Update September 28. 2023Gen. Milley, retiring speech: “We are unique among the world’s militaries,” Milley said. “We don’t take an oath to a country, we don’t take an oath to a tribe, we don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or a tyrant or a dictator.”
“And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator,” he spat. “We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that is America – and we’re willing to die to protect it.”
Update August 9, 2022
Update 5/6/22: As the January 6 committee finalizes its report, one of the most explosive findings would be public testimony of verification of Trump attempting to plan and execute a coup using what he thought was his command of the US military. The role of Gen. Mark Milley in thwarting that attempt was key if that is what the Jan.6 committee finds and presents witnesses in planned June 6 public hearings. Books are not enough to sway public opinion.. Sworn testimony by witnesses in public hearings attesting to this could be political dynamite . Gen. Milley is not the only hero defending democracy in this drama of Trump's attempt to stage a military coup or to abuse his power as commander in chief throughout his time in the White House. . Esper book details Trump rage at Pence and proposal to hit Mexico with missiles | Donald Trump | The Guardian Mark Esper, Secretary of Defense had restrained Trump from abusing the military several times .. Trump once asked Esper if the military could shoot demonstrators in the legs, for example.. In the history of violent coups, the military is usually the one who commits one. In 2020-2021, in the US, the military may have saved democracy. Esper was replaced with Trump's yes men near January 6 and it is believed by some this was part of Trump's coup plans. What Trump failed to accept, was that both Esper and Milley took their oath office to defend the Constitution, not the person sitting in the oval office. Trump then tried to replace the civilian leadership at the Pentagon that was loyal to him, not to the Constitution.
Uda;ted 9/15/21 Bob Woodward's and Bob Consta's newest book reports that Milley feared that TruItmp might start a war after the election and around January 6 as a way to stay in power and General Milley took measures. 'Peril,' by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, reports Gen. Mark A. Milley called a Chinese general twice to pledge the U.S. wouldn’t strike - The Washington Post
In response, some in the GOP call Milley's action treason and call on Biden to fire him. Mark Milley Accused of Treason As Republicans Urge Joe Biden to Fire Him (newsweek.com That Milley said he would call the Chinese in advance if the US would strike caused the right-wing media to hyperventilate and Biden foes to call what Milley did was treason. No, what Milley did was to prevent a misreading of January 6 by the Chinese that there was a real coup happening and that Trump would try to divert public attention from the failure by starting a war.
Updated 9/20/21 Milley had intelligence reports that the Chinese were preparing for war against them because of some US military exercises in the South China Sea area and Trump's belligerent recent remarks regarding China. Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Defends His Call To A Chinese General : NPR
Why would the Chinese even think that? Because that is what happens in most countries in the world when a coup fails and the leader in charge fails to stay in power via a violent act.,he rallies the country to back him in a war he initiates. This is the wag the dog scenario. The Chinese considered Trump unstable enough to try it. What the Chinese did not understand because they are not a democracy, is that the institutions in a democracy that are strongly established as ours is, can stop violent coups and rogue presidents, as it did. Milley had the task and the ability to reassure the Chinese he would give them a heads up, and hope the Chinese would not conduct a pre-emptive strike themselves.. If there were not two nuclear powers involved with the ability to destroy civilization, the issue would have been serious enough, which, but there was far more at stake... accidental self-destruction by nuclear war. Woodward/Costa book: Worried Trump could 'go rogue,' Milley took secret action to protect nuclear weapons - CNNPolitics
. When a president like Trump is viewed by our adversaries as an unstable madman doing all he can do to stay in power, such misreadings can happen with dire results, and Milley did what he could do to minimize the danger. He made a promise he never believed he would have to keep: to give the Chinese a heads up if Trump gave the order.. It was his way of saying the US would not strike and putting the Chinese at more ease who were in danger of a serious misunderstanding. In fact, Milley himself feared Trump was unstable per the Woodward//Costa book. Milley never had to act on his words. However, to make sure Trump's flunkies he had just put in key positions in the Defense agencies, Milley then called in the top brass and reviewed the Constitutional and laws governing the pulling of the nuclear trigger that would keep him in the loop. In all cases, Milley's acts adhered to the law and the Constitution to which he had sworn to defend. To avoid being insubordinate, reports are the generals would resign rather than execute orders Trump would issue to keep himself in power regardless of the vote of the people and the electoral count certification.
First posted 7/15/21 follows:
There is good reason to believe that Milley is the hero who saved democracy. Milley remembered his sworn oath to defend the Consitution. The oath he took was not to defend the president whoever it was. It was those with loyalty to Trump the person who were attempting to overthrow the outcome of the popular and electoral college votes to keep him as president for a second term These same are still perpetuating the lie that there was such fraud in the 2020 election that such violation of the democratic process was justified even though they could not produce evidence that the election was stolen when testifying in 60 courts under oath. Those who accuse Milley of treason, who voted to decertify the election on the night of January 6,. and who gave moral support to the violent rioters of January 6 who intended to terrify Contresspeople with threats of bodily harm into voting against certification need, to look in their mirrors. Other reports have emerged that in order to avoid an outright subordination to a commander in chief should Trump indeed \refuse to leave office, they would resign one by one. Top generals planned to resign en masse if Trump refused to leave office: reports (militarytimes.com)
Below are an update of a July 15, 2021, and a November 12, 2020 posting...and a series of blog postings beginning mid-2020 during the George Floyd protest period that tracked Gen. Milley's public pronouncements
. Woodward and Costa's book only fortifies my belief in mid-2020 that a military coup would not happen thanks to Milley's adherence to the Constitution/. Even before the November 2020 elections fears had been expressed then that Trump would attempt a coup, using the civil unrest as an excuse to bring in the active military to put it down for political gain. I had followed Milley's public statements looking for clues of where he stood in 2020 and posted them, duplicated below.
This is an update of a November 12 posting that explains why Pentagon generals were making public statements about the proper role of the military in our democracy and why they would not participate in an insurrection even in advance of the election. Now, with the publication of books about the last days of Trump's presidency, we have a clearer picture of the role General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, played in stopping what he feared was going to be an attempted coup by Trump if he lost the election. Not only did Trump fail to enlist the military to be part of an insurrection, many thanks to Gen. Milley, he lost every case in court in an attempt to overturn the election. January 6 should not have been a surprise.
A couple of books published in July 2021 by respected reporters tell about the last months of Trump's time in office. One, in particular, recounts Milley's role at that time.."I alone can fix it",. The new book reveals what was going on in the Pentagon as generals feared a coup after November 2021 General Milley is emerging as a hero who saw a repeat of a Nazi-style takeover and who saved democracy.
Many of these books published in July 2021 have attributions but also they quote unnamed sources. It will be interesting to see how many witnesses will appear before the special select committee of the House holding hearings beginning the end of July and swear to tell the truth. That will be the value of the House hearings. We can expect complaints that this is a partisan group holding the hearings with control over subpoenas. True, but the Republicans refused to support a bipartisan commission with both political parties able to issue subpoenas. That was their choice and strategy. The GOP members appointed by the GOP leadership will have to resort to table-thumping, hostile cross-examinations to register their objections. Perhaps the bi-partisan commission will be revised, yet. Brace yourself for a lot of Sturm und Drang.
New book shows top US generals planned ways to stop Trump in case of coup - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ_cUbiYdfM
https://www.wsj.com/articles/inside-donald-trumps-last-days-in-the-white-house-and-plans-for-a-comeback-11625759920
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/12/books/review/michael-wolff-landslide-trump.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/15/mark-milley-feared-coup-after-trump-lost-to-biden-book.html
This explains why beginning in Nov. 2020 the Pentagon issued statements regarding Trump's intent to use the military to keep power. Trump's attempted to seize control of the military by replacing as many in the Pentagon he could with political loyalists. January 6 could be seen as an attempted coup by the nonmilitary. That one also failed. Democracy prevailed.
The question remains did Trump plan to have the January 6 rally attendees turn violent. The Leonig/Rucker book reports that Trump first reveled in the mobs' Maga hats and Trump banners, but when it turned violent, he muttered "Oh Crap". However he did nothing to stop the violence after that for hours and even then it was I love you, go home message. That he inspired the violence is the least of his role, but so far there is no evidence that he organized the violence-ready terrorists to turn up January 6. . That he lied about the outcome of the election and he was irresponsible and reckless in his words is more obvious.
Below: my posts during the fall 2020 period regarding public statements from Gen. Milley, as it appeared to me to indicate a break with Trump on the use of the military in domestic political demonstrations. Even then, questions emerged which can be answered by these recent books.about what was going on behind the scenes in the White House and Oval Office at the same time.
__________________________________________________________________________________Why did Trump purge civilian leadership at the Pentagon? Updated July 2021 The heroism of Gen. Milley
Why did Trump purge civilian leadership at the Pentagon? There is a great deal of speculation about why Trump did that. The most disturbing was the speculation that Trump fired Esper because he intended to use the active military to put down demonstrations against him post-election... calling it an "insurrection".
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-pentagon-trump/after-esper-firing-white-house-moves-trump-loyalists-into-key-pentagon-jobs-idUSKBN27Q3F6
- “In the event of a dispute over some aspect of the elections, by law U.S. courts and the U.S. Congress are required to resolve any disputes, not the U.S. military. I foresee no role for the U.S armed forces in this process.”
- When asked whether the armed forces would reject a presidential order to use military force for political gain, Milley said, “I will not follow an unlawful order.”
The big picture: This marks the second time that Milley has recently stressed the nonpartisan nature of the U.S. military.
- He apologized in June for attending Trump's photo op at St. John's Episcopal Church, saying, "I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military VWell, I've reminded people of that for years, you know, for four years as the chief of staff of the Army and in many years before that during reenlistment ceremonies, promotion ceremonies. I always talk about the Constitution and its importance to us as a military in that we - of all the countries in the world, I think that we are the only one - or at least one of the very few - that swears an oath of allegiance to an idea that's embedded in a document called the U.S. Constitution. We don't swear an oath of allegiance to an individual, a king, a queen, a president or anything else ....We don't swear an oath of allegiance to a country, for that matter. We don't swear an oath of allegiance to a flag, a tribe or religion or any of that. We swear an oath to an idea or a set of ideas and values that are embedded in our Constitution. And we, the U.S. military, are willing to die for - to preserve those ideas and values. And we're willing to die in order to preserve them and pass them onto the next generation. So - and they're all in the Constitution. They're all fundamental to the Constitution."
- October 11, 2020, interview on NPR https://www.npr.org/transcripts/922827554 ""This isn't the first time that someone has suggested that there might be a contested election," Milley said. "And if there is, it'll be handled appropriately by the courts and by the U.S. Congress. There's no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of a U.S. election. Zero. There is no role there."
https://definitions.uslegal.com / "insurrection refers to an act or instance of revolting against civil authority or an established government. It is a violent revolt against an oppressive authority. Insurrection is different from riots and offenses connected with mob violence. In insurrection, there is an organized and armed uprising against authority or operations of government whereas riots and offenses connected with mob violence are simply unlawful acts in disturbance of the peace which do not threaten the stability of the government or the existence of political society. The following is a case law defining Insurrection: Insurrection means “a violent uprising by a group or movement acting for the specific purpose of overthrowing the constituted government and seizing its powers. An insurrection occurs where a movement acts to overthrow the constituted government and to take possession of its inherent powers.” [Younis Bros. & Co. v. Cigna Worldwide Ins. Co., 899 F. Supp. 1385, 1392-1393 (E.D. Pa. 1995)]" I note proven or unproven claims of voter fraud are not cited as a justification for an insurrection in the definition. 
