Poor, stupid Acting Navy Secretary Modly. He was too stupid to learn from the example of Jefferson Beauregard Sessions that the concept of loyalty down is utterly foreign to Donald Trump. And mark my words, he’s about to get the same reward for his loyalty that Sessions did.
Modly of course removed Captain Crozier from his command of the USS Theodore Roosevelt. He told several people, including David Ignatius, that he did this because he knew Trump would be displeased and would want Captain Crozier removed, and that he wanted to act so that Trump wouldn’t feel the need to intervene because the Navy was acting too slowly. It apparently never crossed his dim brain that the crew of the Roosevelt would react negatively to the news that their skipper had been removed because he cared too much about their welfare. Other sources have reported that the White House got word to Acting Secretary Modly that Emperor Trump was displeased with Captain Crozier and wanted him gone.
Modly then compounded his error by traveling to Guam and making a speech to the crew of the Roosevelt in which he claimed that Captain Crozier was either too stupid or naïve to realize that somebody would leak his letter, in which case he as also too stupid or naïve to command an aircraft carrier, or that Captain Crozier sent the letter knowing it was likely to be leaked, in which case he should be subject to proceedings under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This speech was predictably not well received by the crew or, once the transcript became public, by pretty much anybody else.
Then yesterday, Modly issued a typical non-apology “apology” in which he said that he didn’t think Captain Crozier was either stupid or naïve, and in which he said he was sorry for any pain he may have caused to Captain Crozier or his family. Of course, he coupled this with saying that he was convinced Captain Crozier sent the letter knowing it was likely to be leaked — which if he was telling the truth in his speech to the crew only a day earlier, means he thinks there should be proceedings against Captain Crozier under the UCMJ.
And now, having finally realized that the only person looking good about his conduct in the eyes of most people is Captain Crozier, and after having figuratively asked whether there was nobody who would rid him of this troublesome Captain, Donald Trump is expressing some sympathy for Captain Crozier and that he might need to get involved in the situation himself. While insisting that Captain Crozier’s letter was a “mistake,” Trump said yesterday that Captain Crozier’s career up to that point was “"very good. So, I'm going to get involved and see exactly what's going on there, because I don't want to destroy somebody for having a bad day."
Acting Secretary Modly is certainly aware of the concept of loyalty down, because he’s a Naval Academy graduate and it’s drummed into midshipmen from day 1. But out of stupidly misplaced loyalty to a boss who has never given the slightest indication that he’s loyal to anybody but himself, Modly sold his soul for nothing — less than nothing actually, because he’ll end up worse off than if he had done the right thing to begin with.
And you know what? I will find it impossible to feel any sympathy for Modly when Trump jettisons him because he has suddenly become inconvenient to keep around. Prepare to be run over by a very big bus, Acting Secretary Modly.
ADDENDUM: Well, that certainly didn’t take long. Modly has now “resigned.” I guess the Navy will now have an acting Acting Secretary.