Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s new book has shed further light on the dictatorial behavior of Donald Trump during his disgraced presidency, including his demand that the Pentagon conduct a court-martial of Admiral William McRaven simply for criticizing him.

McRaven notably oversaw the Navy SEAL raid in which Osama Bin Laden was killed in 2011, ten years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that destroyed the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and significantly damaged the Pentagon.

It’s indisputably one of the most successful military operations in United States history, making McRaven a hero and a historical figure.

McRaven honorably retired from military service in 2014, more than two years before Trump took office in early 2017. But McRaven frequently clashed with Trump by coming to the defense of former CIA Director John Brennan, whom Trump had slanderously targeted repeatedly, including by stripping him of his security clearance.

“He is a man of unparalleled integrity, whose honesty and character have never been in question…except by those who don’t know him,” McRaven said of Brennan before addressing Trump directly. “Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation.”

McRaven would later slam Trump’s violent rhetoric against the press.

And like every other petty wannabe tyrant, Trump sought to punish McRaven by demanding the Pentagon recall him to active service and court-martial him, according to a report on Esper’s book.

Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper writes that he and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley had to talk then-President Trump out of a plan to recall both retired US Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal and McRaven to active duty as a way to open the two former senior military officers up to court-martial proceedings.

Nothing McRaven said or did rises to the level of an offense serious enough to result in a court-martial. It’s just another tool Trump tried to abuse in order to retaliate against his critics. If any retired military officer should face a court-martial, it’s retired General Mike Flynn, who is basically a Russian agent now. In addition, Trump himself should be prosecuted for inciting an insurrection to overthrow democracy.

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