President Donald Trump has declared November as a month to honor American veterans, even as he trashes former and current military officers in his administration. It seems that dishonoring our military personnel is now required to demonstrate one’s loyalty to the president.
The latest victim is Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a member of Trump’s National Security Council and our nation’s top expert on Ukraine. Vindman was one of the people listening to Trump’s July 25 phone call with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. Trump called the phone conversation “perfect,” but like many others, Vindman was so alarmed by Trump’s efforts to get Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden before Trump would have a meeting with Zelensky or release military aid to Ukraine, he reported his concerns to the NSC’s attorneys.
Vindman was born in Ukraine and moved to the United States after his mother died when he was 3 years old. He speaks Russian and Ukrainian and has served in both countries for the State Department. He has a master’s degree from Harvard and has been in the Army for 20 years. He served in Iraq where he earned a Purple Heart.
The Trump administration added Vindman to the National Security Council in 2018 where he worked for former National Security Director John Bolton. Since his testimony to Congress, however, Trump and some Republicans have tried to suggest that Vindman was not loyal to the United States since he was born in Ukraine. Some good Republicans, however, have stated that questioning Vindman’s patriotism was not a good look for the GOP.
In his opening statement to Congress, Vindman stated, “I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen.” You don’t need a degree from Harvard to figure that out.
Prior to Trump’s phone conversation with Zelensky, Vindman attended a July 10 meeting about Ukraine with Bolton and other White House and State Department officials. During the meeting, according to Vindman and others, Ambassador Gordon Sondland said Trump wanted Zelensky to initiate an investigation of Biden in order to secure a meeting with Trump. Alarmed by the conversation, Bolton “cut the meeting short,” according to Vindman. After the meeting, Vindman told Sondland, “the request to investigate Biden and his son had nothing to do with national security, and that such investigations were not something the National Security Council was going to get involved in or push.”
Vindman’s memory of these events supports the testimony of William Taylor, a former military officer now serving as our nation’s top diplomat in Ukraine. Like Vindman, Taylor is now being trashed by the Trump administration and his supporters, without any evidence, as a “never Trumper.” Taylor confirmed that Bolton was upset by the attempt to connect support for Ukraine with a demand to investigate Biden.
According to Taylor, Bolton told his NSC staff that they should have nothing to do with domestic politics and that they should brief the NSC lawyers about what they heard during the meeting from Sondland.
Like Vindman, Taylor is a military hero. He served for six years in the 82nd Airborne, completing a tour in Vietnam. He was hand-picked by the Trump administration to be the State Department’s diplomat in Ukraine and he came out of retirement to serve his country.
Vindman and Taylor follow a long list of military officers insulted by Trump. After firing former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, a four-star general, Trump asked, “What’s he done for me?” He called former White House Chief of staff John Kelly, a Marine four-star general, “The world’s most overrated general.” Gen. H. R. McMaster, a three-star general and former National Security Director under Trump, lasted less than a year after he and Trump disagreed on how to respond to Russian aggression in Ukraine. Trump has also insulted Navy Admiral William McRaven, a SEAL who commanded the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. Trump stated in an interview that it took too long for McRaven to find bin Laden.
Trump referred to retired four-star Gen. Stanley McChrystal, former special operations commander, as “a dog,” “a total bust,” and “known for big, dumb mouth.” McChrystal called Trump “untruthful and immoral.” Let’s not forget Trump’s insults of former POW Senator John McCain and Gold Star families. The list goes on.
Interestingly, there is one general Trump does like — Gen. Michael Flynn, a felon awaiting his prison sentence.
Trump stated last week that, “America’s military men and women and their families are vital to the security and prosperity of our nation.” That has never been truer than today as soldiers like Taylor and Vindman stand for truth in the face of a president willing to trade national security for his own political benefit.
Tom Zirpoli is the program coordinator of the Human Services Management graduate program at McDaniel College. His column appears on Wednesdays. Email him at tzirpoli@mcdaniel.edu.