Civil-Military Relations Under Trump, With Kori Schake

The President’s Inbox

Council on Foreign Relations

Politics, News:politics, News

4.4 • 734 Ratings

🗓️ 14 October 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kori Schake, Senior Fellow and Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the state of civil-military relations as President Donald Trump remakes the senior leadership of the U.S. military and deploys the National Guard to U.S. cities. Mentioned on the Episode: William Manchester, American Ceasar: Douglas McArthur, 1880-1964, Back Bay Books Kori Schake, The State and the Soldier: A History of Civil-Military Relations in the United States, Polity For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/tpi/civil-military-relations-under-trump-kori-schake

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the United States Army's 250th anniversary parade.
0:07.0	2025 marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Marine Corps.
0:16.0	Throughout their histories, they and the other U.S. military services have prided themselves on their professionalism,
0:21.6	their loyalty to the Constitution, their submission to civilian control, and their commitment to staying out of politics.
0:28.6	And that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States.
0:35.6	Since January, President Trump has moved aggressively
0:41.3	to put his stamp on the U.S. military.
0:43.3	He has fired at least 15 high-ranking military officers,
0:47.3	including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
0:50.3	the Chief of Naval Operations, and the Commandant of the Coast Guard.
0:53.3	No other administration has moved so quickly to remove so many senior officers
0:59.0	with so little clarity about the reason for the changes.
1:02.0	Every day, we have to be prepared for war, not for defense.
1:04.0	We're training warriors, not defenders.
1:06.0	We fight wars to win, not to defend.
1:08.0	Two weeks ago, Secretary of Defense Pete Heggseth convened an unprecedented in-person meeting
1:13.3	senior military leaders from around the globe in Quantico, Virginia, to promote a new
1:18.6	warrior ethos.
1:20.5	President Trump used the meeting to raise the prospect of using the U.S. military to fight
1:24.8	a war from within.
1:26.1	San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles.
1:29.7	They're very unsafe places, and we're going to straighten them out one by one.
	...

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