Last week was busy for news. U.S. coronavirus numbers surged to nearly 2 million cases and over 112,000 deaths. At 13.3%, the second-highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression was spun as good news. Massive peaceful protests, and significant vandalism, looting, and arson, swept the nation in response to a grotesque police murder. President Trump caused the greatest crisis in civil-military relations since Kent State, when his administration likely unlawfully ordered soldiers to use force against demonstrators to facilitate a campaign photo opportunity.

Lost in the cacophony was the appalling decision, hastily made after a tetchy phone call between Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, to withdraw over a quarter of the American troops currently in Germany with a transparently political deadline of before Election Day. There is no evidence that this policy disaster to cut our troops unilaterally from 36,000 to 25,000 was even discussed with the Departments of Defense or State through a National Security Council process, much less coordinated with our close ally of 75 years.