Timothy Snyder writes:

My historian colleagues might correct me, but I do not think anyone at least in recent history has done what Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is about to do: put all of the American generals and admirals from around the world into a single room (next week, in Virginia) just to say something to them.

There is no practical reason to do this: he has easier and more secure ways to communicate with the commanders. And there are obvious risks: the entire armed forces of the United States, spread around the world, will be without its leaders. Given that the government could well shut down the next day, the separation of commanders from their command might be indefinite.

And if Hegseth has his way, those generals and admirals will all be in one site, announced in advance, which means that the entirety of the American command structure will be more vulnerable, physically, than in any conceivable military scenario, including nuclear war. There is no scenario other than this one in which they would all be in the same place at the same time.

First thing I thought and then said yesterday when I saw the headlines. That’s not how this works. You never put all the top brass in one place, let alone doing that with noisy public fanfare. Is Trump just telling his whole crew to find out what the usual procedure is and then do the opposite? Across the board? Without any thought about why it’s the usual procedure?

So why might Secretary Hegseth do such an extraordinary thing? Only four solutions to the puzzle come to mind.

1. He has some trivial thing to say and does not understand the risks.
2. He wishes to endanger the lives of the generals and admirals.
3. He will stage a purge, perhaps involving a loyalty oath or something similar that requires personal presence.
4. He will tell the commanders that henceforth their assignment will be to oppress American citizens (“homeland defense”). This could be combined with the third scenario: those who refuse will be fired.

The first one doesn’t make any sense even in Trumper terms. If it’s trivial they wouldn’t blow all that money to get everyone in the same physical room. And really even having something important to say still doesn’t make any sense, for the same reason. Communication doesn’t require physical proximity these days so it can’t be that.

Maybe the idea is that the something to say is so profound and urgent and important that it has to be in person, so that the Magic can have its full effect. Can they be that dumb? Oh yes.

On the other hand Hegseth’s previous job was saying stuff on tv, which is the opposite of saying it in person, so is it likely that he thinks you can’t get a point across unless you’re in te Real Presence?

I think the closest is 3. I suspect it’s an all hands meeting to hear the message that Trump is never to be questioned or disobeyed, and it has to be in person because that’s more intimidating.

Except, is it? Really? In this case? Some dork from Fox News laying down the law to every single top brass person in the military? They don’t get there by being either stupid or weak, I’m guessing.

Whatever it is, it isn’t good.