As the current tenant of the White House continues to challenge the victory of his rival Joe Biden in the presidential election on November 3, Donald Trump announced the unceremonious dismissal of the current Pentagon chief, Mark Esper, on Monday, November 9.

Nicknamed by some congressmen "Yesper" for his obedience to the unpredictable president, he was thanked with a tweet after 16 months at the head of Defense.

"Mark Esper is sacked. I thank him for his work," tweeted the US president, two days after the media announced his loss to Joe Biden in the US presidential election.

... Chris will do a GREAT job!

Mark Esper has been terminated.

I would like to thank him for his service.

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 9, 2020

A former classmate at the West Point military academy of influential foreign minister Mike Pompeo, Mark Esper was not the first choice of the US president after Jim Mattis' shattering resignation in late 2018.

It is to a former Boeing, Patrick Shanahan, that the president turns to lead the world's first army.

But a family scandal made him give up the post and President Trump then chose the Secretary of the Army to succeed him in July 2019.

'Yesper' bowed at every command from Trump

But this 56-year-old manager is struggling to resist the hot Donald Trump, to the point that elected Congressmen will end up giving him the nickname "Yesper".

Examples: when the American president undermines the authority of military justice in November 2019 by demanding to exonerate a soldier, Edward Gallagher, whose case was defended by the conservative chain Fox New, the Minister of Defense s 'inclined.

When Donald Trump punctures the military budget for the wall he is erecting on the border with Mexico, Mark Esper cancels the purchase of several F-35 stealth planes and drones in early 2020.

All to unlock the $ 3.8 billion needed.

While Jim Mattis had resigned to protest against the withdrawal from Syria, Mark Esper complied when Donald Trump recalled in October 2019 the American forces deployed in northeastern Syria.

However, this withdrawal opens the way for a Turkish military offensive targeting the Kurdish forces, allies of the International Coalition in the fight against the jihadists of the Islamic State group.

The president and billionaire will eventually order US forces to stay to "protect the oil".

Anti-racist protests end Esper

It is the monster demonstrations of spring, after the death at the end of May of an African-American, George Floyd, killed by a white policeman during his arrest, which will precipitate the loss of Mark Esper.

He first gives pledges to the Republican president by prepositioning military reinforcements near Washington.

He speaks of the streets of the federal capital as a "battlefield" and appears to Donald Trump when the latter is photographed in front of a church after the brutal dispersion of a demonstration near the White House.

Discomfort in the army

But within the American army, considered as a social elevator and where minorities are widely represented, the incident provokes unease.

Several high-ranking black officers publicly express their support for the protesters.

Two days later, the Pentagon chief defused the crisis by publicly opposing the deployment of the army to quell protests.

"I am not in favor of declaring a state of insurgency," he said, referring to the only decree that would legally allow the president to deploy active soldiers against American citizens, and no longer reservists of the National Guard.

The divorce with Donald Trump is consummated.

An erased Esper

In August, the US president began to publicly discuss his possible dismissal.

His loss of influence becomes palpable.

It is the head of diplomacy, Mike Pompeo, who inaugurates a naval base.

Donald Trump adopts the idea of ​​the former United States Ambassador to Berlin, Richard Grenell, to reduce the American military presence in Germany and Mark Esper only has to comply.

It was the White House's national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, who announced in October the plan to reduce the number of troops in Afghanistan to 2,500 in early 2021. However, this contradicts the Chief of Staff, General Mark Milley.

The Pentagon chief becomes cautious, almost self-effacing.

He no longer gives a press conference, no longer gives an interview.

He only gives pre-prepared speeches, speaks to reporters only on the condition of anonymity.

Mark Esper is replaced by the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Christopher Miller, who becomes acting minister until January 20, 2021.

With AFP

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