But CNN national security reporter Ryan Brown called Mr Trump’s comments an “unprecedented public attack by a sitting US president on the leadership of the US military”, and said comparisons to Mr Eisenhower’s address were off the mark.
“Some folks really ought to read what President Eisenhower actually said,” he tweeted. “While they are both critical of the military industrial complex, nowhere does Eisenhower actually accuse military leaders of engaging in shooting wars to boost profits for firms
Speaking on CNN, retired army lieutenant general Mark Hertling said it was interesting that Mr Trump had attempted to deny accusations he had insulted the military “by insulting the military”.
“It was insulting to me as a former general,” he said. “As a former soldier, going into combat the military-industrial complex was not even a portion of my thought process. All I wanted was the equipment and the resources to fight the battles.”
Mr Hertling also pushed back on Mr Trump’s “endless wars” jab, which he took as a criticism of how US conflicts in the Middle East had been run by military leadership.
“We are told what to do by our elected officials, so if there’s bad strategy, bad involvement in foreign wars, it’s because the political masters have sent us there to do their bidding,” he said. “We attempt in every way possible to conduct the operations.”
Mr Hertling said Mr Trump was attempting to sow division. “This is kind of like fighting an insurgency – President Trump has already gone after the intelligence community by separating their leaders from those who are in the trenches,” he said.
“He has separated the FBI, claiming the leaders are terrible but everybody in the FBI is good, now he’s attempting to do the same thing with the military. ‘The generals are all bad, they’re all working for the military industrial complex, but all you soldiers still love me, right?’”
