Defense Secretary Mark Esper has come under fire for failing to cancel business as usual even as the virus spreads through the ranks. …Even the Pentagon’s high-profile deployment of a hospital ship to New York has backfired: Local leaders are irate that the 1,000-bed ship has reportedly accepted only 20 patients.

…The only official in the entire government who has been publicly disciplined to date for mishandling the coronavirus is a Navy officer who acted to save his crew from an outbreak.

…Because Crozier raised the alarm, most of the crew is finally being evacuated from the ship in Guam. But an article on Crozier’s letter in the San Francisco Chronicle (and then other newspapers) embarrassed the Defense Department leadership.

…About a month ago, when Trump was still calling concern about the coronavirus a “hoax,” the New York Times reported that Esper had “urged American military commanders overseas not to make any decisions related to the coronavirus that might surprise the White House or run afoul of President Trump’s messaging on the growing health challenge.” This was a dismaying directive that seemed to put politics above force protection. Now Crozier’s firing [is correctly]  seen …as another step in the politicization of the military. [Ya know, like when dictators co-opt the military for their own personal gain. Make no mistake, that’s exactly what’s going on here.]

…Trump has already done a great deal to undermine the military’s good order and discipline [thereby undermining its readiness] by pardoning personnel who have been accused, and even convicted, of war crimes.

…The damage that was done to the military by Trump’s decision to pardon suspected war criminals will be compounded by Thursday’s decision to fire the skipper of the Theodore Roosevelt. The message that the administration is sending to the armed forces is that committing war crimes is acceptable but telling the truth and protecting the personnel under your command is not. [emphasis: Peanut Gallery]

Navy’s firing of Capt. Brett Crozier shows the Trump administration has lost its moral bearings – The Washington Post

Nah, they were morally bankrupt all along, this crisi is just highlighting that fact.