Obama praises ‘resistance’ to Trump in the military

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00:00Obama praises resistance to Trump in the military.

00:04Obama contrasted his decisions with Trump's, saying military leaders gave him unvarnished

00:09advice free of political influence.

00:13Former President Barack Obama publicly praised what he described as resistance within the

00:18U.S. military to partisan pressure during Donald Trump's presidency.

00:22Obama made the remarks during a public conversation at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American

00:27Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, where he was the inaugural speaker for the museum's Building

00:32Bridges lecture series.

00:34Obama said, I would not expect the politicization of the Justice Department or our military,

00:40and I don't think that's happened.

00:42I think there's been resistance, particularly in the military, to that.

00:46You don't have your military involved in partisan politics.

00:49Its loyalty is to the Constitution, he added.

00:52Obama drew from his 2009 to 2017 presidency while speaking to the crowd.

00:58He said, when I was sworn into office and I boarded Marine One or Air Force One, they saluted.

01:04And if I said this is what we need to do, they said, yes, sir.

01:07And when I'm sitting with my Joint Chiefs of Staff, they are giving me their best unvarnished

01:12advice.

01:13Over time, military leaders respected him, noting they never saw me decide national security

01:18that in any way was affected by me worrying about my politics.

01:22Obama described U.S. institutions as more unstable than at any point in his lifetime,

01:27excluding historical crises like the Civil War.

01:30He cited unexpected challenges to election legitimacy and peaceful power transfers, referencing

01:35the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot without naming it directly.

01:40He said, those norms, those rules, and those values are not Republican or Democratic.

01:46They are American.

01:47Still, Obama showed hope in youth leadership, stating, I am hopeful as long as young people

01:52don't succumb to cynicism or despair.