For those that don't know, when commissioned officers in the United States military are promoted, during the first and second promotion (to 1st lieutenant and captain), the criteria is "all fully qualified". So while it's not 100% guaranteed it's pretty close, and usually around 98-99% of officers make those promotions. At all later stages (major and above) it's no longer "all fully qualified", but instead "best qualified", at a gradually decreasing percentage.
Donald Trump would be one of those few officers who would absolutely struggle to get promoted to 1st lieutenant, and with a very high degree of probability he wouldn't make captain. Every year in the military you get a written evaluation (FITREP), and in Trump's case he would almost certainly get the career ending version called "Do not promote". You only give out those for serious things like lying, falsifying official records, or failure to exercise basic personal accountability, i.e. things that Trump is widely known to do on a regular basis. It's even probable that Trump during his first command (platoon leader) would get "relieved for cause", which happens if a commander officially removes a junior officer from their position due to incompetence, toxic leadership, or severe poor judgment, i.e. things that Trump yet again does regularly.
An interesting aspect is that Trump could not currently gain a commission in any of the Armed Forces, since he has a felony conviction and would thus be immediately disqualified from becoming an officer (any active duty officer who gets a felony conviction is automatically fired). Trump is for the same reason prohibited from owning a firearm. Yet he somehow holds the nuclear codes. Make it make sense.
When people mention fragging officers during the Vietnam War, Donald Trump is the exact kind of person that they are talking about.
As others have already mentioned, Trump would probably not make it through officer candidate school (he would never get admitted to West Point either).
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u/Mangalorien 5h ago
For those that don't know, when commissioned officers in the United States military are promoted, during the first and second promotion (to 1st lieutenant and captain), the criteria is "all fully qualified". So while it's not 100% guaranteed it's pretty close, and usually around 98-99% of officers make those promotions. At all later stages (major and above) it's no longer "all fully qualified", but instead "best qualified", at a gradually decreasing percentage.
Donald Trump would be one of those few officers who would absolutely struggle to get promoted to 1st lieutenant, and with a very high degree of probability he wouldn't make captain. Every year in the military you get a written evaluation (FITREP), and in Trump's case he would almost certainly get the career ending version called "Do not promote". You only give out those for serious things like lying, falsifying official records, or failure to exercise basic personal accountability, i.e. things that Trump is widely known to do on a regular basis. It's even probable that Trump during his first command (platoon leader) would get "relieved for cause", which happens if a commander officially removes a junior officer from their position due to incompetence, toxic leadership, or severe poor judgment, i.e. things that Trump yet again does regularly.
An interesting aspect is that Trump could not currently gain a commission in any of the Armed Forces, since he has a felony conviction and would thus be immediately disqualified from becoming an officer (any active duty officer who gets a felony conviction is automatically fired). Trump is for the same reason prohibited from owning a firearm. Yet he somehow holds the nuclear codes. Make it make sense.