After a long career is forgotten, there is one thing for which Sec. of Defense Mark Esper will be long remembered: how he eagerly advocated meeting peaceful protests against police violence with a huge increase in violence. On a phone call with Trump, it was Esper who instructed governors and state officials: “I think the sooner that you mass and dominate the battlespace, the quicker this dissipates and we can get back to the right normal." Here, “back to normal” is apparently the official term for when Black people are beaten down and authoritarian forces can go about their business.
No. Strike that. There are two things for which Esper will be remembered, because it was also Esper who, when a U.S. Naval commander had the gall to warn that the members of his crew were getting sick from an outbreak of COVID-19, defended the choice to remove that commander rather than reward his honesty and concern. After the men and women cheered and displayed their support for the departing Capt. Brett Crozier, it was Esper who gave the sailors a “pep talk” that went over like a solid lead submarine. And the Crozier incident was just part of a COVID-19 response that was both too slow and inadequate to protect members of the military along with their families. On Thursday afternoon, word came that Esper had already drafted a resignation letter in advance of the election, declaring his intentions to leave the White House no matter the outcome. But before you attribute any shred of dignity to that resignation … think again.
As NBC News reports, the reason Esper is planning to get out now is simple enough: Trump was about to fire him anyway. So Esper is neither making a moral stand, nor even just clearing out in advance of what he sees as a new administration coming to town. He’s doing a classic “you can’t fire me, I quit” maneuver.
Esper’s role in multiple instances has been to put an apparent seal of military approval on Trump’s actions. However, he did eventually break with Trump on two points: When Trump suggested using the Insurrection Act to place active duty military forces in American cities, Esper instead suggest that Trump limit the forces to the National Guard and sent a group of active duty military who had already been brought into the Washington, D.C., area back to their bases. Esper also added tentative support to the idea of renaming military bases still bearing the names of Confederate officers who fought for slavery … though Esper never directly issued an order to change the names.
Esper did have a military career, including a brief period of active service in the Gulf War. However, his career also includes a stint running the ultraconservative Heritage Foundation, and as assistant defense secretary for George W. Bush, where he was a proponent of the Iraq invasion. He’s been a policy adviser to three different Republican senators, and a defense industry lobbyist. In fact, The Hill recognized Esper as “the top corporate lobbyist” for both 2015 and 2016. It was his keen work as an industry lobbyist that brought him to the lobbyist-filled Trump White House — where he got to play defense secretary while still sitting on a package of benefits from defense contractors.
So it’s not as if Esper has ever demonstrated anything that resembled concern for the troops, concern for national security, or concern for the dignity of his supposed position. He seems to be only concerned with getting away before the screen door hits him in the rear.