A Soldier Departs with a Warning
General Mark Milley’s Unsigned Letter of Resignation
There are times when military leaders are faced with nearly impossible choices forced by heads of state who have no respect for the rule of law or the people of their countries. That never happened in the United States until the presidency of Donald Trump.
General Mark Milley was faced with a situation where he had to hold the line as twice impeached, four times indicted, former President Trump used every means possible, to destroy our constitutional system of government in order to keep power. Trump’s instability concerned many world leaders who were afraid that he might even resort to starting a war to maintain power. John Kelly and many other senior officers told of Trump’s “contemptuous view of the military, and that this contempt made it extraordinarily difficult to explain to Trump such concepts as honor, sacrifice, and duty.”
From the time of his appointment as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2018, Milley, who as serving as the Army Chief of Staff, had to deal with a President willing to abandon allies and American commitments, while diminishing the respect of the country around the world. As Trump devolved, Milley was humiliated by Trump, as Trump used him as a prop while attacking peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters in Lafayette Square. When Milley realized that he had been used he pealed off from Trump, but the damage was done. He was photographed in his field uniform walking near Trump.
General Milley issued a public apology to the military and the American people for his presence that day, for which he was condemned by Trump. Two days after the attack he wrote a letter to all military personnel, telling them in the strongest language that to uphold their oaths that they had to protect citizens freedom of speech. He added a handwritten codicil to the letter: “We all committed our lives to the idea that is America — we will stay true to that oath and the American people.”
The events of June 1st, 2020, shook a man who had risked his life in combat on numerous occasions. Milley devoted over 40 years of his life as an Army officer to to country and Constitution, only to see a President running roughshod over all that he believed. Milley penned a letter of resignation, but left it unsigned as he hoped to still keep Trump from taking the country down with him. That letter is here:
The events of the last couple weeks have caused me to do deep soul-searching, and I can no longer faithfully support and execute your orders as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It is my belief that you were doing great and irreparable harm to my country. I believe that you have made a concerted effort over time to politicize the United States military. I thought that I could change that. I’ve come to the realization that I cannot, and I need to step aside and let someone else try to do that.
Second, you are using the military to create fear in the minds of the people—and we are trying to protect the American people. I cannot stand idly by and participate in that attack, verbally or otherwise, on the American people. The American people trust their military and they trust us to protect them against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and our military will do just that. We will not turn our back on the American people.
Third, I swore an oath to the Constitution of the United States and embodied within that Constitution is the idea that says that all men and women are created equal. All men and women are created equal, no matter who you are, whether you are white or Black, Asian, Indian, no matter the color of your skin, no matter if you’re gay, straight or something in between. It doesn’t matter if you’re Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jew, or choose not to believe. None of that matters. It doesn’t matter what country you came from, what your last name is—what matters is we’re Americans. We’re all Americans. That under these colors of red, white, and blue—the colors that my parents fought for in World War II—means something around the world. It’s obvious to me that you don’t think of those colors the same way I do. It’s obvious to me that you don’t hold those values dear and the cause that I serve.
And lastly it is my deeply held belief that you’re ruining the international order, and causing significant damage to our country overseas, that was fought for so hard by the Greatest Generation that they instituted in 1945. Between 1914 and 1945, 150 million people were slaughtered in the conduct of war. They were slaughtered because of tyrannies and dictatorships. That generation, like every generation, has fought against that, has fought against fascism, has fought against Nazism, has fought against extremism. It’s now obvious to me that you don’t understand that world order. You don’t understand what the war was all about. In fact, you subscribe to many of the principles that we fought against. And I cannot be a party to that. It is with deep regret that I hereby submit my letter of resignation.”
The letter should send a chill through anyone who cares about the country, especially when a large number of his supporters and the Republican Party want him to return to the Presidency, if to do nothing else but to take revenge on those that they hate. He has promised to do that, and promised to use the Justice Department, Federal law enforcement agencies, the Courts, and the military to to take that revenge, by removing anyone who might balk at executing his orders. If he does that, and finds sycophants willing to turn their backs on the law, the Constitution, and the people of the country, the road to dictatorship will be unencumbered. Unfortunately, I know that the Trump virus is present in much of the military and throughout many law enforcement agencies. Should he ever again take power, he will turn to them to replace anyone more loyal to the Constitution than him.
General Milley’s words are a warning. Trump will politicize the military by appointing men and women willing to serve his needs rather than the obey their oath. Trump does not hold the idea that “all men are created equal” that are embodied in the Constitution. He also subscribes to many of the principles and ideas of Hitler’s Naziism that our grandparents and great-grandparents fought against.
I do hope that men and women of the Joint Chiefs and the Combatant Commanders will resist any attempts by Trump or a person holding such views should one take power. Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster who was plucked from the National Defense University to serve as National Security Advisor asked a pertinent question to Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic: “As chairman, you swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, but what if the commander in chief is undermining the Constitution?”
That is a question that any high ranking military office needs to answer for him or herself, especially when one as destructive as Donald Trump or someone like him might come to power in the 2024 election.
Because Trump’s views are so much like Hitler’s; his lust for absolute power, his racism, antisemitism, disrespect for the Constitution and institutes that serve as the guardrails of our democracy, and personal hatred of anyone that stood or stands in his way, we cannot ignore Trump and his closest supporters similarities to Hitler and the Nazis. When Hitler took power in 1933 he did not immediately replace the leaders of the Reichswehr, instead he sized them up, and co-opted them, replacing, or killing, only those not considered personally loyal enough to him, even using blackmail and false charges to impugn the reputations of some senior leaders.
One opponent was General Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord, the Chief of the German Army when Hitler took power. He resigned his post in October 1933 and was replaced by General Werner Von Fritsch. However, Hammerstein remained an opponent of Hitler, and a part of the resistance. He was in on planned assassinations of Hitler until his death from cancer in April 1943. He was deeply ashamed of what the Army became a part as its leaders acquiesced to Hitler’s war crimes, including the mass extermination of the Jews. He told the art historian Udo Von Alvensleben who visited him in February, 1943, "I am ashamed to have belonged in an army, that witnessed and tolerated all the crimes.” His successor, Von Fritsch, who was not a Nazi, was publicly embarrassed by a propaganda operation run by the SS in which he was accused of engaging in homosexual sex in public. It did not happen and though he was acquitted by an Army Honor Court, he was cashiered, and died under suspicious circumstances in during the Polish campaign.
His replacement was General Ludwig Beck who resigned in protest over the planned invasion of Czechoslovakia in September, 1938. Beck too was part of the resistance and died with the primary plotters of Operation Valkyrie on July 20th, 1944. Beck wrote something that every military office in the post, or maybe pre-second Trump Era needs to memorize.
“It is a lack of character and insight, when a soldier in high command sees his duty and mission only in the context of his military orders without realizing that the highest responsibility is to the people of his country.”
The Constitutional safeguards of our democracy are fragile, for they depend upon the character of leaders, particularly the President. Sadly, Donald Trump has a distinct absence or character, virtue, and empathy. General Milley and other high ranking officers to serve in the Trump White House or administration have all voiced similar thoughts as Milley recorded in his letter.
Marine Lieutenant General John Kelly who served as Trump’s Chief of Staff said, “The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it’s more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life.”
Retired Marine Corps General James Mattis, made this statement after Trump’s flagrant use of the military against American citizens engaged in lawful protests. “When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.”
Retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen wrote after the Lafayette Square attack, “Whatever Trump's goal in conducting his visit, he laid bare his disdain for the rights of peaceful protest in this country, gave succor to the leaders of other countries who take comfort in our domestic strife, and risked further politicizing the men and women of our armed forces.”
I served nearly 40 years in the military. The attack on the Lafayette Square protestors sickened me. The January 6th, 2021 attack on the Capitol, which happened just six days after I retired from the Navy was even more traumatic, not just to me but to men like Generals Milley, Mattis, Kelly, Joseph Dunford, and Admiral Mullen. All of them blamed Trump for his role in fomenting the attack as well as those that helped him, many now indicted, or un-indicted co-conspirators in his various indictments.
But, even now, I remain concerned about the fragility of our country and democracy. This is not so much because of Donald Trump, but because of how he saw the latent resentment, racism, and hatred embodied by many of his supporters, and sowed the whirlwind. His words "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK? It's, like, incredible,” sounded like a joke to some, but I understood them better than most, and I know many even today. Now, even after the abortive coup attempt of January 6th, 2021, many, still, wholeheartedly support him and approve of his stated plans should he be re-elected. Those are Trump’s True Believers. However, many more follow Trump due to nearly three decades of incessant propaganda from rightwing talk-radio hosts, Fox News, internet propaganda sites masquerading as news outlets, including those funded by the Russian government. They may not approve of all he does, but they feel that he represents them, and that he is tough.
In The Origins of Totalitarianism, Arendt wrote something that is completely descriptive of Trump and his followers: “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.” Those words describe most of the Republican Party and the Christian Nationalist who are Trump’s most fervent followers.
I did not think that Trump would be elected in 2016, so when I say that I do not believe that he will be elected again in 2024, I say it with trepidation. Too much can happen between now and November 2024 that is beyond the control of any political leader, or political party. Since Trump and his allies have already threatened officials, including General Milley, they see as disloyal with imprisonment, and there is little reason to imagine that he would not attempt to carry out his threats.
Anyway, we are experiencing the beginning of Tropical Storm Ophelia and since there is no better time than a tropical cyclone to catch up on doctoral papers that I neglected the first part of this week after they kicked my ass last weekend, I should sign off.
This man is a hero.