Esper’s exit interview is a stark — but revisionist — warning about Trump as a lame duck

“I could have a fight over anything, and I could make it a big fight, and I could live with that,” Esper said Wednesday, at a time when reports of his imminent firing were swirling. He added: “Why? Who’s going to come in behind me? It’s going to be a real ‘yes man.’ And then God help us.”

Two points:

One is that Esper’s warning about what would come after him is now a very real and grim one — delivered in no uncertain terms. That one of Trump’s Cabinet officials would literally say “God help us” about a situation in which we now find ourselves should send shock waves through our body politic. Esper had a good idea what his fate would be at the time, yes, but this is still Trump’s defense secretary saying something pretty similar to what his first one, Jim Mattis, said: that Trump is dangerous.

That’s a big deal, which should escape nobody’s notice.

But the second is that Esper overstated his true history of standing up to Trump. There is a temptation among the president’s opponents, whenever one of them finds themselves cast out of the Trump orbit, to believe that they were truly persecuted. The reality with Esper is much more complicated than he suggests.

Yes, there have been clear and sizable fissures between the two men in recent months. That is particularly true when it comes to Esper’s reluctance to employ the Insurrection Act to use U.S. troops to quell unrest amid racial justice protests. Trump and Esper also disagreed when it came to phasing out Confederate history from our military, particularly in the naming of military bases. And Esper in January said the United States would not target Iranian cultural sites, despite Trump suggesting differently in a tweet. These are real instances in which Esper took a stand that didn’t jibe with Trump’s, and they almost definitely contributed to his exit.

But it’s also true that Esper played the Trump game — and much more so than he let on in his Military Times interview.

In perhaps the one other most-trafficked quote from that interview, Esper set himself up as being uniquely unwilling to say what Trump wants to hear.

“My frustration is I sit here and say, ‘Hm, 18 Cabinet members. Who’s pushed back more than anybody?’ Name another Cabinet secretary that’s pushed back,” he said. “Have you seen me on a stage saying, ‘Under the exceptional leadership of blah-blah-blah, we have blah-blah-blah-blah?’ ”

The answer is an unequivocal yes — to the extent where it was used by the Trump reelection campaign.

On multiple occasions, Esper appeared onstage and on Trump’s (then-) favorite cable news station, Fox News, to praise his leadership in ways that, even at the time, were criticized as being obsequious.

“I’d like to thank President Trump for his bold leadership and support to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces,” Esper said while standing next to Trump at a late March news conference in Norfolk, in front of a naval ship brought to help with the coronavirus pandemic. “This is an unprecedented time for our nation, and your leadership is uniting the American people to defeat this virus.”

He added a few days later at a White House news conference: “I want to thank President Trump for his leadership and support to this critical mission,” adding shortly thereafter: “Mr. President, thank you for your leadership as we begin this important operation.”

Leadership. Leadership. Leadership. Leadership.

And lest you think “your leadership” and “bold leadership” aren’t the same as “exceptional leadership,” there’s this: A week prior, Esper more effusively praised Trump’s leadership on the coronavirus pandemic on Fox.

“The president has demonstrated excellent and bold leadership in this crisis,” Esper said.

The interview was soon clipped and posted to YouTube by the Trump campaign, which reinforces how such things can be used for political gain.

Being a Cabinet secretary for Trump is indeed a balancing act. Many of them have been tested when it comes to their willingness to distance themselves from him. And as Esper’s first quote above rightly acknowledges, fighting every single battle with Trump is a recipe for being cast aside in favor of someone who won’t ask so many questions. So many others before him have tried to hang on, they say, in the name of steadying the ship, only to see it ultimately fall apart. And Esper has clearly taken some significant stands over the past year, which are extremely relevant.

But It’s not like he hasn’t said the things Trump wanted to hear. And the fact that Esper wants to distance himself from that now says plenty about how productive he thinks it has been.