Prelude to a Coup?

An excerpt from Slate -

Chain of Confusion
Military commanders’ rebuke of Trump after Charlottesville points to a crisis for civilian control of the military.
By Fred Kaplan

n a stunning bit of news, the chiefs of all four U.S. military services—Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines—have issued statements this week condemning racism in all its forms. This can only be seen as a rebuke to President Trump’s equivocating statements on last weekend’s violence in Charlottesville, Virginia—i.e., as a rebuke to their commander in chief.

If we lived in a different sort of country, this could fairly be seen as the prelude to a military coup—and a coup that many might welcome.

The United States is not that sort of country. The principles of civilian control and an apolitical military are hammered into every officer’s sensibility in every forum of education and training. Yet, at the same time, so are principles of equality and nondiscrimination—enshrined in the Uniform Code of Military Justice and bolstered by the military’s heritage as a spearhead of racial integration shortly after World War II, long before other segments of American society followed along.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2017/08/trump_s_generals_rebuke_him_after_charlottesville.html?wpsrc=newsletter_tis&sid=554654ea10defb39638b510d