Well, this is a serious bit of news. Here’s the front-page headline in The Washington Post:
Top general was so fearful Trump might spark war that he made secret calls to his Chinese counterpart, new book says
‘Peril,’ by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, reveals that Gen. Mark A. Milley called his Chinese counterpart before the election and after Jan. 6 in a bid to avert armed conflict.
Yes indeed. Bob Woodward is at it again with another explosive book. Titled Peril and scheduled for release on September 21st, The Post story says, in part, this:
“Twice in the final months of the Trump administration, the country’s top military officer was so fearful that the president’s actions might spark a war with China that he moved urgently to avert armed conflict.
In a pair of secret phone calls, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, assured his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army, that the United States would not strike, according to a new book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward and national political reporter Robert Costa.
One call took place on Oct. 30, 2020, four days before the election that unseated President Trump, and the other on Jan. 8, 2021, two days after the Capitol siege carried out by his supporters in a quest to cancel the vote.”
The story also says that the Chinese general was so “rattled” that:
“Believing that China could lash out if it felt at risk from an unpredictable and vengeful American president, Milley took action. The same day, he called the admiral overseeing the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the military unit responsible for Asia and the Pacific region, and recommended postponing the military exercises, according to the book. The admiral complied.”
And here’s the kicker. Milley, says the paper, “did not relay the conversation to Trump.” It also says Milley “believed the president had suffered a mental decline after the election, the authors write, a view he communicated to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a phone call on Jan. 8. He agreed with her evaluation that Trump was unstable, according to a call transcript obtained by the authors.”
To the obvious – neither Milley or Pelosi are doctors, much less Trump’s doctor.
Stop. Full stop.
Another obvious question? Who elected General Milley? Answer: No one.
Not to put too fine a point on this, but per that document known as the Constitution of the United States, specifically Article II, Section 2, the role of the President is quite specifically defined. It reads:
“The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States…”
Say again, the elected, civilian President of the United States is the Commander in Chief – not a military general. What General Milley has done here in dealing with the Chinese and keeping that fact from President Trump is worthy of the 1960’s thriller and movie Seven Days in May, a fictional story about a military plot to overthrow the elected President Jordan Lyman -led by a fictional Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General James Mattoon Scott – the exact job General Milley holds. The reason is a treaty with the Russians that the General objects to.
The story reaches its climax when the President summons General Scott to the Oval Office to confront the General with what he knows of the looming coup attempt and demand his immediate resignation. The conversation between the President and the General includes lines that are startlingly relevant to what, according to Woodward and Costa, occurred with General Milley’s actions at the end of the Trump administration.
President Lyman: I am prepared to brand you
for what you are, General.
A strutting egoist
with a Napoleonic power complex.
And an out-and-out traitor!
I know you think
I’m a weak sister, General…
…but when it comes to my oath of office
and defending the Constitution…
General Scott: I know how to salute a flag.
President Lyman: You don’t know the democratic processes it represents.
General Scott: Don’t you presume to take on that job,Mr. President……because you’re not qualified.
Your action in the past year
has bordered on criminal negligence.
The treaty with the Russians is a violation
of any concept of security.
You’re not a weak sister, Mr. President.
You’re a criminally weak sister.
If you will talk about your oath of office,
I’m here to tell you face to face:
You violated that oath by stripping
the country’s muscles…
…when you played upon the fear
of the people…
…and told them they could remove
that fear by the stroke of a pen.
Then when this nation rejected you
and began militantly to oppose you…
…you violated that oath by not resigning
and turning the country over…
…to someone who’d represent the people.
President Lyman: And that would be
General James Mattoon Scott, wouldn’t it?
I don’t know whether to laugh
at such megalomania, or simply cry.
…You have a such a fervid, passionate,
evangelical affection for your country.
Why in God’s name don’t you have faith…
…in the system of government
you’re so hell-bent to protect?
You say I’ve duped the people.
I’ve bilked them. I’ve misled them.
I’ve stripped them naked
and made them defenseless.
You accuse me of having lost their faith…
…and deliberately and criminally
shut my ears to the national voice?
General Scott: I do.
President Lyman: Where the hell have you heard that voice?
In freight elevators?
In dark alleys? In secret places
in the dead of night?
How did that voice seep into a locked room
full of conspirators?
That’s not where you hear the voice
of the people. Not in this republic.
You want to defend
the United States of America?
Then defend it with the tools it supplies
you with, it’s Constitution.
You ask for a mandate, General,
from a ballot box.
You don’t steal it after midnight
when the country has its back turned.
This conversation between the fictional President and the fictional General Scott fits precisely what the real life General Milley was attempting with the real life President Trump. Figuratively locked in a room, conspiring with fellow generals and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi – who has no role in the chain of command that runs the US military, General Milley was playing with the Constitutional fire that is a military coup.
What a disgrace.
Recall that in 1951 President Harry Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur for insubordination. In doing so, Truman said this:
“Full and vigorous debate on matters of national policy is a vital element in the constitutional system of our free democracy. It is fundamental, however, that military commanders must be governed by the policies and directives issued to them in the manner provided by our laws and Constitution.”
Make no mistake. What the Woodward and Costa book reveals is that General Milley was guilty exactly of MacArthur-style insubordination.
He should be fired immediately.
