Sir, point of order, Sir

So the question of the hour is: does a Twitter blurt from the Toddler President equal a direct order to the military if it announces a new policy on who can join that military?

It seems to be blindingly obvious that it doesn’t, but not everyone agrees. Some say it’s a direct order and the military is disobeying a direct order by saying they’re not doing anything until they hear from the White House.

I just don’t see how it can be a genuine order to the military. It’s not addressed to them. It’s much closer to a “who will rid me of this meddling priest?” than it is to a direct explicit do it now order. Telling the world about a new policy isn’t the same thing as directing the relevant agency or department to carry out that order. A generalized tweet isn’t an order just as a press release isn’t an order. A tweet actually addressed to the Secretary of Defense or the head of the Joint Chiefs might qualify as an order, but a general unaddressed tweet? It can’t be. Something that addresses everyone can’t be an order to someone specific, surely?

(And an order delivered via a tweet addressed to the Secretary of Defense or the head of the Joint Chiefs would be grotesque. What non-deranged head of state would ever do that?)

But I ain’t no lawyer and I ain’t no expert on military procedures, neither.

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