“I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.” – The oath of office for US military officers in the Uniformed Services of the United States
As US President Donald Trump conflates his 79th birthday celebration with the 250th anniversary of our US Army, celebrating with an unprecedented and unpresidential military parade through our nation’s capital while violating the letter and spirit of the United States Constitution, it’s worth remembering that US military officers in every branch of our armed forces swear a solemn oath to support and defend the constitution, not a political party, not a president, and not a would-be king.
JOIN US ON TELEGRAM
Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.
We have had military parades in Washington, DC before, but they were victory parades for battlefield achievements. With the last one conducted following the Gulf War of 1991, they have never been given double billing with the celebration of any leader.
Nor were they accompanied by vows of the White House denizen to have a crackdown on those protesting his administration’s actions since the inauguration – that is, threats to the freedom of the people to peaceably assemble for the redress of their grievances against the government.
Zelensky Proposes G7 Meeting With Putin to End War
Freedom of assembly
Never mind the threats, there are going to be millions of protests across the US today, as there have been since Trump stepped foot back into the Oval Office. And these are grassroots organized organic protests, not top-down directed assemblies. There are various leaders who are offering up their voices to speak at such events, ranging from Congressional Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders to California’s Governor Gavin Newsom.
But this is from a genuine groundswell of American citizens, increasingly angry at Trump’s racist anti-immigrant policies. This is not mere rhetoric, it has become violent against people with more melanin enhancing their complexion. This includes undocumented immigrants, legal refugees, long-term green card holders, and even citizens born in US hospitals, with US birth certificates and social security numbers. The violence has ranged from kidnapping, to disappearances, to deportations to maximum security prison in authoritarian dictator-run El Salvador.
The violent treatment includes a US senator in his own office building whom federal law enforcement, the FBI and other executive branch agency officials arrested, slammed to the ground and handcuffed – on video captured by a congressional aid. Senator Alex Padilla was arrested for daring to do his oversight job by asking questions about Team Trump policies of Secretary of Homeland Security Krisi Noem, while she held a press conference in Padilla’s home state office in Los Angeles.
US military officers Oath of Office – to support the Constitution, not a leader
Trump wants to use US active duty, national guard and reserve military service members and their officers to do things that would violate their oaths, especially that of the officers.
The US military officer oath is a solemn promise to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. It also includes an affirmation of true faith and allegiance to the Constitution, a pledge to carry out duties freely and without reservation, and a commitment to faithfully discharge the responsibilities of the office.
This oath is distinct from the oath of enlistment taken by enlisted personnel, as it emphasizes the officer’s allegiance to the Constitution, rather than to a specific individual or political entity.
Many veteran groups and retired military officers, including some senior generals, have pointed to Trump’s disdain for those in the profession of arms and his indifference to supporting and defending the Constitution. And some reports have said he has vocalized a desire to have compliant senior officers like the German generals were in World War II, according to NPR and the Atlantic, among others.
In an article in the Atlantic on Oct. 22, 2024, entitled “Trump: ‘I Need the Kind of Generals That Hitler Had’,” Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg delineated what the president thinks of US soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and the military officer corps:
“Trump has frequently voiced his disdain for those who serve in the military and for their devotion to duty, honor, and sacrifice. Former generals who have worked for Trump say that the sole military virtue he prizes is obedience.
“A desire to force US military leaders to be obedient to him and not the Constitution is one of the constant themes of Trump’s military-related discourse. Former officials have also cited other recurring themes: his denigration of military service, his ignorance of the provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, his admiration for brutality and anti-democratic norms of behavior, and his contempt for wounded veterans and for soldiers who fell in battle.”
The first legislation passed in Congress after the US Constitution created a branch of government to establish the requirement to swear loyalty to principles, not to a person or people of any rank.
According to a professional article written in Air and Space Power Journal, Winter 2002, in turn citing an 1845 source: “The first law of the United States of America, enacted in the first session of the first Congress on 1 June 1789, was statute 1, chapter 1: an act to regulate the time and manner of administering certain oaths, which established the oath required by civil and military officials to support the Constitution.”
Violations of the US Constitution and human rights
The US president’s aspiration toward being a sphere of influence global region leader, are very real. When an authoritarian leader tells you their aims, goals and objectives it behooves us to pay attention to what they say. Take, for example, what happened in the 1920s and 1930s when the Italian fascists and the German national socialists told us what they wanted to do and what they would do for well over a decade. Russian President Vladimir Putin is now doing the same and Trump is abetting him and hinting he wants the same from Panama to Greenland.
Silencing the opposition and accepting exorbitant gifts from foreign leaders, especially kings, are forbidden by the US Constitution.
The Constitution divides the federal government into three co-equal branches. The legislative in Article one, significantly, is given the sole power to make laws, allocate money, ratify treaties, levy taxes, especially tariffs on imports, declare war, and most other important powers, including providing aid to other nations.
The president, the head of the second branch, is supposed to execute the laws passed by Congress and little else.
The US Constitution explicitly prohibits the US from granting titles of nobility and restricts government officials from accepting titles or gifts from foreign powers without Congressional consent.
The Constitution explicitly states: “No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States.” This clause was included to prevent the establishment of a hereditary aristocracy or any class-based system that would conflict with the principles of equality and popular sovereignty.
Moreover, it also prohibits any person holding an office of profit or trust under the US from accepting any “present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State” without the consent of Congress. This was intended to prevent foreign powers from influencing US officials and policies.
This prohibition is considered a cornerstone of the American republican system of government, emphasizing that the government should be of, by, and for the people, not based on inherited status or foreign influence.
In essence, the US Constitution was designed to establish a government rooted in popular sovereignty and equality, rejecting the traditional European model of monarchy and aristocracy.
Protesters are not the domestic enemies
Domestic enemies are not those protesting as a guaranteed political activity in the Bill of Rights – the first 10 amendments that had to be added before the states would accept the new Constitution. It is those violating the division of powers by not following Congressional legislation or implementing the rulings of the federal courts, including the Supreme Court.
The Trump White House seeks to establish itself as not just the executive branch, but also the legislative and judiciary. The Trump regime thinks it can be judge, jury and executioner.
With Trump trying to use the US Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps in unconstitutional ways, the most outlandish and authoritarian manifestation of this is turning the military establishment against the citizens, which is the chief reason so many people will be out to protest today.
There are many opposed veterans’ groups and some current active duty officers and troops opposed to this misuse of our service members, as reported by Time, the Guardian, BuzzFeed and more.
A Washinton Post (WaPo) article, “Trump’s Top General Contradicts His Assessment of Putin, L.A. Unrest,” reporting on the recently appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, indicates that at least at the very top level of military officers, the dam is holding. Even sitting next to the secretary of defense, Caine kept to honest factual information, appearing in video to be comfortable under questions that seemed difficult for Hegseth.
“Caine’s responses on June 11 offered a stark contrast with the man seated beside him, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth,” according to the WaPo. When Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) asked Caine whether Putin intends to “stop in Ukraine,” the general was frank: “I don’t believe he is, sir.”
When asked to characterize the protests in Los Angeles, Caine declined to comment except for, “I think there’s definitely some frustrated folks out there.”
Applying the oath – a personal story
On a personal note, as a retired US Air Force military officer and fighter pilot, in that order of priority, and as a relatively new journalist in my second career, the US Constitution has a profound, deep significance to me. While we have never quite lived up to the ideals it represents, I take great pride in being from a nation that aspires to a greatness that we have yet to achieve.
Additionally, I know peaceful protest can, and sometimes does, bring positive change. I have seen it firsthand.
As a longtime resident of Ukraine, I personally witnessed and supported the revolution on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in the heart of Kyiv, beginning with the first students gathered around a steel-framed Yuletide tree on Nov. 29, 2013.
On Sunday, Dec. 1, 2012, I marched from Shevchenko Park to Maidan with Ukrainian patriots who want what we have in the West – freedom, dignity, human rights, and democracy – with some on the sidelines afraid to march but cheering us on.
Maidan was occupied for about six months, 24/7, by such freedom fighters of all ages, levels of income, and genders, that turned against a president who wanted to side with Putin and the Kremlin. Then President Viktor Yanukovich was ousted in February 2014 after using snipers to kill over 100 protesters and fleeing to Russia where he is now a ward of the state.
We were visited in December 2013, during the protests, by two courageous freedom fighting US Senators, the late John McCain, Republican from Arizona, and Chris Murphy, Democrat from Connecticut, who is still an ally of Ukraine against Russian aggression.
No Kings in the US
The Constitution is there to protect protesters – in fact, how would the US even exist without protests? It should enshrine the rule of law, and the overarching ideals of the Enlightenment espoused by such men as American Founding Father Thomas Paine, and even the slave-owning Thomas Jefferson.
As a living historical document, actively involved in our affairs since 1789, the Constitution is also there to provide a moral guidepost, compass, and map for people of other nations who want freedom, liberty, and the right to pursue happiness on their own terms.
Paine emigrated from England to the British colonies and his writings spawned two revolutions: one which brought the best of times in North America, at least for those of the requisite ethnicity, class, and gender, and one which brought the worst of times for some who deserved it, but also many who didn’t on the European continent.
Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence, which was the inspiration for the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, that said: “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal” – a document we will celebrate the 250th Anniversary of next year on the 4th of July, 2026.
Both were imperfect men who knew things would be better without a monarch, without an aristocracy, without an oligarchy, without a dictator, and without a king.
Even as a retired USAF officer, I still believe I have to honor my oath to the Constitution, which means: No King.
The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.
You can also highlight the text and press Ctrl + Enter
