Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has come under scrutiny for questionable actions he took while former President Donald Trump was still in office. A new book written by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa alleges that Milley contacted his counterpart in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to assure him that the United States was not going to launch a military strike against China.
According to the journalists, Milley told Gen. Li Zuocheng, “if we’re going to attack, I’m going to call you ahead of time. It’s not going to be a surprise.”
What is damning about this allegation – if it’s true – is that Trump, the U.S. commander-in-chief, did not know about the conversations, meaning that Milley went behind his back to contact a high-ranking military official of a country that is in opposition to the United States. Christopher Miller, the former acting Defense Secretary told Fox News that this move is a “disgraceful and unprecedented act of insubordination.”
The Los Angeles Times published a piece noting that Milley’s actions are not in line with the usual way of doing things. Andrew Bacevich wrote:
Providing adversaries with advance notice of U.S. military actions does not number among the prescribed duties of the chairman of the joint chiefs. Arguably, the Woodward-Costa allegations, if accurately reported, qualify as treasonous. At the very least, they raise serious doubts about Milley’s respect for the bedrock principle of civilian control of the military. To state the matter bluntly, when adherence to that principle raised the possibility of an outcome not to Milley’s liking, he seemingly granted himself an exemption.
Milley’s phone calls allegedly happened in the waning days of Trump’s presidency after the November election. Supposedly, the general believed the former president had become mentally unhinged in his efforts to contest the results of the election and this somehow translated into the possibility that he might launch an attack on China.
Yes, I know it doesn’t make sense, but this is what the book apparently claims.
The general’s first phone call occurred when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) became concerned about U.S. military exercises conducted in the South China Sea. The second happened after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol building. Milley allegedly felt it necessary to reassure Beijing that the American government was still intact.
The Los Angeles Times’ Jackie Calmes penned a piece lauding Milley’s possibly treasonous actions, insisting that he deserves a medal. In her piece, she tries to twist the “Trump Derangement Syndrome” trope and insists that the mental condition is actually “Deranged Trump Syndrome,” which is apparently “the sense that Donald Trump was and is capable of just about any noxious act.”
What is funny is that in her attempt to be clever, she inadvertently admits she has TDS, which means she has an unhealthy and irrational fixation on the former president and believes he is Hitler, Stalin, and Emperor Palpatine all rolled into one.
In her nonsensical piece, Calmes insists that based on the information revealed in the book, “Milley mostly deserves our commendation.” She continued:
If Milley indeed had reason to fear what Trump might do to maintain his hold on power — stage a coup, order an attack, even a nuclear strike — then we should celebrate that Milley took action.
For his part, Milley claims his actions “were in keeping with” his responsibility “to maintain strategic stability.”
But there is a problem with those defending Milley’s actions.
So far, there has been not a single shred of evidence that former President Donald Trump was going to launch a military strike on China. The former president’s rhetoric against China – as it was against North Korea and other enemies of America – was more pugilistic. But he is not the first president to use aggressive language when addressing the country’s rivals.
President Trump never threatened to take military action against China as he did with Iran and North Korea. His administration never even hinted that it would seek to engage in hostilities with the CCP. The war between Washington and Beijing was related to trade under President Trump.
Moreover, Trump had shown throughout his four years in office that he wished to avoid wars – especially unnecessary ones. He railed against our continued involvement in Afghanistan and drew down U.S. troops in the regions from 15,000 at the beginning of his presidency to 2,500 at the end.
To put it simply, Milley had no rational reason to believe Trump was going to launch a war with China in the waning days of his stint in the Oval Office. Indeed, if he was so obsessed with overturning the election as Milley and the activist media claim, how would attacking China accomplish that objective?
Milley is either mentally unhinged to the point of irrational paranoia, or he just sought to make the president look bad. Either way, if the allegations are true, he is worthy of condemnation, not commendation.
