The clear presidential choice of the US military

Texas military families face a difficult decision. As a longtime instructor at the U.S. Army War College, I have seen many talented students preparing for leadership. Some of your officers probably attended the War College and even my courses. I know the history and ethics that guide our U.S. military.

I remember Franklin Roosevelt's tireless work creating the modern U.S. military at a time of great danger. When I look back at FDR, I see a leader who, with his close advisors, transformed a weak force of just over 300,000 men into an immensely powerful force of 12,000,000 men equipped with the finest weapons of the time.

FDR's relationship with his military leaders was one of mutual respect and a high degree of trust. All four of his sons served with distinction in World War II – two in the Navy, one in the Marines and one in the Air Force. This globally respected military still exists today in states like Texas.

What a contrast between then and now. Eighty years after the United States entered a war to preserve it, Donald Trump's contempt for democracy was on full display as commander in chief on January 6, 2021. He has abused the military for political stunts and mishandled top-secret intelligence agencies. As a presidential candidate, he has shown open disregard for democracy and threatened to take full control of the military to use it against our own citizens.

Roosevelt famously said, “The only thing we have to be afraid of is fear itself.” In an ugly twist, Trump and JD Vance have aggressively manipulated fear to control Americans. If he regains the reins of power, he has already shown us that he can damage our military and political structures and their guardrails, as well as the moral standing that has enabled the United States and our military to gain the respect of the world and the to take global leadership World War II.

Far from mobilizing the strengths of our nation, our military and our people, Trump's dark, gritty and paranoid American Carnage storyline shows us that our nation is weak while he tries to scare us. He and his vice presidential candidate encourage violence and chaos by pitting neighbor against neighbor and stripping away our rights, and they want us to cower, turn inward, and build walls—physical and economic—to submit to them.

Roosevelt's third-term vice president, Henry Wallace, had an extremely keen sense of what fascism was, writing in 1944 that a fascist is “one whose greed for money or power is combined with such intense intolerance of members of other races and parties “, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations that make him ruthless in his use of deception or violence to achieve his goals.”

Civil-military trust and mutual respect are essential. But military officials and national security experts who served under Trump say – almost taciturn – that he poses a dangerous threat to national and international security. If elected again, he will actively support the rise of authoritarianism.

He and his vice president would cut off the financial support that the US has provided to Ukraine since Vladimir Putin's authoritarian regime invaded in 2022. They would actively support other authoritarian leaders who oppose freedom and would undermine U.S. commitment to NATO, a pillar of American strength and global security.

The United States needs leaders who will carry forward Roosevelt's vision of the United States as an invaluable global military leader and ally of democracy. We need leaders who understand that the U.S. military is courageous and capable, and who have the temperament and policies to ensure this nation continues to work toward international stability and peace.

We need leaders to continue to support and develop policies to help working Americans and strengthen the middle class, including our military families and veterans. This presidential race is clear. Trump's economic policies would protect his inner circle and harm working Americans and military families, including by undermining the postwar trade that brought prosperity to the United States and fueled steady economic development in much of the world after World War II.

In this election, we must choose courage and optimism on behalf of all the brave troops who protect freedom and democracy at home and abroad. Franklin Roosevelt devoted all his energy to this work during the years of his presidency. Texans who support our military must elect Kamala Harris, a president who will do the same.

Tami Davis Biddle retired from the U.S. Army War College as the Elihu Root Chair of Military Studies, the college's executive chair. She is writing Taking Command: The United States in the Second World War for Oxford University Press.

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