That is one of the leftist themes getting a lot of play, decrying that three of the individuals Trump has announced he will nominate to important positions in his administration are of the military ilk. The left really does depend on short memories and historical ignorance. As Larry O’Connor at Hot Air points out:
Remember when Obama had three generals on his team?
Well, Eddie Scarry at the Washington Examiner points out an inconvenient truth for everyone wringing their hands over the “undue influence” of three generals in the proposed Trump Administration:
Obama’s initial team included, as pointed out by the Washington Examiner’s Jamie McIntyre on Wednesday: retired Marine Gen. Jim Jones as national security adviser; retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki as veterans affairs secretary; and retired Navy Adm. Dennis Blair as director of national intelligence.
That should be embarrassment enough, but we did a 30-second internet search of “presidents who were generals” and the answer is ELEVEN. That amounts to 25% of our Presidents having been generals themselves. Sorry, no admirals as yet, although there has been one icon of the left, Franklin Roosevelt, who was entrenched in the military industrial complex as Ass’t Secretary of the Navy. Granted, some were brevet ranks obtained during Civil War service but high military rank has been appreciated in our political affairs by both major parties. If the left insists on wailing about someone who was president and actually used his military conquests for personal gain they would have much to complain about in Andrew Jackson, the founder of the Democrat Party.
The following are U.S. Presidents who achieved the rank of general:
George Washington (General of the Army) Andrew Jackson ; William Henry Harrison; Zachary Taylor; Franklin Pierce; Ulysses S Grant (General of the Army); Rutherford B. Hayes; James Garfield; Chester Arthur; Benjamin Harrison; and Dwight Eisenhower (General of the Army).
Now, about President-Elect Trump’s Secretary of Defense nominee retired Marine Corps General James “Mad Dog” Mattes:
