(4) A chief concern has been, and remains, just how difficult it is to determine when and how the President's tweets have the force of law.

(6) But now what I and every other attorney could have predicted—President Trump using Twitter to *issue a presidential order*—has happened.

(11) The President's tweet—an order—was *crystal* clear. As Commander-in-Chief, he established a new zero-tolerance policy for the military.

(23) But Gen. Dunford did *not* confirm that the U.S. military planned to execute the directive upon receiving implementation instructions.

(27) It gave the clear impression—which not a *single* journalist missed—that it believes it must protect its personnel from its Commander.

(30) If this President continues to issue manic, middle-of-the-night declarations that have the full force of law, our military WILL resist.

(31) That resistance will at first take the form we've now seen: pretending clear orders aren't clear; using procedural excuses for a delay.

(37) The military's response to Trump's tweeted (but official) directive is the CANARY IN THE COAL MINE warning of far bigger dangers ahead.

They turned to Trump, who didn’t hesitate. In the flash of a tweet, he announced that transgender troops would be banned altogether.

“This is like someone told the White House to light a candle on the table and the WH set the whole table on fire,” a senior House Republican aide said in an email.

McCain (R-Ariz.), also criticized Trump’s announcement, calling it “unclear” and “yet another example of why major policy announcements should not be made via Twitter.”

At the Pentagon, the first of the three tweets raised fears that the president was getting ready to announce strikes on North Korea or some other military action. Many said they were left in suspense for nine minutes, the time between the first and second tweet. Only after the second tweet did military officials receive the news the president was announcing a personnel change on Twitter.