Coming on the heels of the media outrage over the false claim that Trump termed American troops "losers," this is just another manifestation of a quadrennial spectacle: Leftists who loathe the military claiming to love and respect it. But Browne’s central claim was wrong: Trump’s remarks were not unprecedented, and indeed were following one of the most enduringly important statements by a president in modern times.
Trump said at a press conference Monday: "I’m not saying the military’s in love with me, but the soldiers are. The top people in the Pentagon probably aren’t, because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy. But we’re getting out of the endless wars, you know how we’re doing."
In response to Ryan Browne’s tweet, many commenters pointed out that Trump’s words were hardly "unprecedented," as he was merely echoing an important warning from one of his predecessors, a man who was a general before he was a president: Dwight D. Eisenhower. As Rating America’s Presidents: An America-First Look at Who Is Best, Who Is Overrated, and Who Was An Absolute Disaster discusses, in his farewell address on January 17, 1961, Eisenhower warned against the "military-industrial complex" — a warning that has too often been ignored.
Stung by this criticism, CNN’s Browne huffily responded: "Some folks really ought to read what President Eisenhower actually said in his farewell address. While they are both critical of the military industrial complex, nowhere does Eisenhower actually accuse military leaders of engaging in shooting wars to boost profits for firms."