US Admiral Makes Point that Military is Under Civilian Control and News Media Freaks Out

A US admiral makes a point about the US military being under civilian control of the military and of course the media runs with sensational headlines such as “If Trump Asked, We’d Nuke China Next Week,’ Says U.S. Navy Fleet Commander”.  The Pacific Fleet Commander probably should have been more careful in his wording considering the pathetically poor state of journalism in the United States currently:

But the head of the largest fleet in the U.S. Navy, Admiral Scott Swift, was quick to swear his loyalty to the commander-in-chief Thursday, to the point that the admiral said he would hypothetically follow the president’s orders to launch a nuclear missile at China.

“The answer would be: yes,” said Swift, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, when asked a question during an Australian National University security conference in the Australian capital, Canberra, the AP reported.

Swift made no suggestion that any such order had been given, but seemed to make the remark in the context of underscoring the U.S. military’s oath of allegiance to whoever holds the office of the president of the United States.  [Newsweek]

Really Newsweek do you have to add the statement “Swift made no suggestion that any such order had been given…”  I would think we would be at a state of war with China before any order to nuke the country was given.  Reading the various media articles on this topic almost seems like the media wanted Admiral Swift to say he would not follow President Trump’s orders