David Ignatius, a foreign policy columnist for the Washington Post, painted President Trump to be a “vengeful” commander-in-chief in the wake of his decision to fire Navy Secretary Richard Spencer.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper fired Spencer at Trump’s request over the Navy Secretary’s handling of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher’s case. Gallagher was accused of war crimes after he took a photograph of a dead ISIS fighter.
Trump supported Gallagher and wanted him to retire with full honors, including his Trident insignia. Spencer disagreed with the president and Esper and attempted to work out a deal with the White House were Gallagher could quietly retire with full honors so long as the administration removed itself from the process.
Esper was not aware of Spencer’s White House negotiations and was “deeply troubled” by his actions. He fired Spencer on Sunday night.
Ignatius argued that this whole process was done out of vengeance against a man who wanted to maintain the highest code for members of the Navy.
“With Spencer’s firing, Trump has recklessly crossed a line he had generally observed before, which had exempted the military from his belligerent, government-by-tweet interference,” Ignatius wrote. “But the Gallagher case illustrates how an irascible, vengeful commander in chief is ready to override traditional limits to aid political allies in foreign policy, law enforcement and now military matters.”
Ignatius criticized Esper, too, for not having the “backbone to resist Trump.” He argued that few people agreed with their position on Gallagher and claimed that even his fellow Navy SEALs did not appreciate the administration’s favor for Gallagher.
“While Gallagher is celebrated on Fox, current and former senior officers of the SEALs and other elite units told me this weekend that his case has little support within the community of Special Operations forces. One former SEAL commander noted that maintaining discipline among these elite units is so important that the SEAL peer-review panels have removed more than 150 Trident pins since 2011, or more than one a month,” Ignatius explained.
He claimed that Trump “sabotaged” Spencer’s attempt to maintain high standards for the Navy.
A former Wall Street Journal reporter, Ignatius, 69, has been with the Washington Post since 1986, apart from a two-year stint as executive editor of the International Herald Tribune in Paris from 2000 to 2002. He is also a thriller writer. His father, Paul Ignatius, was Secretary of the Navy from 1967 to 1969, under President Lyndon Johnson, and later president of the Washington Post. The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, USS Paul Ignatius commissioned in July, is named after him.
