I fear that Milley’s speculation, that the military would have intervened to prevent Trump from seizing power, is too rosy by half.
For one, Trump has developed a talent for firing his way through decent people until he finds sycophantic accomplices. All the jokes we made in the early Trump years about his firing people really missed the point: he was shopping for villains at a lightning pace, and it worked great.
For another, it displays a lack of imagination regarding the myriad ways Trump could have disguised his coup; another of Trump’s talents is that he has a very good sense of how quickly to heat the water without alarming the frog. It’s one of the few things of real value that he brought to the Koch-owned GOP. He has a pampered billionaire’s audacity and a lifelong sexual predator’s instinct for how not to spook the herd.