President Donald Trump is looking to cement his racist legacy on his way out of the White House by vetoing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a massive annual defense spending bill, simply because it contains a popular, bipartisan provision to rename military bases that were named after treasonous Confederate military leaders who fought against the federal government and spilled American blood for the “right” to own, rape, torture and kill Black slaves.
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Congress agreed to the provision and so did former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who Trump fired on November 9.
While some Trump loyalists, like Republican Senate Armed Services Committee member Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, have said that Trump’s threat should get legislators to consider dropping the provision, three dozen Senate Democrats recently wrote a letter urging that the provision remain.
“Millions of servicemembers of color have lived on, trained at, and deployed from installations named to honor traitors that killed Americans in defense of chattel slavery,” the letter says. “Renaming these bases does not disrespect our military – it honors the sacrifices and contributions of our servicemembers in a way that better reflects our nation’s diversity and values. We know who these bases were named for and why they were named. It is long past the time to correct this longstanding, historic injustice. We must not shrink from our solemn duty in his moment.”
Trump’s veto may not matter anyway for two reasons: First, the bill could still pass through Congress with veto-proof majorities and second, Biden (who supports renaming the bases) could easily require a renaming of the bases through an executive order as soon as he becomes president in Januaray, making the change happen much faster than congressional legislation would have.
Weirdly, the NDAA usually is approved by congress and the president each year for the last 50 years without any issue. Trump shows that he’s willing to shoot himself, the miitary and veterans in the foot by vetoing the bill as its blockage would essentially deny a pay raise for troops, prevent funding for female-specific uniforms and body armor, and end “funding to support quality of life for service members and their families, including measures this year to support education for military children with special needs whose families have to frequently change school districts,” according to NBC News.