Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Gen. Mark Milley was reportedly disgusted when then-President Trump roped him and other senior officials into a surprise church photo-op amid protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death last year.
Milley’s disapproval of the Trump photo-op was reported shortly after the event. Only the quotation reported here is new.
[Edited to question my statement above. It may only have been Esper whose disapproval was previously reported. I’m pretty sure it was one of the two.]
Esper turned to Milley during their walk towards the church, the then-defense secretary told Milley that they had been “duped” and “used.” According to the Insider, Milley agreed with Esper. Milley then turned to his chief of staff and said, “This is fucked up and this is a political event and I’m out of here. We’re getting the fuck out of here. I’m fucking done with this shit.”
If only evangelicals could bring themselves to say that…
Can you imagine?
This type of thing will continue. The GOP is going to have hard time succeeding with Trumpism.
He couldn’t have just turned around, said, “I am not a political figure.” ?
That would have been heroic.
“This is fucked up and this is a political event and I’m out of here. We’re getting the fuck out of here. I’m fucking done with this shit.”
If only Milley was this forceful in his public comments when he initially was “duped”.
But for politics, diplomacy, and commend structure.
His public comments at the time were a bit tamer.
"As a commissioned, uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I’ve learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it,”
Interesting that Colin Powell told him not to take the job.
Guess it is good for us he did take the job.
Milley was in a “no win” situation. Had he done nothing and Trumpy did something stupid that cost American lives, he would have been chastised for doing nothing. Now he is being chastized for doing what I believe is the correct thing. Personally I think we were lucky to have Milley in place. Trumpy is a fucking lunatic and should never have been trusted with nuclear codes.
We need Congressional testimony from Milley. I know that Woodward is famous and all that…but if what Milley chose to do was publicized by a Junior Cub Reporter, the nation is still benefited from our knowing just how erratic and irresponsible Trump is.
This is gold.
Solid career advice from the guy who promoted Mess-O-Potamia.
Yah but who knows better than Powell what it’s like to be used?
Trump and the Evangelicals is a use/use. situation.
Fuck 'em all. I now stand with Milley. Period.
Let’s have some real hearings with some real consquences. Milley should be up there testifying in public if at all possible. If he should or needs to resign then he should do so with the understanding that sometimes one does the right thing and then resigns. It’s not unheard of and I’m pretty sure that many patriots have done it before.
And Trump is welcome to berate Milley in the Press with his patented Bluster/Insults.
Congressional Testimony Under Oath from Milley will resonate with more people.
My hope is that, as time goes on, Trump’s support shrinks down to the hard-core MAGA base, and little else. At some point, it will be necessary to somehow undermine the ability of grass-roots politicians to get elected on a Trump ticket.
I wouldn’t be surprised that isn’t the primary thing that is keeping Trump politically viable at this point. It would be interesting to know how many national R’s would drop Trump like a hot rock if they felt they wouldn’t suffer for doing so.
I don’t see at all why he should resign and apparently neither does Joe Biden. 'Nuff said.
With gerrymandering, vote suppression, shrinking base won’t help. I think the rump base is solid at about 45% give or take.
Well…the cowardice of the GOP skyrocketed to the Stratosphere after McConnell and the GOP Brain Trust, in 2016, decided that judges, Supreme Court Hegemony and tax cuts were worth destroying our political system as we know it.
Since then, the GOP shifted a bit.
…to become even more cowardly…
“Everything Trump touches dies.”