Veterans Day & Project 2025 on the Military
Because it’s Veterans Day, it feels appropriate to touch on what the new administration has intimated it has in store for our troops. But of course, there have also been a lot of other developments as Trump returns to run the government, or for now, his transition, on social media.
One of those developments has been the mass exodus of people from Twitter to Bluesky, which has similar functionality, as the perception that the algorithm favors Trumpist views grows. Bluesky seems to be picking up steam as a place to get news as many reporters, political figures, pundits, and familiar experts make the transition over. The site grew by more than 700,000 new users last week alone. The total number of accounts is now 14.5 million, an increase from 10 million in September, with most of the new users coming from the U.S. per company spokesperson Emily Liu. That’s still far fewer people than Threads, which has 275 million monthly users, but there’s a certain energy there the last few days. I’m @joycewhitevance both places if you want to find me, or click here for Bluesky. If you make the move too, make sure you leave a comment so everyone can find you!
Like so many of us, I come from a family that honored the service of so many men during World War II and Korea/Vietnam. It would have been unthinkable to vote for a candidate who wasn’t devoted to members of the military and their security. I have so much respect for those of you who served or who are serving now, and for the sacrifices your families make.
What does Trump have in store for our troops? One of the primary sources we can look at is Agenda 47, which Trump’s website headlines as “President Trump’s 20 CORE PROMISES TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” A number of them impact the military, both directly and indirectly:
Seal the border and stop the migrant invasion
Carry out the largest deportation operation in American history
Prevent World War Three, restore peace in Europe and in the Middle East, and build a great iron dome missile defense shield over our entire country — all made in America
Strengthen and modernize our military, making it, without question, the strongest and most powerful in the world
Project 2025, now billed on the website as a “presidential transition project” despite earlier disclaimers, offers more detail:
The full chapter on the Department of Defense, authored by Christopher Miller, is available here. Miller served as the Acting Secretary of Defense from Nov. 9, 2020, until Jan. 20, 2021; in other words, he took the assignment after Trump lost the election. Miller stepped into the breach after Trump fired Mark Esper for opposing Trump’s “insistence to use active-duty troops to deal with street protests in D.C. and elsewhere.”
Miller outlines four top priorities for the military, in line with and expanding on Agenda 47:
“Military service is the most difficult task we ask of our citizens, and our nation is enormously blessed that so many young, patriotic Americans eagerly volunteer to carry such a heavy burden. We owe them everything, and we must do better. To do better, however, means recognizing and implementing four overriding priorities:
Priority No. 1: Reestablish a culture of command accountability, nonpoliticization, and warfighting focus.
Priority No. 2: Transform our armed forces for maximum effectiveness in an era of great-power competition.
Priority No. 3: Provide necessary support to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) border protection operations. Border protection is a national security issue that requires sustained attention and effort by all elements of the executive branch.
Priority No. 4: Demand financial transparency and accountability.”
Not all of it sounds bad off the top. Financial transparency could be a good thing. Having a strong defense is important. But building an American version of Israel’s Iron Dome? That sounds like a boondoggle for some of Trump’s wealthy cronies.
The real problems become apparent when you read between the lines. Trump is going to try to use the military to execute his mass deportation plan. NPR reported that “The former president has said that in order to deport over 11 million undocumented people living in the U.S., he’d invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, deploy troops to the border using the Insurrection Act and mobilize local police.” Legal challenges will follow. In an earlier era, one would have said they would be likely to be sustained, since it’s clear that active duty military members can’t be deployed like this. In this day and age though, who knows.
What would this kind of deployment and mission do to the morale of the troops? Certainly, some would embrace the mission. But for many others, it could not be further from what they signed up for. And diverting our military power to deport migrants is inconsistent with stated goals like having a “warfighting focus.” Border enforcement isn’t military readiness training.
What about cost? Trump has said there’s “no price tag” when it comes to deporting people across the southern border. Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso seemed taken aback when he learned during an appearance on Meet The Press that it would cost $88 billion a year to deport just one million people. The federal government spent $6.2 trillion total in fiscal year 2023 for comparison. So who exactly is going to foot the bill?
Beyond that, Project 2025 promotes plans that would:
Cut benefits for disabled vets
Cut health coverage for veterans while reducing the quality of the care they do receive
Cut programs designed to reduce homelessness for vets
Abolish diversity, equity, and inclusion. The military, long a place where society benefited from integration and leadership roles for people of color and women, would be forced to slide backward.
None of this comes as a surprise from a president who ducked service in Vietnam (bone spurs) and called fallen soldiers “losers and suckers.”
So, happy Veterans Day. While we honor the service of members of our military, they won’t have it easier than anyone else for the next four years.
We’re in this together,
Joyce
I am a military veteran and I very proudly voted for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz just as I proudly served my country.
I also come from a family with a proud military tradition starting with my Grandfather in the Horse Cavalry. I feel the best way to honor the service and sacrifice of our veterans would be to change Election Day to November 11. This would recognize that they have made it possible to have a free country where we can vote freely. It would also make Election Day a national holiday without adding another national holiday.