What they could not ignore, however, was the spectacle that President Donald Trump put on when he spoke after Hegseth. The president talked at length, and his comments should have confirmed to even the most sympathetic observer that he is, as the kids say, not okay. But the generals and admirals should be forgiven if they walked out of the auditorium and wondered: What on earth is wrong with the commander in chief? As comical as many of Trump’s comments were, the president’s nakedly partisan appeal to U.S. military officers was a violation of every standard of American civil-military relations, and exactly what George Washington feared could happen with an unscrupulous commander in chief. How are they supposed to react when Trump slips the surly bonds of truth, insults their former commanders in chief, and talks about his close relationship with the Kremlin?