Sounds about right.

This isn’t the point, but I cannot believe that his smarmy act actually works for some people. Make my fuckin skin crawl.

So I largely agree with his basic point. He’s describing the situation as it really materially is. The difference being that I think it’s very bad and he thinks it’s swell.

The U.S. military has historically served a policing role in many contexts: on the frontier, in the unreconstructed south, during labor disputes etc. The distinction between policing/military power is maintained rhetorically more than actually, but now the rhetoric also fails.

Let a ferment build, don’t stand in its way when you could say nothing.

I’ll add that I also don’t believe the often repeated idea that he was an outright bad general. That’s an over correction.

Not only is JFC Fullers “Grant and Lee” one of the better studies of Civil War leadership, but it’s an effective and takedown of Lee as both man and general. And yes, I know Fuller is an absolute piece of shit himself.