Rep. Tammy Duckworth took issue with president-elect Trump for choosing so many military generals to fill out his cabinet and she told David Axelrod, "We're the greatest nation on the face of the Earth, and the greatest democracy, because we're not a military junta."
Rep. Duckworth joined David Axelrod on "The Axe Files," a CNN and Chicago Institute of Politics podcast and threw up a caution flag on Trump for picking Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn for national security advisor, retired Gen. James Mattis for Defense secretary and retired Gen. John Kelly for secretary of Homeland Security.
(The discussion begins around the 51st minute of the podcast)
She continued, "So we shouldn't be starting on that slippery slope towards it."
She explained that she believed civilians are "enamored" with Hollywood's portrayal of our four star generals kind of like Trump is.
"They don't know everything. They're great at the one thing they do."
She hopes Congress will do its job on the nominations and she feels there should be a public hearing to see if Gen. Mattis gets his waiver to actually be able to serve a Trump administration.
"That a person who has within ten years been on active duty as a commissioned officer in a Regular component of the armed services shall not be eligible for appointment as Secretary of Defense."
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The law regarding a Secretary of Defense ensures that the nation's armed forces be controlled by a civilian.
The law was changed in 2008, reducing from ten to seven the number of years that a nominee must be retired from the military. Still, Mattis does not qualify, because he retired from the Marine Corps in 2013.
If he had his way, Trump would use a medium to contact the ghost of Gen. Patton and make him a special advisor as well. You have to be actually living to be appointed to a cabinet position I'm told.
As much as Trump trashes our Hispanic community, he sure is modeling his cabinet after certain Latin American military dictatorships.
Rep. Duckworth's concern is a valid one.
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