A recent survey found two related and deeply disturbing results. First, a majority of the country believes that communist China is our greatest threat. But at the same time, trust and confidence in the American military has cratered to just 45%, down from 70% in 2018.

I want to be clear that this has nothing to do with the love of the American people for those who wear the uniform of the U.S. military. This survey was focused on the military as an institution, not only those who serve in the ranks. Undoubtedly, a big reason for the drop is Biden’s bungled retreat from Afghanistan.

But the greatest decline in trust and confidence (34 points) occurred among conservative, heartland Americans, who are shocked to see the military going “woke” like the Boy Scouts, corporate America and professional sports. The biggest concern cited among those who lacked confidence in the military was “political leadership.”

I’m not surprised. Throughout Trump’s presidency, many of our military leaders seemed more interested in fighting the commander-in-chief than they were in fighting our enemies. They were more interested in winning rights for transgendered soldiers than winning our wars.

Those same generals failed to pushback against Biden’s disastrous plans in Afghanistan, and we ended up with 13 flag-draped caskets coming home.

Unfortunately, many of our top commanders today are educated at our “elite” universities — the same universities that are turning some American youth into raging Marxists. That’s why we had to suffer through the spectacle of “Thoroughly Modern” Milley explaining his desire to understand the roots of “white rage,” even though he leads the most diverse military in the history of the world!

The next populist conservative president elected in November 2024 must make restoring the American military a top priority.