Is The Military On Trump’s Side? President Criticized For ‘Politicizing’ Armed Services

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein emphasized the military’s apolitical role in government Tuesday after some leaders criticized President Donald Trump’s remarks to the military the day before, the Air Force Times reported.

While Goldfein initially declined comment following the Republican president’s speech at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida — his first such address to the military since assuming power last month — he later addressed it at a breakfast in Washington.

"This is a great opportunity to step back and remind ourselves and the American people of the oath we take as members of the military,” Goldfein said, according to the Air Force Times. "The oath we take, and we retake every time we are promoted, is to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. By design, we don't pledge support to any particular party or any particular leader. We're an apolitical military."

While Goldfein’s comments distanced the military from politics, Trump may have been trying to flatter the servicemen in attendance Monday while he laid out his plan to improve and better arm the troops.

“We had a wonderful election, didn't we? And I saw those numbers, and you like me and I like you," Trump said.

He was likely referring to the polls throughout his campaign that showed members of the military and veterans supporting him over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and Libertarian Gary Johnson. Exit polls showed Trump performed much better among veterans than non-veterans in November — in a CNN survey of 24,558 people, 60 percent of veterans selected Trump, but only 44 percent of nonveterans went for him.

The President also told attendees Monday at MacDill that he'd be "loading it up with beautiful new planes and beautiful new equipment" because he knew they'd been lacking.

The Hill described Trump's appearance Monday as “cozying up” to the armed forces, and it came after Trump’s comments to the Central Intelligence Agency one day after his inauguration last month, during which he said he would've "taken" Iraq's oil.

That's left some Democrats worried Trump is trying to involve the military in politics.

"The president’s efforts to politicize the military, starting with his remarks at the CIA memorial, are becoming a troubling rhetorical pattern," ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee and Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said in a statement to the Hill. "Attempts to politicize the military like this are never appropriate, and they put our men and women in uniform in an untenable position. This cannot continue."