Alexander Vindman should have left his uniform at home

OPINION:

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, thank you for your service. Now, please remove your Army Service Uniform.

You may be new to partisan politics so perhaps you can be forgiven for your naivety. From your testimony, it is hard to tell whether you even realize how badly you are being used — and dis-served — by gutless political hacks hellbent on destroying your commander-in-chief for personal political gain.

Whether you realize it or not, you have been dragged into an exhaustive conspiracy to undo the 2016 election and prevent the 2020 election. People call it an attempted coup and that really is exactly what it is.

You have been trotted out as a witness in uniform. Yet you’re a witness to nothing. In any real court, your testimony would not even be permitted.

You are a jilted policy analyst who is upset that your boss did not stick to the talking points you wrote for him in a phone call with the leader of another country — a country you obviously admire greatly.

Your boss happens to be someone who — unlike you — presented himself before the American people in a campaign for the presidency. And — also unlike you — he was elected president.

That man was elected to represent the American people. As such, it is his job to set American foreign policy. Not yours. That is why we have elections in this country.

Other than recounting basic agreed-upon time lines of meetings and phone calls, your testimony was mainly opinion. It was your concern that the new president was not reciting your talking points and even may have been altering foreign policy — a prerogative that is in his domain and his domain alone. The only exceptions, according to the Constitution, are treaties and declarations of war, which require Senate approval.

Nowhere in the Constitution does it say anything about any kind of policy analyst — in uniform or otherwise — who has any authority whatsoever to override or undermine foreign policies set by those elected by the American people.

In your testimony, you complained that President Trump failed to recite your talking points about “corruption” in Ukraine. That is actually worse than just your irrelevant opinion. It is false.

President Trump absolutely did raise the topic of corruption in Ukraine. He just happened to talk about corruption in Ukraine that Democrats in Congress — and apparently you, too — wish to ignore.

Again, Mr. Vindman, we appreciate your service to the country. In fact, it is the reverence for military service that should have inspired you to leave your uniform at home.

Unlike countless other military officers who testify before Congress, you were not speaking on behalf of the military or the country. You were there to bleat your irrelevant opinions about things far above your pay grade.

The honor of that uniform is rooted in the tradition of selflessly serving your country. It is the best that uniform stands for. Not self-absorbed preening before the cameras to peacock all your stupid opinions about how you disagree with your commander-in-chief.

So, for the sake of all your fellow service members, leave the uniform at home the next time you take part in a political show trial that is all part of an orchestrated coup.

• Contact Charles Hurt at churt@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter @charleshurt.