On September 30, President Donald Trump stood before hundreds of senior officers at a Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia. He looked around the room and said, “If you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room — of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future.”
Among those listening was Colonel Douglas Krugman, a Marine with 24 years of service. Days later, he resigned.
In his op-ed for The Washington Post titled “I resigned from the military because of Trump,” Krugman said he could no longer serve under a leader who disregarded the Constitution.
I could not swear without reservation to follow a commander in chief who seemed so willing to disregard the Constitution,” he wrote.
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Krugman said he had seen presidents make mistakes before, but he always believed they respected their oath. That changed under Trump.
The tone inside the Pentagon has shifted since Trump’s return. Under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, it is now called the “Department of War.” Trump has also ordered National Guard troops into heavily Democratic cities, even when state leaders objected.
At the Quantico meeting, Trump spoke of using the military to fight what he called “the enemy from within.” Krugman said it was unclear whether Trump meant crime or political opposition, but warned that “military force is not the answer.”
Meanwhile, the Pentagon tried to impose strict new rules on journalists covering military affairs, but several major news outlets refused to sign the agreement.
Krugman said Trump’s actions became “increasingly difficult to justify” over time. The January 6 attack on the Capitol was, for him, the breaking point. “I hoped he had learned from those errors, but it only took a few days of his second term for me to realize he had not,” he wrote.
He said his doubts grew when Trump pardoned those who took part in the attack. Another came when the president halted refugee programs that affected thousands of Afghan allies who had helped U.S. forces.
“These are not the kinds of actions that I’m willing to risk my life to defend,” Krugman said.
Though he left the Marines, Krugman urged others in uniform to trust their conscience. “They should be confident in questioning possibly immoral or illegal orders,” he said. “They are responsible for their own actions, and others are asking the same questions.”
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
