Generally speaking, the American military leadership is very mission oriented and not interested in politics.
A number of high ranking US military officers have taken sidelong glances at the political scene. Colin Powell was kept out of the 2000 race by Bush, when he was offered the Sec. State position. Wesley Clark tried to run for the Dem nomination in 2008. Stanley McCrystal and David Petraeus flirted with the GOP nod in 2012, while both advocating for a “National Service” requirement for all US Citizens. Joe Sestak ran as a presidential nominee for the Democrats in 2016. 82 sitting US House Reps are ex-military as are 17 Senators, with the vast majority (72/25) aligning with the Republican Party. Plenty of aspiring state and local politicians use their military careers as launch pads for elected office.
The problem most officers suffer from is a complete lack of charisma. All these people suck at working a crowd. Put Mad Dog Mad Ass at the top of a ticket and it’ll tank the moment he opens his mouth. It isn’t that American military leadership lacks political ambition, its that they’re a chronically awful picks. Even the ostensibly photogenic ones, like Tom “Unapologetically a Fascist” Cotton and Dan “The Pirate King” Crenshaw, absolutely suck dick at building up a popular base.
