
Erik Prince, the infamous mercenary advising Trump on how to privatize the war in Afghanistan, holds some reprehensible views of the United States military.

Donald Trump's favorite adviser on Afghanistan is not a current member of the military. No, he's the infamous billionaire mercenary Erik Prince, who just so happens to be the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

Prince has been encouraging Trump has to privatize the 16-year war in Afghanistan by outsourcing to companies like Prince's notorious Blackwater.

That's the same Blackwater that made $1 billion during George W. Bush, by providing "private security" in Iraq and Afghanistan, was investigated for murdering civilians, and helped carry out the CIA's torture programs.


The businessman whispering his war-for-profit plans in Trump's ear also holds some reprehensible views of the military, as he made clear during an appearance on Fox News, where he blamed the recent crash of the USS John S. McCain on "politically correct social-engineering training."

Here's Erik Prince on Fox News blaming the Navy ship crashes on "political correct social engineering training" pic.twitter.com/UYCa514Jy2 — John Whitehouse (@existentialfish) August 22, 2017

PRINCE: There's only so many hours in a day. And when you fill those soldiers' hours with a lot of non-combat, non-maritime-focused, politically correct social-engineering training, you're taking away from their core mission, which is maritime power — maritime sea power projection. That guilt runs all the way from the chiefs running the enlisted men, to the officers of the boat, up to the senior commanders in the Navy distracting the men — the men and women — from doing the jobs that they're supposed to be doing on those ships.

In a mere 30 seconds, Prince managed to denigrate the military in a way that would certainly make Trump himself proud. There is zero evidence that the collision between the USS John S. McCain and an oil tanker occurred those serving on the ship were distracted by "social-engineering training."

That's the kind of baseless talking point the right wing, and Trump, have invoked to argue against, for example, allowing transgender men and women to serve. The idea that equal treatment of all who choose to serve their country is somehow a distraction has no merit — as dozens of retired generals informed Trump only a few weeks ago, when he announced his new bigoted ban.

The sordid record of Prince's "private security" work should be reason enough to disregard anything he has to say about the military. But instead, he has Trump's ear. And given Trump's own horrible record of disrespecting the military — he could not even be bothered to mention the missing sailors during his recent racist tirade in Phoenix — Prince's latest ugliness is unlikely to make Trump like him any less.