A former U.S. Marine Corps colonel and combat veteran of 24 years resigned in late September, now saying he did so because of President Donald Trump and “concern for our country’s future.”
In an op-ed titled “I resigned from the military because of Trump,” published in The Washington Post on Thursday, Doug Krugman noted that “no commander in chief is perfect,” but said he nevertheless believed that previous presidents took their oaths to the Constitution With Trump, he wrote, he no longer believes that.
The Department of Defense has been in the spotlight during Trump’s second term under the leadership of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The Trump administration has rebranded the department the “Department of War,” fixated on the physical appearance of military personnel, and ordered National Guard troops to heavily Democratic cities despite the opposition of blue state governors.
During an in-person meeting where hundreds of military leaders were summoned to a Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, Trump outlined his vision for using the military for domestic purposes to fight the “enemy from within.”
Krugman wrote in his op-ed that although it was not clear to him if Trump was referring to real crime or to political dissent, “military force is not the answer.”