Like most of you, I was deeply offended yesterday by Donald Trump’s attempt to use our military to politicize his craven agenda of fear, hatred and blood lust.

For me, nobody explains this exploitation of our troops better than Historian, Writer, Professor, and U.S. Army Colonel Andrew Bacevich. This is an interview I conducted with him six years ago. It’s 30 minutes. Please listen to it.

For those of us who can’t put into words why exactly Trump’s “Salute To America” yesterday felt so wrong, Colonel Bacevich does it for us.

Colonel Bacevich was a career officer in the Armor Branch of the United States Army, retiring with the rank of colonel. He is a former director of Boston University’s Center for International Relations.

Colonel Bacevich has been a persistent, vocal critic of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, calling the conflict a catastrophic failure.

In March 2007, he described George W. Bush’s endorsement of such “preventive wars” as “immoral, illicit, and imprudent.”

His books include:

The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced By War

The Age of Illusions: How America Squandered Its Cold War Victory

America’s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History