration, both General Mattis & Milley doggedly refused President Trump’s directives & look what he have now, a clueless, senile president that on a consistent basis gets it all wrong with a WOKE Pentagon once again calling all the shots in the European theater as well as the middle east, not forgetting the genuine enemy this nation faces, the nation of CHINA, ruled with an IRON FIST, i.e. the CCP… The GOP led Congress has an opportunity to Right the Ship come January 2023 as I have very little confidence that anything will ever change where these Establishment Republicans are concerned as the RINO’s within are all but socialist Democrats in either case, nothing changes but endless debates & hearings on the Hill, all going nowhere, real fast…
Bill… :~)
The only problem with holding the accountable is that the vast quantity of RINOs would
Deep State abuses, denies the BOR & Constitution day 1
Ya’ll need to put more places on to share with like Gab and GETTR AND OTHERS AND GET NEWS AROUND THE COUNTRY !
Republicans should get rid of the RINOS and drain the swamp. That alone would strengthen the party and give it leverage to take charge and restore loyalty and sanity. First establish a process that leads one direction, SOUTH, Return as many illegals as possible to their original country ASAP. Tighten up our immigration system. Primary politicians who enter politics with personal agendas which satisfy foreign countries instead of America, the country they chose to protect. That would shrink the Squad to half. Work harder for a fair tax system. Shrink the amount of lawyers in politics, our political system, overburdened with laws to counter other laws has become unfair and unmanageable. Our FBI and CIA and Judicial no longer work for ‘the people’ but chose sides and has become a two tier system. Our main stream communication system no longer disseminates information vital to the nation but buries the news in propaganda. Morals in our government leaders, even to the top,have unfortunately sunk to a low. To say it more simply, we hare in a mess and if we don’t soon clean the mess up we will succumb to Social/Marx/Globalism looming large in our future.
On Jan 6. Trump was still legally President. So, the refusal of his driver’s to take him where he wanted to go was illegal and treasoness. This proves that the President does not have the power that he is supposed to have with the current goons in power. These traitors should all be tried and imprisoned, including the Generals and the drivers of his vehicle on Jan 6.
If it was dangerous for the president to go back to the Capital, he would have been responsibloe for anything that happened to him. But the danger was not for him! It is for these treasoness bastards!
Eisenhaur said to beware the industrial Military complex. And this is exactly what he was talking about. If the military takes control, then it is a Military coup. They are trying to do this slowly so that the coup can be completed with no military conflict. Then what will our country be, Cuba, or any other country that was overthrown with a military coup? Just another banana “republic”.
Why would my comment “be awaiting approval”? There is nothing there that would indicate it needed approval. Is AMAC going WOKE?
Have you noticed that both Wray and Garland are now ACTING like they are concerned about abuses? Wray says he wants to investigate violence against pro-life centers and churches and Garland pretends that he is reevaluating things at DOJ. Hmm, I wonder why? Could it be because in six weeks Republicans in the House will be able to subpoena them and their goon followers?
Will Wray shut down Gestapo-style raids on peaceful pro-lifers? Will Garland allow parents to protest at school board meetings without having to be worried about being put on watch lists?
The Theatre, The Theatre; What’s Happened To The Theatre? Look no further than politics! Investigations and Subpoenas and Committees and Commissions; you can get an honorary degree in all four; and what is more they are going no where!
Here we go again…investigate, investigate, investigate…the same old playbook. IF something is found Congress can do nothing and will pass it on to the DOJ, FBI, etc. WHICH is infiltrated with scores of liberal Dems who will do nothing. BUT it will keep the masses amused.
Add that Over Half of Medical Schools teaching that Critical Race Theory GARBAGE. Instead of teaching them to be Doctors they teach them to be politicians instead.
As I said before, since Obamacare the medical profession has SUCKED and now instead of Doctors we have medical politicians who DON’T practice medicine.
They only follow what the FASCIST liberals say so they can act like they are actually a doctor.
Don’t trust none of them.
Unless the Republicans do something about this mess, we will continue to have political anarchy.
“When the American people vote and nothing changes, it represents a breakdown of our constitutional system.” The most important line in the article, but tragically this has been the case for decades, if not always.
From all that I have seen t seems to me that no one will do anything about anything going on in DC. The rest of us are doing nothing but crying and complaining. WHAT ARE WE THE PEAPLE going to do?????? Dah,WE….. Republicans are democrats only 20 years late… they even accept gay marriage now, SHAME on us….
Blah blah blah blah….Republicans had the ability to have shown leadership when Trump took the white house. Republicans had the white house AND. Congress but pissed it away in 2 years. Why do we think republicans will be any better today. Perhaps if republicans had done their job back then we wouldn’t be looking at the debacle that we look at now.
Republicans have a “monumental task” if you take into consideration how many things are/have gone wrong! They’re going to have to take careful consideration of what is most important in preparation for the 2024 election!
Great article. Passing it to my friends.
It is time to ask who is guiding the puppet biden to make decisions. He certainly does not have the knowledge or understand what is happening around him. Is it Rice, Obama, Pelosi? With two more years our only prayer is this puppet does not get us into a civil war
It is wonderful that you have such genius insite into these things. Now just make the generals obey the Commander in Chief or be expelled from the military.
The Generals and Admiral on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, including the Chairman, are military advisors to the President. They are NOT in the chain of command. The operational chain of command goes from the President to the Secretary of Defense to the Combatant Commanders. If POTUS wants the military to act, he can pass the order through the SecDef or give it directly to the Combatant Commanders, while informing the SecDef. GEN Milley would not be in the path of the orders given, but can be used by POTUS, along with others of the Joint Chiefs, for advice. President Trump should have interpreted Milley’s resistance as advice, which he could except or not. The President had to have known this, and apparently decided to accept Milley’s advice. Milley was certainly wrong in the way he openly countered the President. Any differences between POTUS and his military advisors should be strictly confidential, and once he makes a decision, they should support it, whether they agree with it or not, or else resign.
Excellent reasons why a 2nd Amendment cannot permit more gun control laws!
That’s interesting. Congress is going to hold joe biden for what the Republicans didn’t act upon even if the Republicans didn’t have the majority in Congress. Now they want to hold Congressional hearings on the matter. I’m glad you want to do something but they should have been stirring the pot and making the Democrats go insane. Knowing that this was going to happen to them as soon as the Republicans can take the house. This is not going to be easy because the Democrats will do exactly what the Republicans should have been doing fighting back harder. Let’s not lose the house let’s try to gain back the Senate also in the next following elections and try to get term limits and remove mail-in ballots also added to it before the Democrats can do any more damage to this country.
First I would like to make the point that the Main Stream Media is not main stream. It is the left wing media, and that is how it should always be referred to. Secondly, the republicans sat home in this last election to the tune of 40%. As bad as the president is, as corrupt as FBI, DOJ, and other government agencies are, not to mention the vote counters, As critical as the mid-term election was this time, and 40% of the republicans could not get off the couch to vote. And you wonder if we can turn this thing around, it does not appear to be possible. The one leader that brought the republicans together, made a huge improvement in four years, at home and around the world, is too abrasive for even our own republican party. We have had many republican presidents that were not that good of leaders, George W. comes to mind. If the republican party can not agree on President Trump with Ron DeSantis as V.P. I am afraid the party will just be split up and we will lose again to the dems. If we could get Trump/DeSantis in, we should be able to hold power for at least 12 years. When you see how bad the last two have been, that would be a big win.
I’m so disillusioned with our government and modern America that I don’t even care anymore. I’ve lived most of my life. If young people want to vote for Democrat policies and give their freedom away, more power to them. It’ll be their problem, not mine.
I’m sorry but we the American people are past dog and pony show hearings. We want accountability by the maximin extent of our laws. A lot of what is going on with this administration is treason and traitors deserve the DEATH Penalty.
Their ill gotten wealth needs to be returned to the tax payers.
What I am reading in many replies to several of these topics is that the public is laughing at the
assertion that DC is actually going to do something about the corruption, lying, insubordination,
and refusal to enforce our laws that are all rampant in Washington. What many of us are angry
about is the belief that we voters are convinced that something is going to change. Come on.
The only thing that’s going to happen are multiple episodes of fake outrage on Fox and CNN.
Hey don’t forget to pay your cable bill or you might miss out.