US election: Foolish sacking of Mark Esper leaves America exposed

Donald Trump’s sacking of US defence secretary Mark Esper is dangerous, unnecessary and foolish.

Donald Trump hates Mark Esper for saying during the worst of the summer’s riots that there was no case for invoking the Insurrection Act to send troops into cities against the wishes of local governments. Picture: AFP

That Donald Trump has sacked his Defence Secretary, Mark Esper, is a disappointing sign that the President may be inclined to create a great deal of chaos on his way out.

Christopher Miller, the director of the National Counter-terrorism Centre, will become acting defence secretary. Sacking the defence secretary is dangerous, unnecessary and foolish.

Trump has every right to maintain his political opposition to Joe Biden and his agenda.

Biden has won in enough states and by big enough margins that the chances of Trump overturning the result in court is vanishingly small.

However, that is no reason for Trump to abandon his general political persona. Yet while he still has the executive power of the presidency, he should exercise it with some basic modicum of responsibility.

Over the next 70-odd days before Biden’s inauguration, the US and its allies are at some serious risk that an adversary would look to take advantage of the disarray in US politics and society to attempt military action. Throwing the Pentagon into instability makes such an outcome more likely.

It’s fair enough for Trump to be angry at his enemies. It’s disheartening that he is so constantly angry at his friends.

Miller will be the fourth defence boss in Trump’s four years of presidency.

What had Esper done that was so terrible he could not supervise things over the next two months? Trump hates Esper for saying during the worst of the summer’s city riots that there was no case for invoking the rarely used Insurrection Act to send troops into cities against the wishes of local and state governments.

Before that, Esper had been seen as a yes-man. Trump cannot bear to have anyone near him who is prepared to disagree with him. At the start of his presidency, Trump tried to get people of serious standing, such as General Jim Mattis, to serve in his cabinet.

The problem with serious people is they tell you when they disagree with you and they object to doing stupid stuff.

The messy policy compromises Trump worked out with such people, however, were not too bad. They gave effect to Trump’s values and promises but avoided disaster or excess in implementation.

As time went on, Trump sacked them all and wanted only yes-men. Even Trump’s most ardent defenders cannot believe everyone Trump appointed then sacked were all unreformed swamp creatures out to frustrate him.

Before Biden’s inauguration, Trump has the ability to fire people and to some extent to hire them, to change policy, for however short a period, and to pardon people, including himself and his family if he thinks they face any legal jeopardy.

Even Trump at his wildest is unlikely to begin any offensive military action. One of his proudest political boasts is that he’s the first president since Jimmy Carter not to initiate any serious military intervention.

However, he could order all US troops out of Afghanistan or the Middle East more generally. Such operations should be carried out in an orderly and prepared way. If Trump wanted to do this and hasn’t managed it in four years, that reflects poorly on him.

Sacking people may be just vindictiveness. On that score, there could be a lot more to come. That would leave the US structures of government under-manned and without leadership at a critical time.

Many criticisms of Trump are overdone. But if he behaves like that, he will literally be indulging his ego at the expense of the national interest, and will deserve much greater criticism and condemnation than he has deserved so far.