The most thoughtful thing I’ve read recently about the Trump-Kim talks is by Arthur Waldron, who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania. His core point: “This meeting is not about nuclear disarmament or security guarantees, though they will form much of its substance while receiving disproportionate media and analytical attention. A more accurate appraisal is […]
It’s almost 7 a.m. here on the west coast of the United States. As I and most of America slept, our president was on television praising a dictator, who currently has more than 200,000 of his own citizens locked up in Nazi-like prison camps, as a “very talented man” who “loves his people.” Admittedly, I […]
President Donald Trump is incredibly patriotic. He loves the troops, apple pie, winning, and pro-America songs like the national anthem and others. So it’s no surprise that our president would stick it to those traitorous, kneeling-during-the-anthem Philadelphia Eagles players, by reciting the six total lines one needs to memorize in order to sing God Bless […]
A thousand super-fans of the Philadelphia Eagles are getting an amazing treat during their visit to the White House on Tuesday afternoon: Military bands playing and sightings of exactly zero players from their favorite team. The original agenda called for the fans to go and see their Super Bowl-winning team at the White House, along […]
You’ve probably seen it by now, but President Donald Trump’s Memorial Day tweet is one for the history books, insofar as it will forever be known as the worst sentiment to express on such a solemn day. “Happy Memorial Day! Those who died for our great country would be very happy and proud at how […]
There’s trouble brewing for President Donald Trump’s historic, unprecedented, spur-of-the-moment summit with the grandson of a communist revolutionary who carved up the Korean peninsula, along with 37,000 or so American servicemembers, back in the day. Also, the White House made a challenge coin to commemorate the maybe-happening summit. Sorry, they didn’t design or produce it; […]
At least 41 people are dead after Palestinian protestors rushed the border fence between Gaza and Israel on May 14 ahead of the opening ceremony for the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, the New York Times reports. More than 1,000 Palestinians were also injured. Watch Next
President Donald Trump wanted to withdraw all American troops from the Korean Peninsula earlier this year but White House Chief of Staff John Kelly talked him out of it, NBC News reports. WATCH NEXT: This post is part of BULLET POINTS, our running SITREP of the military stories you need to read now. Sign up for […]
To hear President Donald Trump hear it, Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson is a fine naval officer and physician with no blemishes on his record, and his candidacy to run the Department of Veterans Affairs was scuttled by “vicious rumors” from scheming liberal politicians. There are a lot of problems with Trump’s narrative, but another issue […]
Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson withdrew his name as President Donald Trump’s nominee for Veterans Affairs secretary this morning in a White House press statement. The announcement comes after days of mounting criticism regarding Jackson’s fitness to run the second largest federal agency. “Unfortunately, because of how Washington works, these false allegations have become a […]
It’s been a pretty hectic 24 hours for Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, the White House’s nominee to be secretary of Veteran Affairs, culminating in a bizarre ramble this afternoon in which President Donald Trump defended Jackson in the weirdest way possible: giving him an opening to bow out of his nomination. Yesterday the news […]
There is absolutely nothing that troops love more than standing at attention in formation — especially in the hot sun. That’s exactly what nearly 500 service members from all five military branches will do on Tuesday when President Trump and French president Emmanuel Macron “review the troops” on the White House’s South Lawn. To be […]
If U.S. troops are going to stay in Syria, President Donald Trump thinks that Saudi Arabia should pay for it. You heard that right. During a Tuesday news conference, the president said the United States and its regional allies will soon decide how much longer U.S. troops should remain in Syria. “Saudi Arabia is very […]
President Donald Trump has announced that U.S. troops will guard the border with Mexico. The White House was expected to release further details at a news conference later on Tuesday. “Until we can have a wall and proper security we’re going to be guarding our border with the military. That’s a big step,” Trump told […]
It’s been an awkwardly long time coming, but as of yesterday afternoon embattled Veterans Affairs secretary David Shulkin is out of a job. The news comes after a month and a half of uncertainty that began when a scathing inspector general report detailed “serious derelictions” in expensing a Europe trip last summer. And then there […]
It’s a brave new world in 2018. President Donald Trump’s administration has been largely characterized by the same freewheeling, no-fucks-given bravado of the 2016 election cycle: Twitter rants are daily fodder for the news cycle, lurid stories of old trysts with adult film stars (somehow) merit the “60 Minutes” treatment, and hardly a week goes […]
We’re getting close to a year ending in “0,” in an age marked by fights over who is an American and how to slice the voting population for maximum political advantage, so the otherwise boring decennial U.S. Census is again a hot issue. Trump administration officials, anxious to expand their tight immigration policies, have added […]
“I confess I had no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy… I considered the war in Vietnam already lost.” — John Bolton, 1995 The funny thing about relentlessly pressing for more war in America is that a lot of the most zealous warhawking politicians and pundits over the years — left and […]
President Trump’s decision banning certain transgender people from serving in the military is not the final say on the matter, experts have told Task & Purpose. The White House announced late on March 23 that men and women “with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria—those who may require substantial medical treatment, including through medical […]
President Donald Trump conquered American politics. Now, he’s eyeing outer space. Speaking to service members at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California on Tuesday, the commander-in-chief appeared to propose the creation of an independent branch of the U.S. armed forces, on par with the Army and Navy. “Space is a war-fighting domain just like the […]
President Trump’s announcement that he would meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un stunned much of the nation. But two Korean War veterans said it was high time for the two leaders to meet. “It’s certainly better to be talking than shooting,” said retired Army Col. Henry Gole, 84, who served as an enlisted […]
Medal of Honor recipient Clint Romesha says people need to stop “armchair quarterbacking” what they would do during a school shooting. In an appearance on CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper, Romesha said all those would-be heroes should “stop talking about it” if they’ve never been in a situation like that. Although the question from […]
Look, we give President Donald Trump shit for all sorts of reasons: confusion over evening colors, picking fights with the family members of fallen service members, tweeting too much, making service academy graduations about himself, and so on. The purpose of journalism is to challenge the powerful, no matterwho they are, but I’ll be the […]
In the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland, Florida, President Donald Trump offered a simple solution to end the United States’ sad tradition of school shootings: Arm teachers with “military or special training experience” against potential gunmen. Responding to criticism of a Wednesday listening session in which the president proposed […]
The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee is skeptical that the increases in defense spending proposed by President Donald Trump will actually make the United States any safer. Washington State Rep. Adam Smith told Task & Purpose that he believes the U.S. military is being asked to train for too many possible war […]
